EU and ILO support Ukraine to improve working conditions and tackle undeclared work

November 21, 2019.

    The European Union (EU) and International Labour Organization (ILO) will support Ukraine to improve working conditions through a 3 year’s project “Towards safe, healthy and declared work in Ukraine”.
    For that the project will support implementation of the EU and ILO standards on occupational safety and health, labour relations and on the practical measures to reduce undeclared work (UDW). The awareness raising campaign will reach workers and employers to know more on the risks of UDW and encourage them to declare employment relationships. The labour inspection will be supported to promote and enforce compliance with the labour legislation.
    The project builds on the achievements of the project “Enhancing the Labour Administration Capacity to Improve Working Conditions and Tackle Undeclared Work” implemented during 2017-2019. It succeeded to make in-depth analysis of the national legislation and provide comprehensive recommendations on how better implement EU and ILO standards in Ukraine. Together with the national partners the road map was developed for further steps. Over 2000 experts were trained and improved their knowledge on this subject.
    Background information:
    The incidence rate of fatal work related accidents in Ukraine is around 27% higher than in EU. The economic activity sectors that present highest incidence rates of fatal work-related accidents are construction; mining and quarrying; agriculture, forestry and fishing; and transportation and storage.
    UDW is any paid activities that are lawful as regards their nature but not declared to public authorities. In Ukraine, the most common forms of UDW are informal employment, declaration of minimum wage and payment of the remaining earnings “in envelops”, substitution of labour contract by civil contract or contract as individual entrepreneur when an employment relationship is present. In 2018, almost 3,5 million persons were informally employed in Ukraine. Almost 42 % were women. Majority of informally employed workers were 40-59 years old. There are no reliable figures on the other forms of UDW.