ZAÅ TITA PRAVA U BOSNI I HERCEGOVINI - Solidar

Labour rights study in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Labour rights study in Bosnia and
Herzegovina
Activity rate in RS-u - 0,51 0,51 0,55
Employment rate in
FBaH
0,24 0,24 0,26 0,27 0.27
Employment rate in
RS
- 0,32 0,33 0,36
Unemployment rate
in FBaH
0,22 0,23 0,23 0,22 0.22
Unemployment rate
in RS
0,19 0,17 0,18
*Estimate of the Federation of BaH Statistics Institute
** Estimate of the Labor force survey
*** Data are inclusive of Brčko district data
Source: Agency for labor and employment of BaH, Agency for statistics of FBaH, RS
Republic statistics institute, Labor force survey (2008) and own calculations.
Aside from a low employment rate and high unemployment rate (see Table 1),
BaH has a very low rate of population activity, which, in the BaH Federation is around
49% and in Republika Srpska 55%. Low activity rate is one of the main indicators of the
high employment rate in the grey economy. It is needless to emphasize that workers
who are employed in informal or grey economy are denied basic labor rights, are mostly
exposed to exploitation and bad work conditions. World Bank (2005), based on the
LSMS survey, estimates that grey economy employment is around 37% of the total
employment in 2001 and 40% in 2002. Tongson and Yemtsov’s (2005) study shows that
the percentage of those employed in informal economy between 2001-2004 increased
from 37% to 42%. So, every conducted research is indicative of an extremely high
share of grey economy and illicit work in BaH.
Taking into account the aforementioned, it is not surprising that employees
have a great deal of troubles on an everyday basis when it comes to protection and
exercise of the rights stemming from their labor relationships. On the other, the relict
of the ‘fi rst and only employment without ever getting fi red’ from the previous system is
still present in BaH presenting an obstacle for understanding of rights and obligations
especially with the employed and those looking for an employment.
2. Current condition of labor legislation in BaH
BaH is a complex country that was divided into two entities by the Dayton peace
agreement: Federation of BaH and Republika Srpska and Brčko district. According with
the Annex IV of the Dayton peace agreement, which is also the constitution of BaH,
social policy and labor legislation are entity matters. In the BaH Federation, according
to its constitution, this area is in the joint jurisdiction of the entity and cantonal levels
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