The Federal Employment Institute of the Federation of BiH implemented employment incentive programs worth millions of euros during 2025.

These are measures through which employers receive subsidies for hiring, while the unemployed are helped to enter the labor market. But despite these programs, a problem is becoming increasingly clear on the ground that cannot be solved by financial injections alone. In the Federation of BiH, employers are finding it increasingly difficult to find workers, some people are leaving abroad, and some are not entering employment at all.

This is warned about by the N1 report, which spoke with representatives of institutions responsible for the labor market and employment in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Around 3,700 work permits for foreigners in the Federation of BiH

According to data reported by N1, around 3,700 work permits were issued to foreign workers in the Federation of BiH. This shows how much the labor market has changed in a short period. While part of the domestic workforce is leaving, there are more and more jobs that employers are trying to fill with workers from abroad, including workers coming from Asia and Africa.

In practice, this means that the shortage of people is no longer treated as a temporary problem, but as a condition to which employers are adapting by importing labor.

Drivers and construction workers leave most often

N1 states that drivers and workers in the construction sector make up about 60 percent of the occupations in the group of those leaving. The BiH Labor and Employment Agency also implements employment programs abroad, including programs for Slovenia and Germany.

Boris Pupić from the BiH Labor and Employment Agency for Germany cites a figure that points to a strong change in official employment channels: 'In 2025, we had only 64 signed work contracts,' and that is, as he says, '71% less than the previous year.'

Who will do the jobs that are already lacking now?

The director of the Federal Employment Institute of the Federation of BiH, Helena Lončar, emphasized in a statement to N1 that the list of shortage occupations is very extensive and that it is especially difficult to find qualified tradespeople. Among the occupations for which there is increasingly a lack of labor are, among others, salespeople and merchants, seamstresses, truck drivers, waiters, locksmiths, auxiliary workers, warehouse workers, cooks, welders, and carpenters.

These are jobs that form the basis of the everyday functioning of the economy. When there are not enough of them, it is quickly felt in deadlines, service quality, and pressure on the remaining workers.

Some people do not want to work

One of the key theses of the report is that formal unemployment does not automatically mean available labor. Pupić presents a claim which, if true, explains part of the absurdity in the labor market: 'We have 50% of people who clearly say in the survey that they are not interested in working.'

The report also raises the question of what these people live on. Remittances from abroad, social assistance, and the gray economy are mentioned, a combination that can reduce the pressure to accept a job, especially if wages are low, conditions are difficult, or work is perceived as insecure.

Incentives are not enough

When people leave, and the domestic workforce is unavailable or unwilling to work, employers first try to attract workers with better conditions, and then increasingly resort to importing labor. In the long term, the problem spills over into prices and the availability of services, but also into the sustainability of certain sectors.

The story from the Federation of BiH shows that employment incentives alone are not enough if, at the same time, the outflow of labor continues and the passivity of part of the population spreads. When drivers, construction workers, and tradespeople are lacking, the economy enters a zone in which key gaps are patched by importing workers. The question that remains open is not only how many incentives will be distributed, but how the Federation of BiH can retain and activate its own workers before imports become the only stable support of the labor market.