Press conference held: Positive changes in the labour market of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2014



January 2014 saw an increase of 0.7% in the number of the unemployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina and this trend was reversed in which persisted until June.  In June, July and August, unemployment increased again which was expected due to new inflows of school leavers to unemployment registers and as a consequence of floods which hit the country in May.   The number of the unemployed in the period September- November dropped again, by 0.8% in September, 0.1% in October and 0.05% in November 2014. 

 

Looking back over the past eleven months of 2014, the following characteristics can be noted for the period January-November 2014:

 

• a drop in the number of the unemployed (this number dropped by 9,995 persons or 1.8% compared with January 2014). In comparison to October 2013, the number of the unemployed decreased by 4,155 persons,
• an increase of new entrants to unemployment registers (the total registered increase in the observed period was 1.0% compared to the same period in 2013),
• an increase in the number of job placements by public employment services  (increase of 11,181 persons or 13.1% compared to the same period of the previous year),  
• increase of 14.4% in the number of vacancy announcements notified to public employment services (up by 4,399 announcements),
• increase of 0.2% in the number of persons whose employment terminated (up by 152 persons),
• a drop in the number of unemployment benefit beneficiaries (compared to the average for the same period in 2013 the number was down by 357 beneficiaries or 2.6%). 

 

After a long period the labour market in 2014 saw some positive changes.  The number of persons in employment in BiH was constantly rising in the period January-November 2014, both by monthly and annual comparison, and as from March 2014 the number of the unemployed was continuously dropping (for the first time since 2009) compared with the same period in the previous year.

 

In the period January-September 2014, an upward trend of 1.5% was registered in the number of persons in employment in BiH in comparison to the same period of the previous year.

 

The largest growth in employment in the previous period was registered in the sectors of administrative and support service activities, other service activities, hospitality and catering, manufacturing, agriculture, fishing and forestry.  In the period January-October 2014, the number of persons employed in the sector of administrative and support service activities grew by 7.8% compared to the same period in 2013, in the sector of other service activities by 6.2%, in hospitality and catering sector by 5.6% and in manufacturing by 4.6%.

 

In the same period the largest drop in the number of employed persons was registered in the sector of wholesale and retail trade by 2.3%, construction by 0.9%, financial and insurance activities by 0.7% and public administration by 0.5%. 

 

According to the results of the Labour Force Survey for 2014, the labour force (economically active population) in BiH totalled 1,120,000 persons and the number of inactive population was 1,445,000.  The labour force consisted of 812,000 persons in employment and 308,000 unemployed persons. 

 

The LFS unemployment rate in 2014 was significantly lower from the administrative one and it remained unchanged from 2013 at 27.5% at the level of BiH.  

 

The unemployment rate was highest among young people aged 15 – 24 reaching 62.7%.  In year-over-year comparison, the unemployment rate for this age group increased by 3.6%. 

 

In year-over-year comparison, the number of active and inactive persons constituting the working-age population dropped by 1.3%.  The labour force – active population dropped by 1.1%.  The number of persons in employment was down by 1.2% and the number of the unemployed dropped by 1.0% compared to 2013. 

 

In year-over-year comparison, the employment rate of 31.7% in 2014 increased by 0.1%.

 

According to the LFS, the structure of unemployment by gender is following: 55.8% are men and 44.2% are women.

 

Unemployment by the level of educational attainment shows that 68.3% of the unemployed are persons with secondary education, 19.7% are with primary education or less and 12.0% have completed college, faculty, academy or have obtained mater's or doctoral degree.