Around 60 per cent of young people in Bosnia are jobless both because jobs are lacking in general and because they expect institutions to provide them with jobs, a survey shows.

The survey, carried out by the think tank Populari, showed that many youngster have high expectations of what they think they deserve, while their understanding of what is required of them is low.

Adis Arapovic, a participant in a discussion of the findings on Wednesday, said young people had inherited much of their thinking about work from the Socialist era, when simply having a diploma entitled people to a decent job.

“Average levels of ambition are very low,” Arapovic said. “We have inherited the opinion that if you… finish a faculty degree, you get employed in the state institutions.”

He said that around 80 million euro were given a year to state employment institutions, which then had to deal with more than half a million unemployed people, around 40,000 of whom have higher education diplomas.

Arapovic said that aside of the fact that the labour market does not offer enough jobs in general, many young people looking for work are not that willing to find them, let alone to start their own businesses.

Nermana Ajanovic, of Posao.ba, a company that connects employers and job seekers, agreed that young people often have high expectations, but also said the labour market had become distorted by the supply of graduates.

“One problem is lack of jobs but another is the hyper-production of highly educated human resources in some fields,” Ajanovic said.

Populari’s survey portrayed a vicious circle, comprising a poor economic situation, low quality in high education, high expectations among young people, and a lack of practical experience and relevant skills.

“The fact is that a university diploma nowadays is nothing special when around 20,000 young people graduate every year only in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the survey conclusions said.