Director Bandić: in 2017 the number of persons in employment peaks and the number of the unemployed at lowest level



The Labour and Employment Agency of BiH held a press conference today when Mr. Muamer Bandić, the Agency Director, presented the labour market indicators for 2017 and the performance results of the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH.

Director Bandić underlined that the year 2017 was a year of continuous decrease in unemployment and job growth.  Thus, the unemployment level in December stood at 475 084 persons which is the lowest figure ever recorded since the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH began with these records, i.e. since 2005.  At the same time, the number of persons in employment in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period January-December 2017 increased compared with the same period in 2016, namely by 2.8% or 15 248 persons.  The number of persons in employment in BiH in December stood at 753 202, which is the peak level ever recorded since the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH began to publish this data. The Labour Force Survey for 2017 has shown the same trend and according to LFS the unemployment rate was 20.5%, the lowest rate ever recorded.  The year 2017 was also the year with the highest-ever number of persons from PES registers placed in jobs. For the entire 2017 the number of these placements stood at 140 043.

When it comes to performance of the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH in providing job mediation services, these activities proceeded in accordance with the international employment agreements.  Thus, a total of 9 923 individuals were placed in jobs in the Republic of Slovenia, which is by 107.68% more than in 2016.  Director Bandić particularly highlighted the fact that out of the total number of workforce demanded in Slovenia (16 479), the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH mediated in employment of 60.21% cases alone, which is an exceptionally good result, and the rest of the workforce placed in jobs in Slovenia came from other countries in the region.  At the same time, the Agency mediated in employment of 851 nurses in Germany and assisted 34 students in getting summer jobs in this country under the Summer Job Programme which enabled them to gain work experience, earn money for further studies and improve their German skills. 

Director Bandić stressed that the positive trends in the labour markets of BiH and other countries have also affected the number of the cases of social insurance handled under bilateral social security agreement so that a drop in the number of the said cases was recorded in 2017.