04.06.2020  

SOLIDARITY DURING A PANDEMIC

Author: Sultanka Petrova, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy in Bulgaria

How to attract the Roma population, this hidden reserve in the labor market

The learned helplessness with which some Roma used to justify their unemployment will no longer work.

We will definitely remember 2020. We are hit by a global pandemic from COVID-19, which brought with it an unprecedented closure of the world and blocking of economies.

But how mature and strong a society is speaks volumes about how it reacts in severe crisis situations. So far we can proudly note that the Bulgarian society reacts adequately both to the urgent and timely measures taken by the government and the activities of the National Operational Headquarters, as well as to the responsible behavior of the Bulgarian population.

On the agenda is the important question of whether we, as a democratic and, above all, solidary society, will be able to get out of the crisis and restart life in the country as a whole. This is particularly significant for the economy, because the crisis is pervasive and affects, to one degree or another, almost all sectors in it.

At the same time, experts in our country analyze the acute shortage of labor, both highly and medium and low-skilled, which did not allow the economy to use its full growth potential during its positive cycle before the pandemic. In the period of economic recovery, this will again appear as a problem. And here I see two reserves that we must use. One is to be able to attract at least some of the 200,000 Bulgarians and Roma who returned from abroad at the start of the pandemic. The second reserve is definitely the Roma population, which has a young age structure. In a period of recession, when consumption can hardly fulfill its function as a driver of growth, the dominant economic doctrine recommends increasing investment in infrastructure projects as a source of opportunities for industrial development and stimulating economic activity. At the same time, these conditions depend no less on the homogeneity, qualifications, skills and experience of the workforce, most of which have long-established work habits and productivity. It is these people, these workers, who are at the heart of the results achieved in terms of competitiveness, income, security and GDP. The investments in the available labor reserves and their gradual but lasting integration into the modern Bulgarian society have the potential to cause the necessary change and qualitative improvement of the business climate in the country.

Another time it was a question that they are the hidden reserve on the labor market in our country. According to official data, the Roma in Bulgaria are about 350,000 people or about 4.5% of the total population. In Bulgaria, however, ethnicity is determined by the "principle of self-determination." And it is a well-known fact that the Roma have the so-called "preferred ethnic self-consciousness", i.e. very often, if they live on the territory of the Bulgarian ethnic group, they self-identify as Bulgarians and even more often, if they profess Islam, they self-identify as Turks. According to expert estimates, the real number of Roma in our country is between 750 and 800,000 people, or about 11.5% of the total population. According to experts, while maintaining the current demographic trends in the country, by 2050 the Roma will number between 1,100,000 - 1,200,000 people and will be about 22-23% of the population. I think it is clear why their integration into our socio-economic life is so important. The biggest problem so far is the educational level of this population, because currently only 0.5% of Roma have higher education, 9% have high school, which means that over 90% of them have lower than secondary education. Unfortunately, as many as 21.8% are completely illiterate. In the last three years, the Bulgarian government has made great efforts to include the Roma population in the education system.

Now on the agenda is the issue of including this population in the labor process, and it is important to understand what the Roma population will do to fit into the socio-economic and social life in Bulgaria and show their solidarity with all others in overcoming the consequences of the pandemic and economic crisis. Integration is a two-way process and cannot take place without the will and actions of both parties. The learned helplessness with which some Roma justified their unemployment, low income and low standard of living, that the state is obliged to do something for them, will no longer work. The time has come for them to do something for the state in order to improve both their social status and to help our country.

As the territorial distribution and localization of the Roma population is different in different parts of the country, a differentiated approach must be taken according to the specifics of the regions, their economic profile and the respective Roma subgroups that inhabit them. While in the big cities the Roma can be attracted mostly in the construction industry, which already has the most serious shortage of labor, in Northwestern Bulgaria and the Upper Thracian lowlands they can be of great help to agriculture, which also suffers severely from a shortage of workers. We need to be more flexible in engaging the Roma population in the work process, especially now that Bulgaria will need all its demographic resources to get out of the post-pandemic crisis faster.

Here we must draw on the experience of countries such as Hungary, Finland and Slovakia, which to one degree or another manage to integrate part of their Roma population into the labor market. In Hungary, for example, the Roma National Academy "Kali Yag" is very popular, where parents and children study mathematics, history, languages ​​and computer literacy together.

In Finland, the state also provides tax relief to employers who employ Roma in permanent employment. Social enterprises are also being built and social entrepreneurship is being stimulated, oriented towards employment and realization of the gypsies and towards improvement of their social and living conditions.

In Bulgaria, the positive examples are related to the engagement of Roma labor in the industrial zone "Trakia" near Plovdiv, as many employers offer free transport for Roma from neighboring villages, and also provide such for their children to attend school.

Another positive example is the introduced "Icelandic model" for dealing with aggression and early dropping out of the education system in the Roma school "St. St. Cyril and Methodius ”in the town of Straldzha. The average attendance of children at school increased by 40% in just one year, engaging them in extracurricular activities - football and boxing for boys, volleyball and cheerleading for girls, playing wind and percussion instruments and folk dances. Once they have succeeded in the town of Straldzha, this success may become ubiquitous, and with this demographic situation in the country and the pandemic crisis, it is vital.

In the last two months, we have witnessed spontaneous, impulsive gestures of empathy and care aimed at helping disadvantaged people. The pandemic has taught us that solidarity is not just a gesture, but compassion, empathy, sympathy, real understanding of the situation. These kind gestures that we have witnessed prove that solidarity is the guardian of the social in our society.

I support the words of a famous Roma mayor Laszlo Bogdan from the village of Cherdi in Hungary, who for two terms radically changed the appearance of the village and successfully integrated the Roma population in the labor process: European country”!

Yes! Really, what a miracle! This must become the norm. It is time for all of us to be in solidarity, to assess the new challenges and to support the Bulgarian economy with the human resource it needs at the moment - in construction, agriculture, services, trade and others.

Good solutions to the problems related to the Roma population and accumulated during the years of transition are reflected in the concept of Mr. Krasimir Karakachanov, which provides specific proposals for socialization of the Roma community.

It is clear that neither the individual countries of the world will be able to get out of the crisis on their own, nor the individual ethnic groups within one country. Global solidarity, national unity and responsible behavior are needed by all so that life can return to its normal rhythm.