Digital employment pathways for Ukrainian refugees in Romania: an exploratory study of remote job offers

Abstract The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered the largest displacement crisis in Europe since World War II, resulting in millions of refugees, primarily women with children, seeking safety across the continent. As the crisis continues, the transition from emergency response to long-term integration, and labor market inclusion has emerged as a critical priority. Remote or digital work, which proved essential during the COVID-19 pandemic, presents a potentially transformative solution, especially for displaced individuals facing mobility, caregiving, or legal constraints. This article seeks to answer what types of digital job opportunities are available to Ukrainian refugees in Romania, and how are these opportunities distributed across sectors, experience levels, and contract types, in order to identify the major trends and limitations of such labour integration measures. Drawing on a developed web scraping and real-time data analysis approach on data from Jobs4Ukraine platform, the study identifies the dominance of full-time and permanent roles, and the positive correlation of entry-level positions, positive for refugees´ integration prospects, but also significant limitations. The digital labor market remains concentrated in high-skills sectors like IT, with a strong bias toward mid-level experience and a lack of flexible, part-time, or freelance opportunities, which are paramount for the majority of Ukrainian refugees with caregiving responsibilities. These trends indicate an exacerbation of the problem of exclusion among this group, as well as other groups with similar vulnerability characteristics. The findings highlight the need for more inclusive digital employment strategies that address structural barriers through policy reform, upskilling programs, and adaptive job design. Ultimately, digital work holds substantial potential as a pathway for economic integration and resilience, but realizing this promise requires intentional efforts to make the digital labor market more accessible, equitable, and responsive to the diverse realities of displaced populations.