Investigating Labor Market Discrimination in Romania

Larisa Stanila,Eva Militaru,Maria Denisa Vasilescu

doi:10.3390/su12124983

Abstract

An inclusive labor market, with equal opportunities for all, is a desideratum of all states, and one of the Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations for the year 2030. Discrimination can take many forms, based on many reasons, and has a strong impact on the living standards of individuals. Discrimination in the labor market can negatively affect economic performances. The aim of the research is to investigate the perception of individuals regarding discrimination, with a focus on the characteristics of the individuals who feel discriminated in Romania in a work-related context. In order to capture the relevant aspects, we turned to descriptive analysis and logistic regression. The analysis revealed that around 14% of the respondents participating in the survey faced a discriminating situation in a work-related context during the last year. Moreover, less than half of these individuals have taken any action against the discrimination act, the others believing that nothing would have changed. The logistic regression results indicated that Roma people have 6.7 times higher chances to be discriminated in a work-related context as compared to a Romanian individual. Moreover, higher educated individuals are more likely to experience discrimination in the labor market.

Highlights

An inclusive labor market, with equal opportunities for every individual, is a desideratum of all societies, and one of the Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations for the year 2030
The document specifies that everyone, regardless of race, creed or sex, has the right to spiritual development and material well-being in conditions of freedom, dignity, economic security and equal opportunities on the labor market, mentioning that discrimination is a violation of fundamental human rights [2]
This paper aims to investigate the perception of Romanians regarding the labor market discrimination, as it still is a phenomenon which affects labor market inclusiveness and hinders the efforts towards a more sustainable labor market

Summary

Introduction

With equal opportunities for every individual, is a desideratum of all societies, and one of the Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations for the year 2030. Migration has contributed significantly to these changes, as the socio-cultural dimension has been directly influenced by the different background and specific lifestyles of migrants This dynamic has left its mark on the labor market, because this diversification challenges workers’ perception of different personal characteristics (race, language, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, traditions, religion) of colleagues/superiors/subordinates at work. It is argued that this figure might be too low, because very few women with primary and secondary education are employed, and in the end, the comparison is made between highly educated women’s wage and low educated men’s wage In this context, this paper aims to investigate the perception of Romanians regarding the labor market discrimination, as it still is a phenomenon which affects labor market inclusiveness and hinders the efforts towards a more sustainable labor market. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents the literature review regarding discrimination in the labor market, Section 3 describes the data and the methods used in the study, Section 4 presents the statistical analysis and the econometric results, and the final section is dedicated to discussions and main conclusions

Literature Review

Data and Methodology

Descriptive Statistics

Discussions