McGill Journal of Political Studies 2014 April, 2014 | Page 86

almost 50% of Czech Roma and well over
60% of Hungarian and Slovakian Roma
perceived their unemployed status as related
directly to their ethnicity30. In addition,
while uneducated or poorly educated Roma
were more likely to be unemployed than
better-educated Roma, unemployment
among better-educated Roma was still
much higher than among their non-Roma
neighbours31.
The response of the EU and related
organizations to this crisis was similar in
form to the response towards segregation in
education. The European Union pushed for
greater guarantees of non-discrimination in
employment, for example with the issuance
of the  Equal Employment Directive of
the Council of the EU in November,
2000. Starting before and continuing after
accession, the Czech Republic, Hungary
and Slovakia cautiously implemented active
labour market policies (ALMPs) such as
job retraining and aid to small businesses
through government-supplied credit. From
2005 to 2007, National Action Plans for the
Decade of Roma Inclusion, to be financed
from both the European Social Fund and
national budgets, were composed by the
Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
These plans included ALMPs, along with
increased funding for data-gathering surveys,
monitoring of best practices, and stronger
anti-discrimination enforcement. Still,
much of the improvement was expected to
rely on a growing economy in each country,
caused by European integration. In addition,
since accession, anti-discrimination policies
existing in the acquis communautaire, such
as the Racial Equality Directive (2000),
have been incorporated into national law,
with efforts to establish institutions for
Segregated Schooling of Roma in Central and Eastern
Europe. [report] Budapest: ERRC, p. 24.
30
UNDP (2003) Avoiding the Dependency Trap.
[report] Bratislava: United Nations Development
Programme, p. 34.
31
Niall O, and Andrey Ivanov, “Education and Employment Opportunities for the Roma,” Comparative
Economic Studies, 48, no. 1 (2006): 12-3
86 | McGill Journal of Political Studies 2014

Roma to appeal to in the event of racial
discrimination.
However, the effectiveness of these
policies was unclear even in 2003, as more
than 65% of Roma surveyed in each country
found ALMPs either minimally helpful or
not helpful at all in finding employment32.
Since then, policies implemented have
proven only partially successful in either
providing substantially more employment
or closing the employment gap between
the general population and Roma. Total
unemployment rates for adults (15-64) have
not substantially improved: according to a
2011 EU-FRA regional survey, Czech Roma
have a self-declared unemployment rate of
38%, Slovakian Roma has a rate of 35%,
and Hungarian Roma have a rate of 36%.
This contrasts to non-Roma unemployment
rates of 9%, 8% and 21%, respectively.
All three countries have thus improved
substantially in employment of Roma33.
However, huge gaps remain in the Czech
Republic and Slovakia, and the narrowing
of the gap in Hungary has more to do with
rising Hungarian unemployment than with
a sharp decline in Roma unemployment.
In addition, these countries have benefited
both from high economic growth rates since
joining the EU and open borders. Since
joining the EU, tens of thousands of Eastern
European Roma have emigrated to other
European states, shifting unemployment
to other countries34. The remaining high
unemployment is related both to low rates
of education and the continued presence of
racial animus towards Roma.
In terms of education, Roma remain
UNDP (2003) Avoiding the Dependency Trap.
[report] Bratislava: United Nations Development
Programme, p. 35.
33
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
(EU-FRA). 2012. The Situation of Roma in 11 EU
Member States: Survey Results at a Glance. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union
34
Kropp, M. and Striethorst, A. (2012) The Migrations of Roma in the European Union – an Ethnic
Minority as the Sport of European Politics. Transform! European Network for Alternative Thinking
and Political Dialogue, (10),
32

broadly poorly educated. In the Czech
Republic, just under 30% of working-age
Roma adults had completed a vocational
secondary education, while in Slovakia
and Hungary, the commensurate figure
was closer to 20%. This compares to
over 60% of non-Roma Hungarians and
over 80% of Czechs and Slovakians. As
poorly educated people encounter more
difficulty in securing stable employment,
this implicitly means that Roma are much
more likely to be unemployed35. The 2009
EU-MIDIS survey--largely corroborated
by the 2011 EU-FRA report--found that
in terms of discrimination, 32% of Czech
and Hungarian Roma and 23% of Slovakian
Roma reported that they were discriminated
against while looking for work or in the
workplace. As well, over 80% of Roma in
these three countries reported that they
considered discrimination in employment
based on racial or national origin to be
very widespread. This is despite changes in
national law to ban racial discrimination
in employment. The lack of improvement
may have to do with lack of awareness or
distrust of the law36. Just over 50% of Czech
Roma and fewer than 50% of Slovakian
and Hungarian Roma knew about a law
forbidding racial discrimination when
applying for a job37. In addition, 66% of
Czech Roma, 80% of Slovakian Roma and
82% of Hungarian Roma failed to report
discrimination, mostly because they believed
that nothing would be done or did not know
that such an opportunity existed. Most
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
(EU-FRA). 2012. The Situation of I