Labour and Employment Agency of BiH participates in international conference on labour market evolution



A delegation of the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH, led by Muamer Bandić, Director, attended the international conference “International Workforce Development Week” held this week in Washington D.C., USA.  The Conference was organized by the World Association of Public Employment Services (WAPES) in cooperation with the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA), OECD Leed and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).   

The events that took place during the International Week gathered experts, policy makers, representatives of different partner organisations and decision makers from around the world to share their challenges, experience and initiatives in keeping pace with digitization, new technologies, and the evolution of the world of work.  Many public employment services that are WAPES members also attended the event. 

The Conference was divided in two panels, the first one on “Local Responses to the Future of Work” and the second on “The Role of Technology in the Delivers of Services for Public Employment Services”.  The Conference ended with the WAPES Managing Board meeting which was also attended by representatives of the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH. 

“The aim of the Conference is to get an insight into challenges and changes emerging from the evolution of the labour market, primarily the artificial intelligence and digital technologies. It is already clear that many jobs are at risk of destruction due to these changes and we now face the challenge of how to act in order to adapt human resources to new requirements of the labour market”, said Muamer Bandić and added that “workforce development and skills training programmes are under increasing pressure to create more adaptable people and places. While negative impacts of new technologies are already there in terms of destruction of a large number of jobs, the new world of work also creates unprecedented opportunities to transform industry and promote inclusive growth. Apprenticeships have a clear role to play in better linking the education system with employers’ demand, but the main question is how local policies can respond to these challenges and to what extent, and to what extent is the joint approach of multiple states needed. Given these important issues, it is essential that the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH takes part in such events in order to be prepared to tackle the challenges awaiting our labour market”.