Employment

Part II: Iceberg model and Employment Issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina /Thinking Out Loud/

You can read my first thinking out loud blog on Iceberg model and Employment Issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina here.

As I wrote at the end of that blog, it was supposed to be continued over time, and here are some more insights…


Updated Iceberg model,
right click -> open image in the new tab to see full size image

 

I will use my old list and just add new things in bold.

EVENTS:

  • Poor working conditions in industry: overtime work, irregular salaries, “bossing”, incomplete salaries at the end of the month, poor salaries…
  • Employers report that high school graduates don’t have appropriate knowledge
  • Employers often don’t register their employees (they usually do it later, when state offers incentives for employment)
  • Enterprises can’t find workers
  • Unemployed persons show poor interest for employment programs (note: high school graduates show best interest)
  • Enterprises mostly need low skilled workers
  • Export of B&H industry is growing
  • Diplomas can be bought
  • Low level of foreign investment
  • Salaries in public sector are 2 times higher than in a private sector
  • Children (and their parents) don’t want to go to high schools for industrial professions

PATTERNS:

  • Workers are leaving B&H, especially young people (large percentage of them is finding jobs abroad with help of Employment Offices)
  • High-income families are also leaving (some of the reasons I found in interviews online are general uncertainty and lack of possibilities for professional advancement)
  • Both unemployed and employed persons are looking for jobs in a public sector 

STRUCTURES:

  • Enterprises must offer their products for low price to be competitive (since without Research&Development and final products, they don’t have many possibilities), so they are making saving by paying low salaries
  • More employees in the public sector bring more votes
  • Partocracy is in power instead of democracy 

MENTAL MODEL:

  • Ingenuity at the expense of the state
  • “If others are doing it so will I”
  • “It’s better to do nothing for nothing, then to work for nothing”
  • general belief that it’s a shame not to finish a college

 

To be continued…

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