Employers Agree: Public Sector Consumes What the Real Sector and Citizens Pay into the Budget, Small Difference Between Pensioners and Employees

(Patria) - The FBiH Employers' Association at today's press conference in Sarajevo appealed to authorities at all levels to stop pressure on employers by improving the business environment.

They discussed current developments in the business environment, fiscal and parafiscal burdens, consequences of the Decision on the Minimum Wage Amount, regulations in the field of labor and employment, workers' health care, trade issues...

“Inflation has already started, a significant number of layoffs have already begun, these are the negative consequences of the minimum wage decision. This will certainly increase the gray zone and the gray economy, and most painfully, it will stop or slow down economic growth,” said Adnan Smailbegović, President of the Association.

He asked why fiscal reforms are being delayed.

“Fiscalization is a good method and model for reducing the gray economy; we have long called for online fiscalization. The second issue is the public sector, which statistically is the largest in Europe. The average in Europe is 16 percent of employees in the public sector, Switzerland has the lowest at 12 percent, while here we have two figures, both catastrophic: one is 43 percent, and the other is 34 percent. Simply put, the public sector consumes everything that the real sector and citizens pay into the budget. Next, the ratio of pensioners to employees in Europe: only Romania is worse than us, our average is 1.15, while the European average is 1.7. This means we need 250,000 workers, or to transfer about 100,000 from the public sector to the real sector and employ another 150,000,” said Selimbegović.

He called for the urgent adoption of fiscal reform.

“It will certainly be painful for many, but it is necessary,” said Smailbegović.

He said that laws concerning sick leave, employment mediation, employment of foreigners, etc., also need to be reformed.

The difference between the number of employees and the number of pensioners in FBiH for January amounted to 90,430 people.

The number of pensioners who received pensions for January was 456,433 beneficiaries, while the number of employees as of January 31, 2025, was 546,863.