In October 2019, the number of registered unemployed in BiH amounted to 401,342.
If we take 2017 as a base year (2017 = 100) and compare October 2019 with the same month of 2018, we will notice that the number of unemployed decreased by 7,6% index points, or in absolute terms the number of people registered as unemployed decreased by 36.441, according to Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Agency for Statistics.
According to data of the Agency for Labor and Employment of BiH, there were 475,549 persons in registers of employment services on November 30, 2017.
In comparison to the previous month, the number of unemployed persons was decreased by 2,642 persons or 0.55 %, and out of the total number of persons that are seeking for employment, 258,035 or 54.26 % are women.
Unemployment in the FBiH was decreased by 1,688 (0.48 %), in Republika Srpska by 927 (0.80 %) and in the Brcko District of BiH for 27 persons (0.25 %).
According to data from the Agency for Statistics of BiH, the number of employed persons in BiH amounted to 754,020 in the month of October 2017, out of which 314,787 were women. In comparison to the month of September 2017, the number of employed persons was decreased by 0.1 % and the number of employed women was reduced by 0.1 % as well.
At the same time, the employment was terminated for 7,757 persons, while employers requested a total of 4,104 new employees during this period.
The rate of registered unemployment for the month of October 2017 amounted to 38.8 % and it was decreased by 0.1 % in comparison to September 2017.
The region of the Western Balkans opened additional 300,000 new workplaces between 2010 and 2016, which represents an overall increase in employment by around 6 %.
This is a good news, but the rate of increase of employment should be accelerated in order to achieve higher impact on the high unemployment rate and widespread inactivity. This was stated in the new report “Trends in the labor market of the Western Balkans in 2017,” which was published by the World Bank and the Institute for International Economic Studies in Vienna.
The new report shows that unemployment rate in the region was decreased, however, it still remains too big with a total of 21 % of the workforce. The unemployment rate gives an estimate of the number of people who want to work and who are actively looking for a job, while the inactivity compares people who are economically inactive due to different reasons. A total of 40 % of the population in working age is inactive – which represents much higher rate in comparison to EU countries, and the inactivity is especially great among women and less educated citizens.
According to the report, the recent recovery in employment was surprisingly in favor of older workers. This is partly explained by demographics since the number of workers in the age group of 55-64 was significantly increased. The employment of this group was increased by more than 20 % in most of the countries. The recovery in employment is also in favor of the higher educated citizens.
“We can see that better education, more than ever, leads to higher employment. The employment of those with a higher level of education was significantly increased, and this also refers to young people,” according to Robert Stehrer, scientific director of the Institute for International Economic Studies from Vienna.
