Katia Vladimirova: Unemployment among Roma is highest out of all ethnic groups in Bulgaria
Professor Katia Vladimirova, lecturer in the University for National and World Economy in Sofia, in an interview for Focus News Agency
Focus: What is the situation on the labour market with regards to the Roma minority?
Katia Vladimirova: It has been different in different periods, but from a point of view of employment and unemployment levels with regards to the labour force from the Roma minority – it has lowest level out of all ethnic groups in Bulgaria. Throughout the 1990s and up to 2001 the employment level of Roma people had fallen drastically, according to official statistical data. 47% of the Roma people were employed in 1992, while in 2001 this level dropped down to below 18%. As the Bulgarian economy started livening up after 2001 the employment level of Roma people registered a slight growth, but now after the crisis it started going down drastically.
A very characteristic feature is that unemployment among young Roma people is very low. Moreover, a considerable part of young Roma people do not look for employment opportunities, i.e. they are discouraged. This trend is considered, not only by me but by many other specialists, as a very worrying phenomenon. As illiteracy and low education level are growing among Roma people, even if more working places are opened, their chance of inclusion will not be high. Roma people have two major problems – they are not looking for work and have low education. Another worrying fact is that employment among Roma women is much lower compared to Roma men.
Focus: What kind of jobs do Roma people usually take?
Katia Vladimirova: Generally it is considered that they take low-qualified and not very well paid jobs. From a labour market point of view Roma people find jobs, which other people do not want. The main examples here are jobs in companies dealing with cleaning and water and sewage services. Many Roma people take seasonal and temporary jobs in the spheres of construction, agriculture, processing industry, loading-unloading services, timber industry, road maintenance, and low-qualified work at infrastructure objects. A very worrying fact is that the employment of Roma people is reducing in sectors like healthcare, where a growing trend has been witnessed in the past.
The employment level of Roma people in public administration is also reducing, despite the fact we are in the Decade of Roma Inclusion. If there are any possibilities to increase the employment level of Roma people through specific measures, policies, then it would be easiest in the administration and the public sphere, in general, where state and local authorities have a more direct influence than in the sectors with market economy.
The number of households with at least one adult working abroad has grown. During the crisis most Roma people took temporary/seasonal jobs, but the employment level in general went down drastically. In 2007, the year before the crisis, 50.8% of Roma people had some type of employment, while in 2010 the percentage went down below 30%. Such a downturn cannot be seen among Bulgarians or the ethnic Turkish minority.
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