In Sarajevo, 542 people lost their jobs in 12 days, 10,000 workers to be laid off on April 1st

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – While BiH faces its biggest post-war crisis in the fight against the coronavirus, in which 12 lives have already been lost, all spheres of life will feel the consequences.

The economy of BiH is suffering one of the strongest blows, and since mid-March, when restrictive measures began, most companies, due to the inability to operate daily, were forced to cease operations and thus leave workers without a livelihood. Some reduced workers' salaries, others sent them on vacation, while several thousand have already lost their jobs and income. 

The real consequences will be clearer by mid-April, and hundreds of those who have lost their jobs in the past two weeks are already registered with cantonal employment services.

On March 18th, there were 58,029 people registered with the KS Employment Service, while on March 30th, there were already 58,571 people, an increase of 542 people. 

Most of the newly registered state that they were laid off due to the crisis caused by the coronavirus. 

A few days ago, a group of about thirty Sarajevo hoteliers and restaurateurs, who have been most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, appealed to the authorities to ease their business operations by paying contributions for workers or introducing a moratorium on loan repayments. However, to date, there have been no official relief measures for entrepreneurs, and starting tomorrow, April 1st, the number of unemployed could increase by 10,000 people.