At the latest CELSI Frontiers Seminar, we opened the discussion on the employment of marginalized Roma in Slovakia.

On Friday, October 18, Tomas Sarkozi (University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia, Faculty of Economics and Finance) presented his thesis paper, supervised by Martin Kahanec, titled "Direct Job Creation: The Case of Marginalized Roma in Slovakia."

His research provides a comprehensive analysis of labour market policies and the employment situation of the Roma minority in Slovakia.

The main goal of his analysis was to estimate the effect of participation in an active labour market policy tool, specifically direct job creation in the public sector, on the employment outcomes of marginalized Roma participants.

To achieve this, Tomas utilized data on Roma participation in the policy tool from the Survey of Income and Living Conditions of Marginalized Roma Communities for two time periods: 2018 and 2020.

He found negative log-odds of employment associated with participation in the tool. In terms of marginal effects, the probability of employment is expected to decrease by an average of 17 percentage points for each additional month of participation.

These findings are consistent with the existing body of research on the topic. Therefore, the research results urge policymakers to revise the direct job creation program in accordance with the best practices outlined in the study.

"Thanks to the feedback from labour market and econometrics experts, I identified methodological shortcomings in my thesis paper, which I can now correct," Tomáš Šarközi reflected on the CELSI Frontiers Seminar.