Twenty-eight-year-old Maja Milijaš is one of the youngest PhD holders in our country. Despite offers to go abroad and work, she chose to stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country where she was born, grew up, studied, and has now started her family.
There are several ways to help more young people get into the labor market in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). These include but are not limited to tailoring education to the labor market, better analysis of needs and skills, providing opportunities to gain experience, and eliminating workplace discrimination based on gender, age, and nationality to ensure equal opportunities and fair compensation.
Phrases like “the world is left to the young” and “young people are the future of this country” are heard on a regular basis, but the problems young people face in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are not abating and there is a wide range of them, from the education system and unemployment to healthcare and other services.
Young people in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) cite unemployment, corruption, weak support mechanisms, low living standards, and poor education as the biggest problems they face. This is according to the survey “What young people say” [Šta kažu mladi] conducted by the FBiH Youth Council in 2020. The Council, which acts as an …
Nedim Ramić, a 21-year-old from Sanski Most in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), did not sit back and wait for someone to help him make his childhood dream of becoming a hairdresser come true. During the pandemic, he started working in clients’ houses or yards, sometimes without pay, which helped him become successful in his business today.
A simple Google search with the terms 'looking for a job' or 'job opportunities' in the Bosnian language gives you a good feel of the current situation in the country. What comes up most of the time are tabs for jobs in Germany, opportunities abroad, or statistics on unemployment, especially for youth and women. With this gloomy picture in mind, we will focus on laying out the biggest challenges to reaching full employment in the country and potential ways forward.