Labour Day 2025, 2026 and 2027 in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Labour Day in Bosnia and Herzegovina is celebrated every 1 May, as it is in much of the rest of the world. This is a holiday to celebrate the contributions of workers to the economy and society, and also a time to highlight where progress still needs to be made towards fair and safe working conditions.

YearDateDayHoliday
20251 MayThuLabour Day
2 MayFriLabour Day Holiday
20261 MayFriLabour Day
2 MaySatLabour Day Holiday
20271 MaySatLabour Day
3 MayMonLabour Day Holiday
Please scroll down to end of page for previous years' dates.

Labour Day is a major focus-day for labour unions, politicians anxious to please their constituents, and ordinary workers looking for better compensation and conditions at the job. Sadly, the labour market in Bosnia and Herzegovina remains rather confused and disrupted to this day, never having fully recovered from several crises of the past.

Under the Communist Yugoslav regime, many businesses were ostensibly run by “workers’ councils”, but in practice, workers had less say than what was advertised. Then came a series of wars related to the breakup of Yugoslavia and hard feelings among Muslims, Christians, Serbs, Croats, and Ethnic Bosnians. Finally, the 2008 Global Financial Crisis hurt Bosnia and Herzegovina’s economy just as it was beginning to recover.

Today, there are problems with poverty, unemployment, the black market, and dependence on remittances from overseas workers. There is also a lot of human trafficking and child labour in the country. Despite these problems, steps have been taken to create a viable and fair labour code and enforce it. And families certainly enjoy a day off work to spend at home with their families.

Previous Years

YearDateDayHoliday
20241 MayWedLabour Day
2 MayThuLabour Day Holiday
20231 MayMonLabour Day
2 MayTueLabour Day Holiday