The Programme Director of the Employment and Entrepreneurship Programme Petya Goollamalee took part in Bulgaria On Air’s “Bulgaria in the Morning” programme on 27 October 2023.

In the programme, she announced data from the Trust for Social Achievement Foundation, according to which about 43% of all Roma in Bulgaria are working, and the number of people who are not covered by education is much lower than in 2011. There is data on full-time and part-time employment – about 43%, or one in two people in the Roma community works. “The stereotype ‘Roma don’t work’ is not true,” said Petya Gulamali.

She said more people are signing employment contracts and this is something recognised as important, along with financial security.

“Official data on the type of industry in terms of employment is not available specifically, but we can generalise that it is determined by the type of educational status. We have people who have primary education – over 40%, who are engaged mostly in unskilled or low-skilled employment, we have people with secondary education – about 23%, these people are engaged in skilled labour, graduates are 2.5% who are in managerial positions,” Goollamalee said.

Watch the full conversation in the video.