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The country's labor force totals approximately 28 million people. About 40 percent of workers are employed in industry, 40 percent in the service sector, and 20 percent in agriculture. Unemployment is rising steadily, especially in the form of hidden unemployment, which includes people who have been kept on payrolls but have not been paid salaries. Although official data reported an unemployment rate of only 1.6 percent in 1996, the minister of labor acknowledged an actual rate of more than 11 percent. Trade union membership is strong, reaching nearly 100 percent of the workforce. The miners' unions are especially active.

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Crop of wheat in Ukraine

Agriculture

The primary crops are wheat, corn, and sugar beets. Small private plots account for much of the vegetables and fruits that are grown. Livestock raising is widespread and involves cattle, hogs, sheep, and goats. Despite heavy government subsidies, agricultural output declined by 35 percent between 1990 and 1995. Collective cooperatives and state-owned farms, holdovers from the Soviet period, continue to outnumber privately owned farms; private ownership is allowed, but lack of capital, social attitudes, and the high cost of fuel have discouraged it. The major agricultural regions are located in central and southern Ukraine, where the fertile chernozem soil is found.

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Forestry in the Carpathian Mountains

Forestry and Fishing

Forestry is based in the Carpathian Mountains in western Ukraine. This sector has been in decline for decades because of excessive timber harvesting in the 1950s and 1960s. Consequently, Ukraine imports much of its lumber and paper. The fishing industry, once relatively well developed, experienced a sharp drop in productivity in 1992 from which it has not recovered. The catch of common carp, for example, decreased from 105 metric tons in 1991 to 45 metric tons in 1992.

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Miners end of shift

Mining

Ukraine is the world's largest producer of manganese ore and second largest producer of iron ore. Reserves of these minerals are located primarily in the south central Kryvyy Rih area. Ukraine is also the world's fourth largest producer of bituminous coal (soft coal), which is concentrated in the Donets Basin of the southeastern Donets'ka region. The mining sector is hampered by outdated equipment and inefficiency, however, and its productivity severely declined between 1990 and 1995.

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Ukrainian products

Manufacturing

Ukraine has a large ferrous metallurgical industry. Heavy industries such as metalworking, mechanical engineering, and machinery and chemicals manufacturing also dominate the industrial sector. Light industries producing consumer goods such as household appliances are underdeveloped by Western standards. Between 1990 and 1995, output in major industries such as metallurgy, coal mining, and chemicals manufacturing decreased by nearly 60 percent. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine's industrial sector has been cut off from its traditional markets, and supplies from former republics are no longer easily accessible. Products of relatively poor quality and stiff international competition obstruct entry into the global market, while the increasing cost of the energy needed to power industry makes many items too expensive to produce. Other products, especially those of the large defense sector, are no longer in demand.

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Russian limousine, on the street of Kyiv

Services

Many of the enterprises included in the service sector are poorly developed, especially in rural areas. The tourism industry, for example, is hindered by a shortage of hotels and inadequate transportation.

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Dneiprohes, Zaporizhzhya

Energy

Most of Ukraine's energy, or about 60 percent, is supplied by coal- and oil-based thermal power stations. Less than 10 percent of its energy is supplied by hydroelectric stations, most notably the Dniprohes hydroelectric station on the Dnieper near Zaporizhzhya, one of Europe's largest. Ukraine's five nuclear power plants generate about 30 percent of the country's electricity. To supply its energy needs, Ukraine must import 80 percent of its natural gas and 90 percent of its oil. Lacking the funds to purchase what it needs, however, Ukraine has had to sharply curtail its consumption of these sources. The resulting energy shortage explains the country's reluctance to immediately shut down the hazardous Chernobyl' nuclear power station. Ukraine's reliance on nuclear power is expected to increase, with the government planning to complete construction on two plants that were partially built during the Soviet period.

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Voksal (station) in Ukraine

Transportation and Communications

Ukraine has an extensive state-owned and centrally planned transportation system of uneven quality. There are about 163,000 km (about 101,000 mi) of roads and highways and 23,000 km (14,000 mi) of railroad track. The Dnieper and the Danube rivers are major waterways for international freight. Major airports are in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Donets'ka, and L'viv. Air Ukraine is the national airline. The largest seaports, located on the Black Sea coast, are in Odesa, Illchinsk, and Mykolayiv. Major cities have subway systems, but automobiles are the fastest growing mode of transportation.
In the mid-1990s Ukraine had approximately 3340 newspapers, about half of which were government-owned. Many newspapers face rising production costs and plummeting readership. The largest newspaper is Holos Ukrainy (Voice of Ukraine), which has about 500,000 subscribers and is sponsored by the legislature. Although the blatant censorship of the Soviet regime has come to an end, the government still has indirect means of influencing the media.

To read the continuation :
Ukraine - presentation part V
Summary :
Foreign Trade
Currency and Banking
Government
Executive
Legislature
Judiciary
Local Government
Political Parties

Don't forguet :
Born From Pain : The Children of Chornobyl
THE WORLD CAN NOT AFFORD TO IGNORE WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN UKRAINE. WE MUST LEARN FROM THIS NUCLEAR DISASTER.

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