Employment

Many Roma people in Milan are employed as pallet loaders.
© Donatella De Vito.

"I registered with the employment agency. One day I got a call and I was offered a job as a cleaner at the local Health Office. The employment agency let me have the address, but when I showed up at my new workplace, I was told that the job had been given to someone else. So I went back to the employment agency to inform them. They called the local Health Office and they got the following reply: the job was still available, but I wasn’t wanted because I was a Roma."
(A Hungarian Roma woman. From the Amnesty International 2010 Report, ‘Left out: Violations of Europe’s Roma people’s rights')

A number of hindrances affect the Roma’s inclusion in the labour market and result in the complete exclusion of Roma and Sinti people in Europe. Endemic discrimination, combined with the Roma’s inadequate educational levels, seem to nullify the effects of emerging employment policies designed for Roma, Sinti and Travellers. In spite of the positive commitment of a few countries, the unemployment rates of Roma, Sinti and Travellers in Europe are invariably much higher than those of the general population.

Across Europe, Roma struggle to find regular employment. A detailed survey of 402 working-aged Roma men and women in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia carried out in 2006 by the European Roma Rights Centre found that only 38% were in paid employment; almost two-thirds reported that they had been refused employment because they were Roma. (Amnesty International).

According to the EU Inclusive survey (Casa della Carità 2012), Roma and Sinti people in Italy have a 34.7% employment rate. A total of 46% of Roma and Sinti people who live in houses have a job and that figure drops to 24% for those living in irregular settlements.
Like all other socially vulnerable groups, Roma and Sinti people are particularly exposed to violations of their employment rights and are prone to be employed in black market.

"Access to employment", da "Human rights of Roma and Travellers in Europe", Council of Europe, 2012, pp. 138-168.

"The situation of Roma in 11 EU Member States. Survey results at a glance", European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), 2012, pp. 16-20.

"Lavoro sporco. Il Comune di Roma, i rom e le borse lavoro", Report Associazione 21 luglio, Roma, 2012.
The report aims to assess the results of the work on the inclusion policies carried out between 2010 and 2011 by the Municipality of Rome to address the issues of the Roma communities of the capital. Try to understand the costs of the projects, their real performance, their consequences and impact on the lives of the target audience.

European Roma Rights Centre - Employment.

Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 – Employment.