THE CONTRIBUTION OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES TO ENSURE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF ECONOMIC GROWTH IN UKRAINE

The article analyzes the formation and realization of Ukrainian small businesses' potential to increase the labor paid. Based on the results of a comparative analysis of the ratio of productivity growth and real wages for small, medium and large enterprises, as well as taking into account the trends in the share of labor costs in the value added generated by small, medium and large enterprises, we have obtained empirical evidence that if the current trends continue, the redistribution of the total number of employees in favor of small and, in particular, microenterprises will harm the economic conditions for the growth of labor paid and wider involvement the employees to the distribution of benefits, generated by business activity. This may exacerbate the problem of the "forced", exclusively regulatory nature of the enterprises’ motivation to participate in human capital development programs: a problem when the investment of enterprises in increasing the human capital of employees is extremely limited and the willingness to bear additional costs for the preservation of human potential in times of war is determined only by legal requirements or special incentive measures of the government. Such a leading role of state coercion and a subordinate role of commercial motivation significantly reduces the likelihood of the Ukrainian economy approaching a sustainable development trajectory. In addition, it is proven that the traditional grouping of small and medium-sized enterprises in modern economics does not correspond to the trends in the dynamics of productivity, real wages and their share in value added observed in relation to small and medium-sized enterprises in Ukraine.