Two in five Ukrainians seeking refuge in Ireland are now working

A new survey conducted by the Ukrainian Action in Ireland group has found more than two Ukrainian adults in Ireland (UAI) with temporary protection status are now working.

The survey of over 4,600 people, which UAI hope will help influence and shape government policy, also found that the majority of those that are not working would like to. 

Anatoliy Prymakov, one of the Directors of UAI, spoke to RTÉ's Morning Ireland to say the focus of this survey is based on integration and employment of the Ukrainian people who had to flee their country following the invasion of Russia in 2022.

Since then, around 100,000 Ukrainians have sought refuge in Ireland.

Mr Prymakov said, 

"We are seeing that there's a big increase in people working. If there were only 29% working last year, there's now 43% working and then 43% more would like to work. So, they're actively looking for work.

"What we're finding though, is that there are still some barriers to employment.

"For example, we are finding that the vast majority of Ukrainians that are here are an educated workforce with a lot of experience in their field, for an example, on average 12 years in their field, however, they're finding it hard to work for various reasons.

Mr Prymakov also said that English was one of the biggest issues faced by Ukrainians here in Ireland.

"We find that if people don't speak English, then only a fifth of that segment can work, and it is generally not in their field. In fact, the majority are not working in their field.

"And then we find that the employment increases dramatically once we see people actually speaking the language and you can also see that people themselves realise that and that the overwhelming majority of the Ukrainians are trying to learn the languages.

"Over 90% are trying to learn the language because they themselves see that id the key to employment. And overall, there's a lot of people employed in part-time and seasonal work and work that is not related to their fields", he added.

"And you can see that that is directly related to the areas that they're in. The hospitality sector dominates in the employment and obviously it makes sense, seeing that a lot of them will e living in State provided accommodations like hotels."