Abstract
<jats:p>The article conducts a comprehensive study of staffing levels and the degree of compliance with socio-economic security requirements among Ukrainian agricultural enterprises amid the extreme challenges of 2024–2025. It is established that at the current stage, human capital has transformed from an operational resource into a fundamental element of the national economy's strategic survival. The author proves that the state of protection of the agribusiness's vital interests directly depends on management's ability to overcome the critical labor shortage, which affected over 70% of economic entities by the end of 2024. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the development of a multi-factor system of indicators for assessing personnel security that integrates quantitative, qualitative, and economic parameters. The study substantiates the use of turnover, attrition, and employee engagement rates (based on the Q12 methodology) as indicators of internal threats. Attention is paid to calculating the cost per hire and the losses resulting from low productivity during the adaptation period, thereby allowing the objectification of the economic consequences of the "labor famine." The paper applies a mathematical model of an integral security indicator, in which the socio-economic component has a weight coefficient of 0.28, emphasizing the priority of the human factor alongside financial resources. A separate emphasis is placed on the analysis of radical regulatory changes at the beginning of 2025, specifically the full digitalization of the staff reservation procedure via the "Diia" portal and the tightening of enterprise-criticality criteria (increasing the land area threshold to 1,000 hectares and the annual income threshold to 40 million UAH). It is determined that these measures have caused a "grand re-certification" effect in the industry, stimulating businesses to exit the shadow sector and intensify production. Proactive strategies for ensuring agribusiness resilience are formulated, based on technological compensation for labor deficits (precision farming, unmanned solutions) and the development of internal career ladders. It is concluded that the synergy between state support mechanisms and business investment in digitalization is the sole prerequisite for preserving the agricultural sector's staffing potential, a guarantor of global food security.</jats:p>