Issue: № 6, 2026
Doi: https://doi.org/10.37634/efp.2026.6.8e
Russia’s full-scale invasion has transformed the operating conditions of Ukraine’s economy by reducing the available workforce, compressing household demand, damaging industrial assets, and disrupting logistics. These processes are closely interrelated: labour shortages restrict enterprises’ capacity to respond to reconstruction needs, while weak domestic demand limits incentives for investment and production recovery. The purpose of the paper is to determine the main changes in Ukraine’s industrial workforce potential and domestic demand during the war and the initial recovery phase, and to substantiate the role of the metallurgical industry in generating multiplier effects for post-war reconstruction. The paper shows that the labour market has moved from mass job losses to structural scarcity, especially in industrial, engineering, construction, logistics, and technical occupations. At the same time, household demand is gradually shifting from survival-oriented consumption to postponed spending on housing, repairs, durable goods, and mobility. This creates a potential channel for expanding domestic demand for steel and metal-intensive products. The metallurgical industry remains strategically important despite severe losses because it can supply reconstruction projects, support regional employment, deepen domestic value chains, and reduce import leakage. The practical framework includes long-term contracting for reconstruction demand, transparent standards and certification, support for local metal processing, targeted credit instruments, risk insurance, and workforce retraining. Post-war recovery should be treated as an integrated process of restoring labour resources, demand capacity, and industrial production. The strongest macroeconomic effect can be achieved when reconstruction spending is linked to national producers and supported by active labour-market and industrial policies.
Keywords : workforce potential, domestic demand, post-war recovery, industrial enterprises, metallurgical industry, economic growth, Ukraine
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