Ethnic employment gap ‘still too wide’
It will take almost 50 years for the employment rate among the black working age population to match that of the white population, according to the TUC.
And the trades union organisation warns that only by accelerating an improvement in ethnic employment rates will the government meet its target for eliminating child poverty by 2020.
“If one or both parents in a family are out of work, there is less money to go around. And as more black and Asian adults are out of work, more ethnic minority children than white children are currently living in poverty,” said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.
Research by the TUC finds that unemployment among black and Asian workers currently stands at 11 per cent, compared to just five per cent for white workers.
Although the employment rate for black workers has improved, standing at 59.4 per cent last year compared to 54.8 per cent in 1997, this is still considerably lower than for white workers (74.7 per cent in 2004 and 72.6 per cent in 1997).
The TUC blames continued employer reluctance to recruit ethnic minority candidates for much of the employment gap, saying that whatever the level of qualification, an ethnic minority person is more likely to be unemployed.
It is urging the government to tackle this prejudice by extending the Race Relations Amendment Act beyond the public sector, making it more difficult for firms not to take on black and Asian candidates.
“Tackling employer prejudice and bigotry during the recruitment process must be a priority for unions, but active job creation schemes targeted on areas of high unemployment are also a must if we are not to continue to see huge differences in the numbers of black and white people out of work for the next 50 years,” Mr Barber said.
