According to the International Center for Prospective Studies, the most popular destination for Ukrainian citizens who prefer to earn a living abroad is Russia. According to various data, between 1 and 1.5 million citizens of the country work in Russia. Mainly in construction, retail trade, or the transport sector. Second place is occupied by neighboring Poland, where 300,000 Ukrainians go annually for agricultural work. They are followed by Spain (200-250 thousand people - predominantly men, in construction), Italy (250 thousand - women, caring for children and the elderly). Approximately 100,000 Ukrainian citizens each work in Portugal, the Czech Republic, and Greece.
At the same time, as the émigrés themselves explain, their 'diaspora' has already developed its own hierarchy. Those who are richer go to work in Western European countries - Portugal, Italy, Spain. The less well-off are left with Poland, Russia, and for residents of western regions - the wealthier eastern regions of Ukraine and Kyiv. This is due not only to the cost of travel to the place of work, but also to the need to obtain visas and pay bribes to customs officers. Furthermore, Ukrainians go to Western European countries mainly by purchasing a tourist package, the cost of which ranges from €500 to €1,000.
From Western Ukraine, oddly enough, women go to work. Men stay with the children to manage the household. Recently, one of the favorite topics of Ukrainian TV channels has become divorces in families where one spouse has worked abroad for more than five years. Currently, Chernivtsi region leads in this regard.
However, the huge number of emigrants creates problems not only for the growing economy, which needs skilled labor, but also for spouses and children. The well-off children of 'zarobitchans' (labor migrants), left in the care of often not even the other parent but relatives, refuse to study, gradually get involved in drugs, etc. Teachers say it is extremely difficult to influence them, since such teenagers often have quite significant sums at their disposal and, as a result, practically a 100% guarantee of admission to a university on a contract basis. If the average salary in Ukraine is currently $200, then abroad one can earn from €500 to €1,000. People send the lion's share of these funds home. In Western Ukraine, even in small villages, there are necessarily offices of companies dealing with electronic transfers.
'Foreign money' has also led to an unprecedented rise in real estate prices throughout the country, especially in the western regions. This is because most of those working abroad try to invest in houses and land, and only a few start their own business in Ukraine.
One of the points of Viktor Yushchenko's presidential program at one time was the proclamation of the creation of an additional 5 million jobs so that 'all those who left could return home.' To date, according to official data, about one million have been created. But, as local officials themselves say, they exist in most cases 'on paper,' since every grandmother selling vegetables from her own garden at the market is recorded as a 'job.' At the same time, officials say that when counting new jobs, representatives of regional state administrations did not take into account the number of those that closed. Thus, it turns out that there is no point in 'zarobitchans' returning yet.
Perhaps that is why the number of those wishing to go work abroad is not decreasing. According to a sociological study by the Kyiv Institute of Problems of Management, conducted in December 2006, 49.65% of Ukrainians would like to work outside their country. 14.75% of respondents would like to go to Russia, to the USA or Canada - 9.29%, to Poland - 3.43%, to another European country - 15.56%, and to any other country in the world - 6.62%.