The unemployment rate in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was 13.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to the results of the Labor Force Survey (LFS).
In the period from January to March, the workforce of BiH consisted of 1,393 million people, of which 1,205 million (86.6 percent) were employed and 187 thousand (13.4 percent) were unemployed.
Compared to the previous quarter, the number of employed persons decreased by 1.3 percent, while the number of unemployed persons increased by 5.9 percent. The number of persons outside the labor force in BiH in the first quarter amounted to 1.483 million and increased by 0.2 percent compared to the previous quarter, according to data from the BiH Agency for Statistics.
In the first quarter of this year, the activity rate was 48.4 percent, the employment rate was 41.9 percent, and the inactivity rate was 51.6 percent.
In that period, 66.4 percent of the total workforce belonged to the age group of 25 to 49 years, followed by 26.3 percent to the age group of 50 to 64 years, 5.8 percent to the age group of 15 to 24 years and 1.5 percent are 65 and older.
Of the total number of unemployed persons, 68.3 percent belong to the age group from 25 to 49 years, then 19.4 percent to the age group from 50 to 64, 11.8 percent to the age group from 15 to 24 years and 0.6 percent are 65 and many years.
The structure of employed persons according to groups of areas of activity shows that the highest participation of employed persons in service activities is 60.3 percent, then in industry and construction 32.8 percent and in agriculture, forestry and fishing 6.8 percent.
The labor force survey in BiH is conducted continuously according to the new, redesigned methodology aligned with the new Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council, which entered into force on January 1st, 2021. The survey was conducted on a sample that included 10,727 households in the first quarter of this year.
