The Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) published an overview of the labor market situation as of October 31st.
Namely, as they announced, as of October 31st, there were 315.487 persons registered with employment institutes and services. The number of unemployed persons is lower by 681 compared to September, or by 0.22 percent. Of the total number of those seeking employment, 188.199 are women, or 59.66 percent. The number of unemployed persons compared to last year is lower by 7.665, or 2.37 percent.
Unemployment in the Federation of BiH (FBiH) decreased by 334 (0.13 percent), in the Republika Srpska (RS) by 274 (0.55 percent), and in the Brcko District by 73 persons (0.53 percent). The structure of persons seeking employment as of October 31st is as follows: Unskilled workers 91.126 (28.89 percent), of which 36.092 (28.36 percent) men and 55.034 (29.24 percent) women; Semi-skilled workers – lower vocational education 4.129 (1.31 percent), of which 1.926 (1.51 percent) men and 2.203 (1.17 percent) women; Skilled workers 98.855 (31.33 percent), of which 49.752 (39.09 percent) men and 49.103 (26.09 percent) women; Highly skilled workers 594 (0.19 percent), of which 433 (0.35 percent) men and 161 (0.09 percent) women; Workers with secondary education 90.927 (28.82 percent), of which 30.490 (23.96 percent) men and 60.437 (32.11 percent) women; Workers with post-secondary education 4.706 (1.49 percent), of which 1.571 (1.23 percent) men and 3.135 (1.67 percent) women; Workers with higher education 25.141 (7.97 percent), of which 7.015 (5.51 percent) men and 18.126 (9.63 percent) women.
Of the total number of registered unemployed persons in October 2025, newly registered jobseekers numbered 13.014, of whom 6.953 were women.
The number of persons removed from the records of employment institutes and services was 13.740. The number of women removed from the records was 7.081. Of the total number removed from the records of employment institutes and services, 8.144 were employed (59.27 percent), of whom 4.324 were women (53.09 percent).
In October, employers reported to employment institutes and services in BiH 2.777 needs for hiring new workers, of whom 660 were women, while the registered number of persons whose employment ended in the reporting period was 8.993. The registered number of women whose employment ended was 4.802 (53.40 percent).
According to data from the Agency for Statistics of BiH, the number of employed persons in September 2025 amounted to 853.172, of whom 390.404 were women. The number of employed persons compared to August 2025 increased by 0.9 percent, while the number of employed women increased by 1.5 percent.
Quarterly overview
According to the results of the Labour Force Survey for the third quarter of 2025, the labour force (economically active population) comprised 1.44 million persons, while the number of inactive persons was 1.43 million. Within the labour force, there were 1.28 million employed persons and 162 thousand unemployed persons. The survey unemployment rate at the level of BiH for the third quarter was significantly lower than the registered rate, which amounted to 11.2 percent.
The number of employed persons in the third quarter of 2025 was higher by 4.8 percent compared to the second quarter of 2025, while the number of unemployed persons decreased by 12 percent.
The unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2025 amounted to 11.2 percent and is lower compared to the second quarter of 2025 (13.1 percent) by 1.9 percentage points. The survey employment rate in the third quarter of 2025 amounted to 44.5 percent and is higher compared to the second quarter of 2025 (42.5 percent) by 2.0 percentage points.
The youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24) in the third quarter of 2025 amounted to 33.5 percent and is lower compared to the second quarter of 2025 (33.9 percent) by 0.4 percentage points, the Agency for Statistics of BiH announced.
