The Labour and Employment Agency of BiH placed in jobs more than two thousand persons in 2014



In 2014, the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH placed in jobs more than 2,300 BiH citizens.  The placement services were provided under the Agreement on Employment of BiH Citizens in Slovenia and the Agreement on Employment of Medical Workers with Secondary Vocational School in Germany.   

In the first eleven months of 2014, we received 1,160 job announcements from the Republic of Slovenia.  A total of 1,705 contracts were signed and 1,658 work permits issued. 

Out of the total number of persons placed in jobs, 30% are drivers engaged in domestic and international transport, 20% are welders, 18% construction workers (bricklayers, plasterers, electrical and hydro insulation workers), 7% locksmiths, 5% electrical technicians etc.  

With regards to Germany, a total of 106 workers were placed in jobs under the Triple Win Project and 463 workers under the placement procedure of named requests, while 89 applications are still undergoing the approval procedure.   

Placement activities in 2014 were accompanied by the student summer job programme in Germany which provided summer jobs in Germany to 32 students from BiH.

Another major continuous activity of the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH is related to implementation of social security agreements.  By late November 2014 the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH received 1,071 new applications for certificates of insurance periods which are issued for the purpose of granting entitlements to unemployment benefits.  The applications were forwarded to responsible entity-level employment services for further procedure.  In this period a total of 1,074 applications were processed and the applications were filed by the citizens of BiH, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Austria and Germany.

The Labour and Employment Agency of BiH also initiates new agreements on employment and social security within its competencies.   Accordingly, we have initiated the Agreement on Seasonal Employment of BiH Citizens in Croatia.  To this end, the LEA BiH has already fulfilled all its obligations and is awaiting the response of the Government of the Republic of Croatia. 

We have also fulfilled all obligations related to the Agreement on Employment with the State of Qatar. Bosnia and Herzegovina has already ratified the Agreement, but its ratification by the State of Qatar is still pending.   

We have initiated resumption of negotiations of the Agreement on Employment with the Russian Federation and hope that the negotiations will intensify next year.  

In addition to the above, we have taken part in negotiations of agreements on employment and social security with Montenegro.  The Agreement on Employment with the Republic of Hungary has also been initiated.  We have also taken part in the first round of negotiations of the agreements on social security with Australia and Canada.

Owing to its readiness to participate in expert conferences, the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH has become a relevant actor at regional and European level.  Among these, we would like to single out our participation in the conferences organised by the European Commission, the World Association of Public Employment Services, the European Network on Regional Labour Market Monitoring and the Centre of Public Employment Services of the Southeast European Countries.  

 

In 2015, the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH will continue to carry out its regular activities.  It will continue to place medical workers with secondary vocational education in jobs in Germany and provide placement services under the Agreement on Employment signed with Slovenia.

The Labour and Employment Agency of BiH will also continue to implement the student summer job programme which provides BiH students with the opportunity to work in Germany.   

In the next year we expect that the State of Qatar and the Government of the Republic of Croatia will complete their respective procedures related to proposed agreements which will allow us to start with their implementation.  In addition to this, we expect that negotiations with the Russian Federation related to the Agreement on Employment will intensify and that the negotiations of agreements on employment and social security with Montenegro will resume.  We also expect that the initiated negotiations on social security with Canada and Australia will also be resumed.

In addition to the above, the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH will continue to give its contribution in the field of labour migration, proposals of annual work permit quota in Bosnia and Herzegovina and will monitor the issuance of work permits.  It will also continue to take part in the work of the Roma Board to the Council of Ministers of BiH, efficiency analyses of the Roma employment programmes in BiH.  We will also continue with our practice of organising at least one annual international expert conference with intention to collect knowledge and experience from different segments related to the labour market.  We will also continue to monitor the trends in unemployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina and inform the general public thereof.