Drop in employment in January largest in Tuzla, Sarajevo, and Zenica-Doboj Cantons, number of pensioners also increased

(Patria) - The number of employees based on employee residence on December 31, 2024, in the Federation of BiH was 551,452. The number of employees on January 31, 2025, was 546,863, a difference of 4,589 people, according to data from the FBiH Tax Administration. Since the beginning of January, the decision on a minimum wage of 1,000 KM has been in effect, and since November 17 last year, Sunday has been a non-working day for the retail sector. Whether these are the first effects of these two decisions and whether the negative trend will continue will be shown in the next monthly review by the FBiH Tax Administration.

The largest difference in the number of employees was recorded in Tuzla Canton, with 1,081 fewer employees at the end of January compared to December. This is followed by Sarajevo Canton with 791 fewer people, then Zenica-Doboj Canton with 733, Central Bosnia Canton with 732…

In these three cantons alone (TK, KS, ZDK), there are 2,605 fewer employees, which is more than half of the total number for the entire FBiH.

In other cantons, the difference between the number of employees in December and January is smaller.

In the structure of contributions in January 2025, the following were collected: contributions for Pension and Disability Insurance (PIO/MIO) in the amount of 253,697,810 KM, contributions for Health Insurance in the amount of 174,719,649 KM, contributions for Unemployment Insurance in the amount of 20,898,486 KM.

Given that the health and pension insurance funds are filled from contributions on employee salaries, it should be noted that 298 million KM were needed for the payment of January pensions in FBiH. The number of pensioners who received pensions for January was 456,433 beneficiaries. Compared to the number of 453,900 beneficiaries in December, there was a significant increase. The difference between the number of employees and the number of pensioners in FBiH is only 90,430 people.

In the table overview, you can see the data at the end of December 2024 and at the end of January 2025.