More than 30,000 People in Bosnia and Herzegovina Lose their Jobs due to Epidemic

Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina/Pixabay

At least 32,000 people in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been laid off since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, and employers are warning that tens of thousands could join them, local media reported on Aug. 10.

According to the Bosnian Statistics Office, more than 23,000 people were sacked in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina since mid-March, while just over 9,000 lost their jobs in the other entity, Republika Srpska, the Hina agency reported.

These, however, are incomplete reports, because Bosnian employers tend to hire off the books, and the assumption is that most of the people who have just lost their jobs are among the undeclared workers.

The World Bank forecasts that the country's consumption will drop 3.5 to 6.7 percent due to the outbreak, and that between 35,000 and 85,000 people could cross poverty threshold.