While the majority of us Bosnian living in Canada enjoy a comfortable salary, we often don’t think about how our counterparts back home are making out in everyday life. Even tough the economic times in Canada are not what they once used to be, we’re still fortunate enough to be able to earn a decent income through full-time employment or multiple part-time opportunities. At least we should be fortunate that work does exist, even at lower salaries it’s better to be working than not to have work opportunities at all – something most Bosnian citizens are faced with daily.

So, when was the last time you thought about the average monthly salary of a Bosnian citizen? It’s certainly not something we don’t often think about, after all we live in a pretty prosperous country where employment opportunities exist and we have the ability to seek higher pay elsewhere if the time ever came. That being said, what are your thoughts on the average monthly salary back home? According to Agency for Statistics the average monthly pay per employee in legal entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina in September of 2012 only amounted to 813 km, which represents a nominal decrease of 1.9 per cent compared to December the same time last year.

Furthermore the Agency for Statistics also reports that the average monthly salary, paid in September this year compared to the same month last year was nominally lower by 0.1 percent.

Needless to say, living on $813 km monthly is not a lot to show for, especially after housing and food costs are factored into the equation. Certainly as you’re reading this you’re likely saying to yourself, ‘The cost of living is much higher in Canada’, and undoubtedly you’re right, however the average annual salary in Canada is $32,100 for singletons and $75,600 for a family of two or more working adults. That works out to roughly 70 per cent higher on average (rough estimate) salary than of someone living in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We didn’t write this article in hopes of gaining pity about Bosniaks living back home, but even with significantly higher salaries, we can comfortably say that Bosnian Canadians are overspending and continue to rely on credit-cards, lines of credit and loans in order to survive.I suppose this is what they refer to as the ‘Canadian Dream.’

What are your thoughts?