Since the declaration of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the entity employment bureaus, about 40,000 people in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been fired. This figure is certainly higher, because it does not include all those who worked illegally.
With the arrival of autumn and the worsening of the epidemiological situation, we checked whether the fear of a possible new wave of layoffs was justified. In Republika Srpska, according to the data available to the union, 13 thousand workers lost their jobs due to the coronavirus.
Given the increasingly complicated epidemiological situation in the country, trade unions fear that this number could double by the end of the year.
“The situation is very complex and there is a very justified fear of the possibility that, if we have another dangerous wave, more workers will be fired. That is why a request was sent to the Government of RS and the Union of Employers’ Associations to prepare in the best possible way so that as few people as possible lose their jobs and so that the economy is preserved, “said Ranka Misic, president of the RS Trade Union Association.
Businessmen again expect the support of the RS Government, which has so far set aside more than 120 million BAM for the remediation of the consequences of the coronavirus. Especially in the most affected sectors such as manufacturing, catering and transport. If help is lacking, more mass layoffs are, they say, inevitable.
“If there is no significant reaction regarding the reduction of labor taxation and reduction of parafiscals in that segment, then we can expect a significant number of layoffs due to the effects of Covid-19 expected in the second phase of infection,” director of the Union of Employers Sasa Acic said.
“I don’t think there will be a greater dismissal of workers because at this point, the most important thing is to preserve the economic potential of our companies.” In any case, that economic potential also includes employed workers “, says the president of the Banja Luka Chamber of Commerce, Goran Racic.
They also say that the crisis caused by the coronavirus was not equally felt by employees in the public and real sector.
The latest European Social Policy Network report for the European Commission states that the entity governments have adopted a set of measures to combat the negative effects on the economy due to the coronavirus pandemic, but that they may not be enough to save jobs by the end of the year. And this report confirms that the fear of a new wave of layoffs with the arrival of autumn is not unreasonable.
