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Population: 45.200.737 inhabitants (2007)
Area: 504.030 km2

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The estimated Spanish Roma population is over 700.000. According to the comparative study "Roma Population and Employment" (FSG, 2007), two specific characteristics particularly differentiate the Roma population from the rest of the Spanish population, especially within the context of employment: age structure and level of academic studies.

The estimated Spanish Roma population is over 700.000. According to the comparative study Roma Population and Employment [1], there are two specific characteristics which differentiate particularly the Roma population from the rest of the Spanish population, especially within the context of employment: age structure and level of academic studies.
As concerns the former, nearly half of the Roma population over the age of 15 is under 30 which means that the average for this group is 34.8 years. This situation contrasts with the 45.4 years average of the overall Spanish population. Among the Roma population the proportion of women is higher at younger ages but men outnumber women as they get older. The situation is the exact opposite among the rest of the Spanish population.
The academic level of the Roma population has a profound effect on all aspects of employment. Just over 7 out of every 10 Roma over the age of 15 is completely or functionally illiterate. The low academic level in general and the illiteracy rate in particular are very closely related and are even more prevalent in the case of women, the elderly and, therefore, among those with the worst health and likewise among those living in small towns with relatively fewer inhabitants.
Roma families have more children (3.18 average) than the rest of the population. Having children is very closely related to two variables which, as mentioned above, are intertwined with and have a significant influence on employment: age and academic level. Higher age implies a lower academic level and both of these factors imply a higher number of children.

Employment and the Roma Community in Spain

The working life of the Roma population is longer: The Roma population joins the labour market at an early age and this is reflected in a 69.4% activity rate in the 16 to 19 age bracket. Departure from the labour market is abrupt in the case of the Roma population given that activity rates remain relatively high up to the age of 60 and fall off sharply as of age 65.
Unemployment affects the Roma population to a greater extent than it does the overall Spanish population with a global rate of 13.8% compared with 10.4% for the non-Roma population. In contrast to what occurs in the overall Spanish population, the largest proportion of unemployed Roma is in the lower age brackets: one fifth of unemployed Roma is under the age of 20.
Roma employment is characterised by instability at the workplace. There are 3.5 times fewer fixed salaried workers among the Roma population vis-à-vis the rest of the Spanish population.
The 48.5% of working Roma are self-employed (almost half) while this same rate for the overall Spanish population stands at only 18.3%.Of the self-employed Roma workers, half are in the category of “collaboration in family economic activity” which, in the best of cases, is poorly “standardised”.The Roma workers tend to work in marginal, low-skill sorts of activities generically included under the heading of services. Only 16% have fixed permanent contracts.
And lastly, only 15% of Roma workers make an effort to hone their labour skills and young people and women are more prone to this sort of training. Eight out of every ten unemployed Roma feel that a training course would make it easier to find a job. This figure rises to 86% in the opinion of those who have actually participated in a course.
As for gender, the Roma pattern is similar to the rest of Spain in general with a lower activity and employment rate for women. In contrast, the unemployment rate and proportion of temporary contracts and part-time employment is higher in the case of women.While inactivity predominates among Roma women between the ages of 16 and 29, this trendbegins to shift between the ages of 35 and 49. Almost 53.5% of the Roma population claims to be inactive in order to take care of domestic responsibilities compared with 32.5% in the case of the overall Spanish population. Less than 2.8% of Roma men take responsibility for household chores compared with 75.9% of Roma women.Roma women ( 93,8%) working part-time claim “family obligations” as the main impedimentstanding in the way to full-time employment.More women (17.6%) take courses or participate in training programmes than men (13.1%).

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