Half of the B&H Federation on Permanent Vacations

Every Day 30 Workers out of Work

Almost one half of labour active population of the Federation of Bosnia&Herzegovinia (FB&H) has no problem with vacations. Since they are unemployed, they are not tired and are practically on permanent vacation.

AIM, Sarajevo, July 9, 2001

"A demobilised soldier looking for any kind of work", "Willing to clean flats, stairs, to baby-sit or do any other kind of work" - these are the usual cries for help advertised in B&H daily papers and, judging by all, their number will continue to grow by the day. Since the beginning of this year, month after month the number of officially employed persons in F B&H has been decreasing and that of unemployed constantly increasing. Every day, 30 workers on average 30 lost their jobs so that in April the employed in F B&H officially numbered 407,677, which is 3,657 workers less than in January. At the same time, the official statistics have registered 266,095 unemployed workers in F B&H, which represents 1,955 new names on Employment Bureau's lists compared to January, which altogether gives the unemployment rate of some 40 percent.

As it usually happens, things look a bit different in real life than the statisticians see them. The number of officially employed also includes over 33 thousand of those who are still "waiting" and who will officially become unemployed in the coming weeks and months. That means that the actual number of employed is much smaller than the official statistical data show. A vast majority of them have been "waiting" for years without receiving any salaries, while their health care and pension contribution have not been paid either so that it turns out that their only role was to improve the statistical average number of employed. These are mostly workers of one-time large state enterprises. After the war only name and ruins remained of these one-time giants. On the other hand, the flourishing "grey economy" enabled thousands of people to survive by "moonlighting".

Nevertheless, such jobs are getting scarce because with the reduced donations there is less money in circulation and consequently less work everywhere - from coffee shops to construction firms. Among those who are "moonlighting" there are several thousands local, mostly educated young people who work for international organisations in B& with average salaries of DM 1 - 2 thousand, which is several time more than the official average wages in F B&H - DM 433. After years of arguing, the local authorities have finally agreed with their employers (international organisations) to legalise their employment, i.e. to start charging pension and health care contributions. The result of the achieved compromise is that foreigners are unwilling to pay contributions for local staff, while in turn, the local authorities agreed to turn a blind eye and take their word that they do not pay more than DM 400 to 800 a month to the local staff, because that is the tax base on which they would be paying contributions. This would increase the number of officially employed persons and also bring tangible benefits to pension funds.

In the meantime, the fear of losing a job is slowly spreading among those who are still working. Privatisation process of state enterprises is in full swing and economic experts forecast that the new owners will have to additionally reduce the number of employed since one of the heritages of the former regime is totally illogical surplus number of employees.

The authorities, opposition, trade unions and economic experts all agree on one thing - that the only solution would be the accelerated opening of new jobs. It is only unclear how this should be done in practice, i.e. wherefrom to secure money for new investments, for the re-start of production and new job openings. The time of donations has long gone, foreign investors still do not consider this region attractive, while domestic entrepreneurs, everybody swears by, are crying for help claiming that the state taxes will force them to close down and fire even those they employ now.

That is why lines in front of Western Embassies are getting longer, because those whom the society is counting on - the young professionals

• see their only chance for decent life somewhere far from B&H, possibly on another continent. The usual phrase that "B&H has skilled and cheap labour force" is hardly based on facts. Simply, unskilled labour represents over one third of the unemployed, in other words in the best case they concluded their education with the eighth grade of elementary school. Half of them are women, so that cynics can conclude that the sexes are equally represented, at least in this segment.

The impossibility of finding any work proved an additional obstacle for the return of refugees to their homes. The repair of demolished houses is not sufficient to ensure en masse return because, quite logically, the refugees ask: "What shall we live on when we return"? The only answer local authorities offer is that "there is no work even for those here, so what happens to them will happen to you too". Despair and hopelessness of those who have nowhere to go to work in the morning is becoming greater every day. It is hard to say for whom it is harder: whether for "fresh" graduates who cannot hope to get a chance to apply in practice the knowledge they acquired in schools, or for those who lost their jobs somewhere in the middle or at the end of their working life. This latter category mostly see themselves as "too young to die and too old to have someone hire them". As a rule, those few job advertisements look for "young, handsome and educated people with good knowledge of English language and computer skills". It seems that no one needs those who do not fit this description, and that is the majority of the unemployed.

The answer to the question whether B&H will finally become a normal and democratic state now depends on a "trifle" - whether the current authorities will manage to start the economy and open a larger number of new working places. These hungry and poor voters are an ideal material for all kinds of demagogues. If we have learned anything from history it is that national myths are best absorbed on an empty stomach. "Bread and circuses" is the ideal combination, and if there is no bread then circuses will do. With shooting and singing. The transfer from socialism into capitalism, or as we like to call it "transition", is rather painful under ideal circumstances and in a country devastated by the war, such as B&H, it is twice as hard. If the present trend continues and the number of employed doesn't start growing soon, the democratic, civil society of B&H will definitely remain just another missed opportunity instead of which we shall get a country of misery and poverty, "a branch office" of poor Africa in rich and prosperous Europe.

Drazen SIMIC

(AIM Sarajevo)