Two reports, the first by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and the second by UNHCR, have highlighted Ukrainian refugees' precarious employment conditions. The reports shed light on the risk of labour exploitation for Ukrainian refugees, amid high levels of employment in the informal sector across Europe.

In the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights report, 'Fleeing Ukraine':

• 16 % of survey respondents mentioned having to work very long hours
• 10 % stated that they had been underpaid or not paid at all.
• 8 % said that they could not communicate freely with other workers or anyone else.
• 8% said that they had worked without a contract or with a contract that did not cover all working hours.

UNHCR's regional protection analysis similarly highlights reports of labour exploitation across Hungary, Poland, Moldova, Slovakia, and Romania. The report notes that during focus group discussions, refugees said that they were asked to work long hours or earned low salaries in comparison to employees from the host country.