OREANDA-NEWS. March 24, 2008. Ukrainian labor migrants working in the European Union member-countries sent to Ukraine in 2007 EUR 27 billion, which is 8% of the national gross domestic product, says Geoffrey Labowic, head of the International Migration Organization office in Ukraine. 

In his words, a new dynamic of migration processes in Europe is observed: the demand for labor migrants in industrialized countries is on rise due to their reduction of able-bodies population. About seven million Ukrainians are working in the European Union and Russia, just 500,000 of them having officials permits, he said.

He also says his organization is planning to study seasonal migration in Ukraine, adding that consultative centers for migrants currently working in Kyiv, Ternopil, Lviv, Odesa and Kharkiv will be united into a single national network.

Earlier, Deputy Labor and Social Policy Minister Viktor Ivankevych said around 3.5 million Ukrainians are working abroad, maximum 2% of them legally.