Project
A total of 21 internal trainers conducted lectures on labour market research for 668 employees as part of efforts to reintegrate unemployed people into the BiH job market.
While unemployment continues to be a problem in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the government, in partnership with the EU, are taking steps to resolve it through market-based training and research aimed at designing better employment policies in the country.
Although it has significantly declined in the last seven years to its current rate of around 15%, unemployment remains a pervasive problem in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
This is a serious issue particularly among young people, aged 15 to 24 years, with the jobless rate hovering above 40%. In addition to a mismatch of labour demand and supply, compounded by a limited supply of jobs, the capacity of institutions and employment offices tasked with improving the situation has been limited.
There has been a clear need to improve the monitoring of labour market needs and to upgrade the methods and tools these main actors use to make labour market planning and targeting more effective.
As part of BiH’s journey to join the EU, the government is taking significant steps towards strategically planning and creating the framework for decent employment. This initiative is also a prerequisite for planning future EU financial support to the labour and employment sector in the country.
Over the past two years, particularly in an effort to reintegrate unemployed people into the BiH job market, the EU has been supporting public employment services. The NIRAS-led consortium guiding this effort has been focussing on improving active measures of employment, facilitating cooperation with employers, adjusting the methodology of labour market research, and developing employment strategies.
At its closing conference last month, the project – entitled ’Improving labour market research’ – was recognised for its training of employees of the national Employment Office. As part of the “Labor Market Research Improvement Academy“ and specialised training modules for target groups, 21 internal trainers conducted lectures in the field of labor market research for a total of 668 employees.
The project team also provided institutions with support during the three cycles of labor market research on the territory of BiH, for which a unique data collection methodology was used. The resulting reports will be an important source of data in the policy creation process in the country.
Speaking at the closing event, Stefano Ellero, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegationto BiH said, “As part of this project, we provided support for the improvement of the efficiency of the employment policies in BiH as well as certain strategic documents.
It is known that the real sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina rests on the efficiency of employment policies, therefore, without effective engagement of the workforce that meets the needs of the employers, the economy cannot develop, and without the devlopment of the economy, the entire society stagnates – the pension system, the public sector, education, healthcare and other sectors.“
In 2022 alone, the BiH authorities spent between KM80 and KM90 million on activities to improve employment policies, with literally hundreds of people from public employment services contributing greatly to the work. Methodologically and structurally harmonised surveys on the needs of employers in BiH as a whole were also conducted.
Head of the NIRAS-led project team, Ranko Markuš said “The knowledge provided to public employment services and line ministries of labor is immediately applicable, which has shown that even without major political discussions, without changes to legal solutions, policies can be harmonized at a professional level and institutions can act together. We have put a lot of focus on the evaluations of active measures of employment and their redesign. It is very important to determine what works, what doesn’t and how to fix the measures, espesically considering the significant funds allocated for their financing.“
This EU-financed €1.28-million project, which directly supported public employment services and line ministries of labor in performing their duties, is only one of the many projects within the comprehensive EU support to BiH in the employment sector. The implementing Consortium comprised NIRAS IC Sp z o.o., GOPA Worldwide Consultants, GOPA GmbH Germany and the Employment Office of the Republic of France.
