Almost 80% of Ukrainian civil servants say they are underpaid

Almost 80% of civil servants believe they are underpaid, the Accounting Chamber reported on Tuesday.

A survey conducted as part of its 2023–2025 audit — covering more than 34,900 civil servants from 114 public authorities — revealed widespread dissatisfaction with the current pay system.

According to the findings, 78.6% of respondents said their salary does not match the scope of their professional duties and fails to reward initiative. Almost half consider their pay unfair compared to similar positions in other institutions.

Data from the National Agency for Civil Service for 2024 confirm the problem: nearly half of civil servants cited critically low wages that do not cover even basic financial needs as the main reason for leaving their jobs.

The Accounting Chamber noted that one of the causes of this situation was the failure to implement the civil service pay reform launched in 2016.

A key element of the reform was the introduction of a job classification system starting in 2024, which was supposed to assign each position to a specific job family, level, and jurisdiction.

During the implementation process, several structural changes were introduced:

→ the base salary was defined as the main component of remuneration;
→ the ratio between the fixed and variable parts was set at 81.7% to 18.3%;
→ the longevity allowance was reduced from 50% to 30%;
→ the average monthly salary of civil servants increased by 43% compared to 2023.

However, the Accounting Chamber concluded that the reform failed to deliver the expected results, undermining the principle of "equal pay for equal work."

"As a result of the reform, the civil service pay system has not become fairer, more transparent, or more motivating. The expected effect — greater motivation, transparency, and competitiveness — has not been achieved. Moreover, the state still lacks complete and reliable data on actual salary payments to civil servants," the Chamber stated.

• In 2025, the Verkhovna Rada passed another law on civil service pay reform, again based on job classification. It provides for the division of remuneration into fixed (base salary, seniority allowance, rank allowance) and variable (bonuses) components.
• The base salary will range from 2.5 to 37.5 times the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons as of January 1 — that is, from UAH 7,570 to UAH 113,550 based on the 2025 minimum wage.