Extensive survey shows shocking differences between non-Roma and Roma in the Czech Republic when it comes to precarity

Approximately every ninth Romani worker never concludes a formal contract for their services. Such are the findings of research into the Romani socioeconomic situation in 2023 and 2024 in the Czech Republic.

The Research Institute on Labor and Social Affairs (RILSA) has published a report on the results of the survey. Its authors say the findings can be generalized to the Romani population as a whole.

From September 2023 to February 2024, 1,268 people age 16 and older were interviewed who identified as Roma, speak Romanes, or have at least one parent who speaks Romanes. The survey is part of a more extensive project supported by Norway Grants.

The aim of the survey was to determine which indicators to regularly track and assess for this population. The four-member research team targeted the fields of discrimination, education, employment, health and healthcare, housing and poverty.

The findings for the Romani respondents were then compared with the state of Czech society on average for each parameter.

Education: Half of all Romani respondents have just a ninth-grade education

“After conducting these two sample surveys we have significantly more information about the Romani population’s situation than ever before. The surveys made it possible to quantify many aspects of the Romani socioeconomic situation. The differences, compared to the general population, are significant, often by orders of magnitude. The crucial differences between the Romani population and the general population which influence their position in other areas consist of the levels of education attained,” said sociologist Tomáš Katrňák of RILSA’s Social Policy and Social Work Research Unit.

Half of all Romani respondents age 16 and over have graduated from ninth grade only, while another 6 % never completed their compulsory educations. Three out of 10 earned an apprenticeship certificate.

Just 3 % of the Romani respondents had passed a matura exam after secondary education. Only a couple had graduated from college or university.

Nine out of 10 Romani parents want their children to earn a better education than they did themselves. Almost half of the Romani fathers and mothers want their children to at least graduate from secondary school and pass the matura examination.

While 6 % of the general population between 20 and 64 years old achieved just a ninth-grade education, among the Romani population, 59 % ended their educations in the ninth grade, with 5 % never even completing their compulsory school attendance. The potential level of educational attainment in the Romani population could rise for the next generation: 47 % of respondents’ children aged 15-18 were said to be currently attending an educational program at the ISCED 3 level (higher secondary education).

Additionally, 17 % of Romani respondents said their children have attended or are attending a primary school that is not mainstream (i.e., a school for special needs children, a “practical” school, a school for children with profound disabilities or an “auxiliary” school), but the share of their children between the ages of five and 16 attending such a school now is “just” 9 %.

The Romani population, compared to the general population in the Czech Republic, is significantly younger

There are fundamental differences in the sociodemographic characteristics of the general population and the Romani population. “The populations are only similar when it comes to marriage rates, otherwise the Romani population, compared to the general population, is significantly younger, which could be caused both by differences in their reproductive behavior and by their dying earlier,” the report’s summary states.

This is indicated by the low proportion of Romani people over 65 in the adult population (13.5%), which is significantly lower than in the general population of the Czech Republic (23% in the population over 16). In the older age categories (above 75) the differences further intensify.

Unlike the general population, Romani men are older, on average, than Romani women. The vast majority of Romani respondents’ households have more than one member (between two and six), with widowed persons older than 55 living alone in particular.

Most Romani respondents have two or three children, but 24 % had four or more children.

The labor market: Almost half of Romani respondents are in paid work

As far as the labor market goes, almost half of the Romani population (45%) between age 20 and 64 is in paid work compared to 81 % of the general population. “The Romani population is subjected to precarity in employment to a far greater degree, half of the employees age 20-64 have a temporary contract and 20 % are on contracts for less than half-time. That is a significantly higher proportion than for the general population, for whom 6.7 % of employees are temporarily employed,” the authors said.

Nine out of 10 Romani workers are employed, 8 % are sole traders and 2 % are entrepreneurs with employees of their own. Half of those working are unqualified manual laborers.

The degree of Romani unemployment between the ages of 20 and 64 is 18 %. In the general population, according to the authors, unemployment in that age group is less than 3 %.

Half of the Romani respondents had ended up on unemployment during the last five years. Two-thirds of them were unemployed long-term, three-fifths of them have been repeatedly unemployed.

“Those high values show the significant labor market marginalization of the Romani population,” the authors said. Of the Romani respondents who have been jobless at least once during the last five years, 38 % said they had been involved in an employment program.

The Romani respondents said they were most frequently involved in community service work. About 11 % said they work without ever concluding a formal contract in writing.

The concentration of Romani workers in the lowest positions on the labor market further shows their marginalized position – fully half of the Romani respondents who work are unqualified manual laborers.

As many as 50 % of Romani women and men are at risk of income poverty

According to the authors, Romani workers’ unfavorable labor market position impacts their incomes. “The unfavorable position of the Romani population on the labor market is also reflected in their incomes and material situations. The median per-person income in a Romani household is around CZK 11,000 [EUR 440] per month and the degree of risk of income poverty ranges from 43.2 % – 50.2 %. There is a big difference compared to the general population, where the median income is almost twice as high as Romani median incomes and the risk of poverty is five times lower,” warned the main designer of the project, sociologist Ivana Šimíková of the RILSA Social Policy and Social Work Research Unit.

In the Czech Republic, half of the Romani respondents are at risk of income poverty compared to one-tenth of the general population. The survey found 17 % of Romani respondents are under some kind of collections proceeding.

One-third of the Romani respondents pay more than two-fifths of their income for housing, a situation in which less than one-tenth of the general population in the Czech Republic finds itself. Almost one-quarter of Romani households were unable to pay their rent and utilities in full during the last year, a situation in which just 2 % of households in the general population found themselves country-wide.

This poor income and material situation distinctly impacts the quality of the equipment and housing accessed by Romani households. Just 15 % of Romani respondents own their housing, with the greater proportion of them (78 %) renting accommodation.

In the general population the precise opposite is the case, with 73 % of people in the Czech Republic living in housing they own.

Health care: 65 % of Romani women and men assess their health as very good

When assessing the Romani population’s situation it is remarkable that the declared state of health of the population does not correspond to the degree of their poverty, the low quality of their housing or their labor market position, as the values of many indicators based on their subjective assessment of the state of their health are at a level comparable to that of the general population. For example, 65 % of Romani respondents assess the state of their health as “very good” or “good” compared to 68 % of the general population in the Czech Republic.

Chronic health problems or diseases are suffered by 27 % of the Romani respondents, with an even higher rate among the general population (35 %). Long-term limitations on performing regular activities are suffered by 28 % of the Romani population and 27 % of the general population.

Relatively few Romani respondents reported being unable to get their health care needs met by general practitioners and specialists (about 10 %), with the exception of dentists, which 23 % of the Romani respondents had not visited in the last 12 months even though they needed to. For the general population, however, both proportions are an order of magnitude smaller, about 2 %.

Discrimination and faith in civil society: 52 % of Romani respondents trust nonprofit organizations in the Czech Republic

In addition to the Romani respondents’ socioeconomic situations, the researchers also investigated the experience the Romani respondents have with unequal treatment because of their Romani origin. “During the last 12 months, 28 % of the persons felt they had been in such a situation, i.e., discriminated against, in at least one of the areas followed. This was most frequent when seeking housing (48 % of those who sought housing), when seeking employment (35 % of those seeking work) and also during contact with the social welfare system. One-quarter of those who applied to the authorities for aid in the social sphere felt discriminated against,” the researchers said.

According to the Romani respondents, 30 % of them had been directly subjected to harassing behavior by others because of their Romani origin. Most frequently this was insulting gestures or inappropriate looks (27 %), with insults and verbal abuse ranking second (19 %).

“However, most such experiences are never reported to the authorities (just 10 % of injured parties reported their most recent case of such victimization in the last 12 months), although when such cases involved physical violence, the most recent such experience was reported by half of the injured parties. However, such behavior happens relatively rarely – a mere 3 % of persons referenced it,” the researchers state in their report.

As far as faith in civil society goes, 56 % of Romani respondents said they trust local authorities in the place where they reside, 52 % trust nonprofit organizations, and the least amount of trust is enjoyed by the Government (20 %). “Less than one-fifth [of Romani respondents] participated in the most recent parliamentary elections, while 65 % of the general population participated,” the report warns.