The Verkhovna Rada explained what pensions and social benefits really depend on
The Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Social Policy and Veterans' Rights Protection, Halyna Tretyakova, stated that the real source of guaranteeing social payments is not their linkage to the subsistence minimum or minimum wage, but the availability of funds in the state budget. At the same time, these funds appear only when citizens pay taxes, fees, and other mandatory payments, from which the country’s budget is formed.
According to her, the idea of securing social payments through certain calculated indicators — the subsistence minimum or minimum wage — has been discussed in Ukraine for many years. However, in reality, such linkage does not create any real guarantee.
She emphasized that the subsistence minimum is only a normative indicator, and the minimum wage is a state social guarantee in the field of labor remuneration. At the same time, neither of these indicators fills the budget but are used only as a basis for calculations.
According to the committee chair, every year the Law on the State Budget sets the size of the subsistence minimum. And all these years this indicator lags behind the actual cost of living.
"Social payments are supposedly 'protected' by law, but the very base to which they are linked is determined by a political decision during the budget approval," she noted.
Tretyakova also pointed out that if the state does not have sufficient financial resources or seeks to restrain expenditures, it does not increase the real subsistence minimum to an economically justified level. As a result, dozens of social payments automatically remain low.
She explained that social payments are financed from taxes paid by citizens and enterprises. It is these funds that are directed to pensions, assistance to low-income families, support for people with disabilities, payments to families with children, medical programs, education, and other state expenditures.
"The source of any social payment is not the formula for its calculation, but the taxes paid by millions of Ukrainians," emphasized the committee chair.
Tretyakova noted that changing the formula for calculating social payments by itself does not create additional funds.
Therefore, in her opinion, the main task of the state should be to ensure economic growth, legal employment, a fair tax system, and effective use of budget funds.
It should be noted that by the end of June, the State Employment Service database had 63.2 thousand vacancies — approximately 2 for every 3 registered unemployed persons. However, employers still experience a shortage of personnel, especially qualified ones. Job seekers' skills do not always meet the requirements of vacancies.
In which regions the number of unemployed changed
Compared to June 2025, the number of registered unemployed increased the most in certain western regions:
- Ivano-Frankivsk region — by 19.4%;
- Ternopil region — by 16.2%;
- Chernivtsi region — by 12%;
- Lviv region — by 10%;
- Volyn region — by 7.2%.
At the same time, in some regions the number of registered unemployed decreased:
- in Rivne region — by 9.1%;
- in Poltava region — by 6.9%;
- in Kyiv region — by 4.6%.
Such differences may be influenced by the movement of people between regions, the structure of the local economy, and employer demand.
As reported by the "Judicial and Legal Newspaper", according to the Ministry of Economy’s estimates, about 25.9 million people live in the territory controlled by Ukraine. Among them, approximately 13.1 million are employed, 7.2 million are people aged 65 and older, and 5.1 million are children.
At the same time, the Ministry of Economy’s forecast for 2026–2036, prepared jointly with the BMG company, predicts an increase in the economy’s need for workers to approximately 14.6 million employed persons by 2036.
The greatest shortage is forecasted in technical, engineering, manufacturing, and construction professions, as well as in medicine, trade, and service sectors.
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