Decomposing the Inequality of Gypsies in Romania

Gypsies are historically and presently in a disadvantaged position in all countries where they reside. Using the censuses of 1977, 1992 and 2002, I provide an empirical decomposition across time of the inequality Gypsies suffer in Romania, home to a large and growing Gypsy community. Gypsies are found to have worse housing conditions, persistently lower educational attainment, less employment, and higher unemployment. A logit regression reveals that despite controlling for parental education and other characteristics young Gypsies, in particular Gypsy girls, have a lower probability of attending school, indicating that the next generation will suffer from low educational attainment, as well. In the labor market, similarly, Gypsies are found to be less likely to be employed, where again females suffer an even greater burden than male Gypsies. Using a Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition I show that a large part of the differences in employment cannot be explained by observable characteristics.