After grounding to a halt during the pandemic, numerous countries struggled to restart their economies. While both national and EU-wide programmes, such as the NextGenerationEU, provided the financial stimulus needed, they could not provide one key element for economic recovery: a strong and available labour force. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced millions to flee westwards, seeking refuge all across the continent. The EU was quick to respond, as it opened its borders by adopting the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD), and with it the temporary protection mechanism for persons fleeing the war in Ukraine. These instruments granted Ukrainian refugees the right to reside in the EU, and access to housing and the labour market. However, almost two years on, we see that the Member States have not succeeded in guiding the Ukrainian refugees towards their labour markets, at least not to the degree possible. This article, therefore, focuses on the implementation of the TPD, the unique demographics of the Ukrainian refugees, and the discrepancies in Ukrainian employment between Member States, in order to address why their employment rates remain low and, in doing so, shine a light on possible areas of improvement.