Federal Prime Minister Fadil Novalic stated on Wednesday in Sarajevo there are no many people fired from work yet because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that the number will be higher in the future.
“3,543 persons got fired. I’d rather say that the number of employees was reduced. That was in March. By mid-March, that number had grown. That number is not big yet, we can service it. If it’s bigger, we have saved funds, it’s a special fund,” said Novalic, Radiosarajevo news portal reports.
When asked about assistance to companies and how much burden the government will take on paying salaries, he said that it was an economic issue, which, after the health one, would be the most important. “We are working intensively on economic models.
We are in contact not only with the Chamber of Commerce and the Employers’ Association, but also with economic experts, the union … We will not prohibit dismissal, it is impossible, a law that guarantees them that they will have unemployment benefits, ” Novalic said.
The Federal Employment Service also told Radiosarajevo.ba that the influx of persons on the unemployment register has increased. “However, we will only have cumulative data for March at the beginning of April, as the cantonal employment services keep records of the unemployed, and will provide us with data for March early next month,” they added.
