Labor Market
During the last ten years, the labor market of the Republic of Srpska has undergone significant changes and is still very dynamic. The present level of unemployment may be regarded as a potential by investors.
It is important to note that labor structure share of highly educated job-seekers is growing.
In the academic year 2009/2010, the Republic of Srpska had 26 registered higher education institutions, i.e. 18 colleges and 8 universities. Two of the total 8 universities are state-owned – University of Banja Luka and University of Eastern Sarajevo.
Organizational structure of higher education institutions is the following:
• 64 faculties
• 5 academies
• 1 religion faculty
Total of 43,928 students enrolled in higher education institutions during the academic year 2009/2010. There are 9,091 regular students at former study program, and 29,236 students enrolled in Bologna program. There are 2,720 extraordinary students and 2,881 distance learning students. Structure of major subjects is the following:
Natural sciences 826
Technical and technological sciences 3.979
Medical sciences 3.699
Biotechnical sciences 1.309
Social sciences 24.269
Human sciences 1.017
Since employment growth is one of the priorities of the Government of the Republic of Srpska, it is planned to maintain incentive measures also in 2011, primarily through recruitment of young academically educated staff. These include primarily the project of employment of highly educated trainees, entitled Prvi Posao (First Job). Through this project, trainee salaries are 60% co-financed by the Government of the Republic of Srpska, and 40% by employers,
The Republic of Srpska has established a public service – Employment Bureau – intended to provide services to employers seeking workers, which range from employment brokerage to workers’ professional preparation and additional training program. According to the Employment Bureau surveys, about 70% of employers cooperate with this service.
The Employment Bureau of the Republic of Srpska comprises central service, 6 branches and 58 offices. More information about the Employment Bureau is available at the following web address www.zzrs.org.