Plasterers have overtaken IT specialists: which professionals can earn over 60,000 hryvnias in Ukraine

In Ukraine over the past month — October 2026 — plasterers, dentists, facade workers, technologists and bricklayers earned the highest incomes. The average salary of representatives of these professions ranged from UAH 66,000 to UAH 85,000. Thus, they left far behind specialists working in IT, who just five years ago received one of the highest salaries in the capital.  At present, the latter can expect only UAH 37,500. 

UNN looked into which professionals employers are willing to pay more than UAH 60,000 and why skilled manual labor is becoming more expensive. 

Who made it into Ukraine’s “salary” leaders and earns more than UAH 60,000

According to data from an OLX Robota study comparing employers’ offers for the respective month in 2025 and 2026, plasterers had the highest median salary among individual professions — UAH 85,000. Over the year, the salary offer increased by 33%. 

Dentists ranked next: they earn UAH 70 375, or 28% more than a year earlier. Facade workers were offered UAH 70,000 (+19%), technologists — UAH 69,022 (+31%), and bricklayers — UAH 66,000 (+26%). 

Two more professions had an indicator of UAH 65,000 each: long-haul truck drivers (+8%) and tilers (+30%). The median offer for auto body repairers was UAH 60,000 (+9%).

The contrast within the construction industry is also telling. On the OLX Robota platform, the median offer for the entire construction and finishing-work category was UAH 38,080, which is 11% higher than last year’s level. 

In the real estate sector, the median was UAH 40,358 (+13%); at service stations and car washes — UAH 36,042 (+13%); and in logistics, warehousing and delivery — UAH 33,287 (+17%). 

Why manual labor in Ukraine is becoming increasingly expensive

Plasterers and construction workers have become “more expensive”  recently for a number of reasons.  The first is a shortage of skilled workers due to mobilization and labor migration caused by the war.  

This leads to the second factor — competition among employers for workers. Employers are willing to pay salaries above the market average on an individual basis in order to “secure” a worker with the relevant skills, many years of experience and a reservation from mobilization.  

Another component behind the increase in payments in the construction industry is the difficulty of quickly training experienced professionals. A Work.ua study of the construction market, published in spring 2026, noted that candidate competition for a vacancy in this sector was twice as low as the market average. Only 22% of vacancies were suitable for people without experience, compared with 44% across the market overall. As of February, there were more than 6,000 vacancies in the “Construction, Architecture” category, with about one-third of offers accounting for Kyiv and the region. In other words, it is easier for an employer to offer a slightly higher salary to an experienced tradesperson who can start work the day after completing the paperwork than to save money and pay a lower wage to a beginner in the profession. 

The State Employment Service (SES), for its part, points to a structural shortage of personnel.

Vacancies exist, but the skills of some job seekers do not meet the needs of enterprises. Currently, professions in short supply include drivers, electrical technicians, plumbers, turners, welders and excavator operators 

They уточняють that as of October 1, 2026, there were about 225,000 job offers on the Unified Vacancy Portal. However, the number of vacancies itself does not solve the problem if workers are in another region or lack the relevant qualifications.

In addition, high salaries in professions across these industries are supported by demand for the repair of buildings and the restoration of damaged infrastructure, energy and industrial facilities. 

What about IT: have programmers really started earning less 

According to statistics from the Work.ua portal, as of November 2026, the median salary in vacancies in the “IT, computers, internet” category was UAH 37,500. This was the pay offered to software developers, technical support specialists, content managers, SMM specialists, and system administrators. 

A somewhat different picture is provided by a specialized study by DOU, conducted in May–June 2026. According to its findings, the median salary of Ukrainian developers was $3,500 per month; for Middle-level specialists, it was $2,500, and for Senior specialists, $4,500. 

As we can see,  employers offer the highest median salaries to specialists in senior management, real estate, and transport. At the same time, despite its lower position in the overall ranking, IT remains a field with fairly high earning potential. The statistics cover a broad range of specialties — from technical support to software development. Therefore, the median offer of UAH 37,500 does not reflect the income level of all IT specialists, and experienced programmers may earn considerably more.

Where in Ukraine people are paid the most: official State Statistics Service data 

According to data from the State Statistics Service (although it concerns September 2026, as the agency has not yet released data for October), the average accrued salary of full-time employees in September 2026 was UAH 33,153, which was 4% higher than in August. It was highest in information and telecommunications — UAH 77,924. In financial and insurance activities, the figure reached UAH 59,813; in professional, scientific, and technical activities, UAH 43,594; and in wholesale and retail trade, UAH 38,433.

By contrast, the average accrued salary in construction was UAH 28,532, while in real estate activities it was UAH 27,444. 

Should Ukrainians change professions now for the sake of UAH 60,000–85,000 

Salary statistics for October 2026 may prompt some Ukrainians to consider radically changing professions in order to earn a salary above the market rate and use it to cover all their basic needs amid soaring inflation. However, in this case, there are a number of "pitfalls" that are best considered before quitting a familiar job. 

First of all, in such a situation, it is necessary to pay attention to whether the new profession in which a person plans to earn a living requires specialized education and experience. Retraining or studying "from scratch" involves expenses of money and time that may not pay off. After all, the situation on the labor market may change radically in a few years.  

This leads to the next point that needs to be taken into account: how long it takes to master the chosen profession.  

An important question that needs to be answered in advance is whether earnings depend on the region and seasonality. It may turn out that the desired new profession requires rotational work or even relocation to another region.  In addition, high earnings during the warm and dry season may be offset by a lack of offers during the "dead season" of bad weather and cold. 

What will happen to salaries in Ukraine in 2027

The national financial regulator, which studied this issue, currently assures that the labor shortage is unlikely to disappear quickly. 

In the Inflation Report for October, published in November, the NBU forecasts real wage growth of 11.4% in 2026 and 4–5% annually in 2027–2028. The country’s central bank expects the worker shortage to persist due to mobilization and migration, although weaker demand for labor may restrain the pace of wage increases. 

To remind you 

Earlier, UNN reported how incomes changed in 2026, what the average salary in the country was, and what happened to Ukrainians’ purchasing power.