UKRAINE: The real crisis that is being overlooked

Labour migration became to really attract (or rather bother) me as a phenomenon a few years back. In 2017, as part of my role at Caritas and upon request of Italian partners, I visited a number of towns in Western Ukraine where the numbers of labour migrants are sky high (as in every second adult is working abroad). The information I was interested in was why people sought employment abroad, why they were largely women (and why in Italy) and what the lives of their families, especially children, spouses and parents looked like while they were away. I then presented the findings at a conference in Monza, Italy.

But this was just the beginning. Recently, I proposed an idea for a film on this same topic and accompanied a German delegation working on it to those same towns. And then I was asked to give an interview. And it struck me. While I was writing the answers, a tear went down my face.

I realised that I myself was one of those children whose parents (father in my case) worked abroad, and I did not see him for 5 years. I was proud of it, I was the first child in the neighbourhood to have a computer, I had cassettes and DVDs in English (!!) and seeing Big Ben wasn’t just a dream. I could see the world and live the life my friends dreamt about. Until I obtained a Master’s degree in International Development and travelled 50 countries observing people, their way of life, wealth and poverty, inequality and injustice, all with my own eyes. It turned out life wasn’t so “pretty” for everyone. And as I was looking for a developing country experience to get a deeper understanding of what development meant in practice, I ended up in Ukraine.

The intention to stay for 1 year maximum has turned into 3.5, and the experience has been tremendous! Being away for 12 years, or almost half of my life (the most vital half – becoming an adult), I saw things differently. It was like a reverse culture shock as I was rediscovering my own home country. The people, their way of thinking and living were all familiar yet so new to me. And it was incredible. As part of my job, I got to travel the country (which I had never done before) and see how beautiful and culturally rich it was, and how much potential it had.

However, this potential was not exploited, neither was it invested in. To an international audience, Ukraine is simply a post-Soviet country that is little known. I can add that it is also a lower middle income “developing”, or worse “transitioning” country with troubled history, up to 60% of the population living in poverty, up to 4 million adults working abroad, a rapidly declining population, a country with one of the highest unemployment rates and alcohol abuse, extremely weak governmental structures and zero business incentives, not to mention a huge number of abandoned children or children left behind as a result of labour migration, and just as many lonely elderly people with no one to care for them. Oh and the military conflict in the East of the country, of course. That’s a brief country profile for you. There is certainly a lot of work to be done to tap into that potential.

So where do we start – public, economic or social policy, lifting people out of poverty, supporting existing businesses, creating incentives for entrepreneurs, or..? You may disagree but I say we start with labour migration. Think about it. Our best (usually) and most skilled young people who are so desperately needed here leave in search of a better life. Whatever that “better life” means for them – better pay, a more fulfilling job with better prospects, better working conditions, more freedom, or simply “greener grass”. Each one of us has their reasons, and we surely have the right to live a better life, to earn more, to have a nice house, to be able to travel, to provide decent childhood to our children, etc. But as an 11-year old girl from a small town said “What if everybody leaves, who will stay here and build our country?”, this makes me question the priorities. And she is right. The question is – how do we make our country “attractive” so that people want to stay, or even return?

And it isn’t just the skilled who leave. As we drove through towns and villages, nicely decorated two- or even three-storey houses popped up among poor undecorated huts. “Those are the houses of labour migrants. It is so obvious, and people are proud of it”, says a local resident, “But it is extremely difficult to find low-skilled workers here, to tile, paint or do any other refurbishment works.” It’s the same with shop workers and waitresses. Often, job ads placed on shop windows remain there for many months. They are all abroad – building or refurbishing other people’s houses, looking after other people’s elderly parents or children, fuelling other countries’ economies, paying taxes to those other countries, and so on.

We know this is an economy issue. You may say – create jobs and offer decent pay, and people will stay, or even return. In fact, 65% of Ukrainian labour migrants do want to return home one day (when the above criteria are fulfilled). But who is to create these jobs? The government, foreign investors, or people (residents) themselves? Should they wait for jobs to be created (which does not work in terms of economics) or create the demand for jobs to be created? It should come from the bottom up. With some incentives, of course. And what about remittances? Yes, remittances from labour migrants alone make up of 5.8% GDP in Ukraine (that’s billions of dollars in simple terms) and yes, they may be seen as an investment into the country. But is it really? Remittances are a short-term solution (that often lasts for years) to support people (the loved ones usually) from falling into poverty, and maybe to help them live a somewhat “better” life, in economic terms. In many cases though, it is a dependency tool (which in itself is a topic worth elaborating but another time).

It is families that suffer most, the engine and the foundation of every society. Statistics and case studies prove that every other child whose parents work abroad have mild to severe psychological disorders expressed in one way or another. Many feel guilty or offended as parents tell them “it is for you we have to work abroad – to pay for your college, hobbies, etc.”, others feel abandoned and seek compensation through financial gains as “my mother has to work abroad so she can send me money weekly and I don’t’ really have to stress about work”, yet others struggle to build trustful relationships with peers and adults, or worse to build their own happy families. I have spoken to young people who divide into two groups: those who “will definitely go abroad to work ‘cause they pay more” and “who will stay here if we all leave?”.

Which one would be you (or your kid)?