Director Bandić: our aim is to help people choose occupations that are demanded in the labour market



The Labour and Employment Agency of BiH organized today in Sarajevo the conference on the topic “Vocational guidance – a mechanism for reducing unemployment over a long run”.  Participants in the conference were representatives of public employment services from BiH, employers’ associations, chambers of commerce, universities and secondary and primary schools. 

The aim of the conference was to exchange experience and best practice in the implementation of vocational guidance and give answers to how well is the education system in BiH adjusted to the labour market needs, what is the labour supply like and what to do to remedy the identified drawbacks. In his introductory address, Muamer Bandić, Director of the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH, said that “the continuous monitoring of labour market developments has led to a conclusion that occupational groups that are both in short and abundant supply always include the same occupations. This is the result of producing the labour force that is not needed in the labour market, i.e. a small number of enrolments in schools that educate the workers we need. This conference is important because it will attempt to give answers and recommendations as to how to reduce the education of occupations with dim prospects in the labour market and how to give information to people on what is demanded in the labour market.” “The choice of a profession affects many things in life, inter alia whether a person will be employed or not. It is not realistic to expect from children aged 14-15 to think far ahead and this is why they need professional assistance. The crucial role at this stage is played by professional staff working at schools and public employment services.  This is why our aim is to create a system that will help people choose the occupations that are demanded in the labour market”, Bandić said.

After a fruitful work, two working panels and a series of presentations, the conference identified several problems and offered solutions. It was recognized that labour supply does not meet employers’ needs and the requirements of technical and technological progress.  Also, there are no equal standards in the implementation of the vocational guidance model for all labour market actors and the monitoring of labour supply and demand is not appropriate.

In order to address these issues, the conference offered some conclusions. First, it identified the need to raise awareness of the importance of vocational guidance among children, youth and all others who can in any way influence the choice of the future profession. The next step is to define single standards and models for the implementation of vocational guidance at all levels of education and in public employment services.  Furthermore, Entities should put in place an enrolment policy coordination mechanism, increase the efficiency of planning and the system that monitors the supply and demand in the labour market. Also, it is necessary to design vocational guidance programmes that will be jointly implemented by schools, employers and public employment services (practice in real business environment, scholarships for shortage occupations, development of occupational and qualification standards aligned with labour market needs) and finally, create a programme/an online platform that will help students to obtain the information on different professions and the labour market demand for each of them.

At the closing of the conference, the participants underlined the importance of such meetings that gather all relevant entities in one place and offer the exchange of knowledge and experience in addressing specific issues.