Data on youth unemployment rate in BiH published by The Economist is inaccurate



For the purpose of providing accurate labour market information to the general public, the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH feels obliged to respond to inaccurate information on youth unemployment rate in BiH published in the media today.  This data was taken from the web portal The Economist World in Figures stating the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as data source.

The presented unemployment rate of 46.7% for youth aged 15-24 in BiH in 2018 is inaccurate.

The youth unemployment rate in BiH in 2018 was 38.8%, whilst this rate stands at 33.8% in 2019.  The data on unemployment rate for youth aged 15-24 is constituent part of the Labour Force Survey conducted by the BiH Agency for Statistics which is the only internationally comparable compilation of data on the labour market in Bosnia and Herzegovina and as such is provided to ILO and other international institutions like EUROSTAT.    For the sake of information, unemployment rate is calculated by dividing the number of unemployed people by the total number in labour force, then multiplying with 100.

It is important to note that all data published by the BiH Agency for Statistics can also be checked on the ILO website and that they match absolutely.  The data presented in the text mentioned above is not only false for BiH but also for other listed countries.  All this can be checked on the ILO website.  The Labour Force Surveys for BiH are available on the website of BiH Agency for Statistics.

However, it is also important to note that the current youth unemployment rate in BiH is still very high and it is necessary to continuously work on reducing it and providing access for young people to the labour market.  The Labour and Employment Agency of BiH, together with all other labour market actors, in particular Entity employment services and offices, remains fully committed to the problem of youth unemployment and we all together continue to work towards further shrinking unemployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina.