Consequence of the FBiH Government's Decision: In the First 17 Days of January, 1,153 Layoffs in Sarajevo Canton Alone, of Which 955 Seek Compensation

(Patria) - The Director of the Sarajevo Canton Employment Service, Amina Džonlagić, stated tonight on TV Sarajevo that it is unacceptable for the FBiH Government to have adopted the Decision on a minimum wage of 1,000 KM overnight and without planning.

- At least employers, and believe me, neither institutions nor public enterprises knew that such a decision would be made, and the biggest problem is precisely this unpredictability. When financial plans have already been written and adopted, when budgets for employee salaries have already been set in both the real and public sectors - said Džonlagić.

She warns that the economy must not be put in a situation where we have such unpredictable decisions.

- I cannot say that analyses were not conducted, but their quality can still be questioned. If it had been approached seriously, we would not have as a consequence such a hasty decision, overnight, and putting especially the private sector in an unenviable situation.

Here, the cost of labor is very high, and no one takes care of entrepreneurs, craftsmen, micro-enterprises, and the burden on these people's work. Businesspeople are not now expressing dissatisfaction because of this 1,000 KM.

For eight years, we have continuously warned the authorities, regardless of which one, that the budget cannot be filled exclusively in this way by increasing the cost of labor, i.e., by constantly increasing contributions - said Džonlagić, as reported by Patria.

She emphasizes that employers, economic analysts, and university professors - the entire profession - share the same opinion that this should not have happened.

We have persistently sought changes to the set of fiscal laws. From that side, it is irresponsible. For this reason, we proposed that total contributions be reduced by 10.5 percent - explained Džonlagić.


Džonlagić: Decision made overnight (Photo: Screenshot/TVSA)

She points out that in the last eight years, non-taxable benefits have been halved, including meal allowances, daily allowances for official travel, vacation pay...

- That means, all these non-taxable benefits were abolished by previous governments on the pretext of reducing contributions, and employers somehow managed. And if we are honest, governments have not improved the business environment, and even these allowances that were prescribed as non-taxable aid due to inflation in the last two years were also at the expense of businesspeople.

If you do not provide a better business environment for the entrepreneur to increase revenues in his company, he has no way to even pay the worker something non-taxable, because he neither predicted it nor did his income grow. And then we come to a situation where the government creates a conflict between those who together create the wealth of a country - that is, the entrepreneur and his employee, on the principle of divide and rule. There should be no division between employer and employee - says Džonlagić.

She presented data that in the first 14 days of January, the number of registered unemployed at the Sarajevo Canton Employment Service increased, as reported by Patria.

- In the last few days, in Hadžići alone, which is a small municipality where we do not have a large number of unemployed on the register, we have 100 applications for financial compensation.

From January 3 to 16, 1,171 newcomers were registered on the unemployment register, of which 1,153 were from employment, meaning these are exclusively layoffs. And we already have 955 applications for financial compensation, meaning that people who have been employed for at least eight months received layoffs, because that is when they qualify for financial compensation.

The number of registered unemployed, specifically from employment, i.e., due to layoffs, has increased. People still do not know whether to lay off or not. This decision is still not entirely clear. It is a process; you cannot make decisions ad hoc - added Džonlagić.