Six-Month Average Salaries Published: Here Are the Figures by Sector

According to data from the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the six-month average net salaries in Bosnia and Herzegovina this year ranged from KM 1,169 to KM 2,278.

Which Sectors Have the Lowest Average Salaries in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

According to the data, employees in accommodation and food service activities (hospitality and catering) had the lowest average salaries, at KM 1,169, reports Nezavisne.

They were followed by salaries in the construction sector, where the six-month average amounted to KM 1,305. Salaries in wholesale and retail trade, as well as in the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, stood at KM 1,374, while the average in manufacturing was KM 1,387.

According to the six-month average, net salaries in real estate activities amounted to KM 1,449. The figure was only KM 4 higher in agriculture, forestry and fishing.

In administrative and support service activities, salaries amounted to KM 1,458, while transport and storage recorded an average of KM 1,459.

Salaries were KM 1 higher in the water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities sector, as well as in arts, entertainment and recreation.

In education, the six-month average was KM 1,672, while other service activities recorded an average of KM 1,704. In mining and quarrying, the average salary was KM 1,874.

Which Sectors Have the Highest Salaries?

In professional, scientific and technical activities, the average salary was KM 1,954, while the six-month average in electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply was KM 2,063.

The six-month average salary in public administration and defence; compulsory social security amounted to KM 2,113, while the figure was KM 2 higher in human health and social work activities.

The highest average salary was recorded in financial and insurance activities, at KM 2,222, while employees in information and communication activities received the highest average amount, at KM 2,278.

What Do the Data Say About the Labour Market in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

Economist Igor Gavran told Nezavisne novine that the median salary would be a better indicator of the actual situation and would provide a more accurate picture of the earnings of the majority of employees. However, he added that these figures also clearly reveal a great deal about the labour market.

“For example, they show how untrue the claims made by many employers are that we need to import foreign workers because ‘our people do not want to work’. Namely, the company with the highest profit in Bosnia and Herzegovina operates in the trade sector, and we can see that a significant part of that enormous profit is generated through the exploitation of workers, who are among the lowest paid. Also, the sector in which prices are the most absurd in Bosnia and Herzegovina, real estate, has relatively low wages, while the shamefully low wages in construction show how low the costs of building the properties are, which are subsequently sold for outrageous amounts,” Gavran said.

He added that incomes in public administration are disproportionately higher, even though working conditions there are the best, while efficiency is very often the lowest.

Why Are Salaries Lowest in the Sectors Facing Labour Shortages?

Asked why salaries are lowest precisely in hospitality, construction and retail — sectors where demand for workers is high — Gavran said the question could best be answered by reversing it.

“Demand for workers in these sectors is high precisely because wages are the lowest. Foreign workers are being hired on an increasingly large scale, and there is growing pressure to make their import even easier because employers in these sectors do not want to adequately pay their employees for their work. Prices in the hospitality sector, at least in Sarajevo, are literally, and without exaggeration, often comparable to or even higher than those in Tokyo. But are workers paid like workers in Tokyo? Are tax rates or rents higher than in Japan? Of course they are not,” Gavran said.