Continuation of the agony in the labor market in FBiH

(Patria) - The Employers' Association of FBiH expresses regret over the missed opportunity to improve and systematically regulate the labor market in FBiH by adopting the new Law on Employment Mediation and Social Security of Unemployed Persons.

The House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament, at its session held yesterday, did not adopt this law, on which social partners, namely the government, employers, and trade unions, had worked for the past three years, expending huge capacities, and the Draft Law received broad support from both social partners and the public. During the session, no convincing reasons for not adopting this law were heard.

We remind you that the Law aimed to separate the records of active and passive job seekers, improve the dysfunctional employment mediation system, and reduce the grey labor market and the enormous costs the system incurs due to poor management of these institutes.

The opportunity was also missed in relation to cantonal laws and the improvement of the work of cantonal employment services, as most cantons were waiting for the adoption of the federal law with the aim of harmonization.

We will all feel the damage from the non-adoption of the law, including workers, employers, and the government. Employment services will continue their practice of registering the unemployed instead of actively employing them.

The number of unemployed registered in FBiH remains at 250,000, a huge number of workers continue to draw benefits from employment services simultaneously, while the economy is crying out for labor. The system still has no control over the real labor market, employers have no overview of available active job seekers, we support the seasonal work of our workers in neighboring countries instead of in Bosnia and Herzegovina, all of which causes great damage to investments, development, and the overall economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We believe that the public is aware that this is a missed opportunity for at least another two years due to the overall political circumstances.

On the other hand, employers welcome the adoption of amendments to the Law on Employment of Foreigners, which are more technical in nature, but will certainly improve procedures and shorten deadlines for issuing work permits.

Unlike the inefficiency in considering and adopting regulations related to labor law, specifically the Law on Employment Mediation and Social Security of Unemployed Persons, from the employers' perspective, an important part of yesterday's session and the representatives' activities was also the adoption of a set of financial laws.

This represents an exceptional legislative step forward for doing business in FBiH, as the adoption of regulations on banks, electronic money, payment services, payment accounts, protection of financial service users, foreign exchange operations, leasing, and others is a significant contribution to modernizing business, joining SEPA, harmonizing with EU standards, digitalization, and reducing costs for entrepreneurs, and opening better prospects for doing business in the EU market.