Slovakia, Roma, and Work

There is a shortage of workers in Slovakia, while there are people who urgently need regular work, according to an article published last week by the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The integration of Roma would solve part of the problems of the Slovak labour market as there are around 500,000 Roma in Slovakia.

According to the statistics of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, in 2021 only 33% of Roma in Slovakia had a paid job, while 60% of young Roma between the ages of 16 and 24 were not looking for work, were not in education, or were part of any training program . “Humanly it is a drama, economically it is a burden for Slovakia,” writes the Neue Zürcher Zeitung in an article entitled Roma – a recognized workforce in Europe.

In Slovakia, as in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe, there is a shortage of labour force, which will probably ease in the coming months due to the current negative economic development, but this problem is structural.