New Report on ethnic minority employment gap

A new report by the Resolution Foundation shows that there is a 26 percentage point gap between best and worst parts of the UK for ethnic minority employment. Closing sub regional employment gaps is central to reaching full employment and would mean 150,000 more ethnic minority people in work.

The employment gap between the best and worst performing sub-regions of the UK for all working-aged people is just 11 percentage points, but this more than doubles to 26 percentage points for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people, according to the new analysis which forms part of a major project on full employment.

Looking at 20 areas across the UK including city and rural sub-regions, the analysis finds that the best area for BAME employment is Scotland (outside of Glasgow) with an employment rate of 74 per cent. The worst area is the North East (outside of Tyne & Wear), where less than half (48 per cent) of working-age BAME people are in work.

Bringing all sub-regions of the UK in line with the best performing overall employment areas (the East, South East and South West) would mean 150,000 more BAME people in work, and a halving of the BAME regional employment rate gap from 26 per cent to 14 per cent. The remaining gap reflects the fact that ethnic minority people in some parts of the country are more likely to face other barriers, such as single motherhood or being low skilled.

The overall employment rate for all 16-64 year olds in the UK is 73 per cent, dropping to 62 per cent for working age BAME people (a difference of 11 percentage points). A ‘high participation’ group (prime-aged, non-disabled, non-single parent, highly-qualified, white people) has a far higher employment rate, at 93 per cent.

Addressing the issues that prevent BAME people from entering or staying in work will be essential if the UK is to move towards full employment, the analysis indicates. This will include driving up demand for workers across the country by ensuring economic growth is as widely-shared as possible, and targeted policy action on the barriers faced by specific groups including skills, health problems and family circumstances. The final report of the Resolution Foundation’s full employment project, to be published in early 2016, will set out detailed policy recommendations for moving towards the government’s full employment ambitions.

Laura Gardiner, Senior Research and Policy Analyst at the Resolution Foundation said:

“The UK’s performance on jobs has been one of the biggest success stories in recent years, resulting in more people in work than ever before. But substantial weaknesses remain for certain groups such as ethnic minority people, who have lower employment rates overall and experience even greater penalties in the worst-performing areas.

“Achieving full employment, which the Chancellor is right to target, must involve addressing the issues that prevent ethnic minority groups from entering or staying in work, and ensuring they have an equal chance of securing a quality job no matter where they live. The government needs to set the right economic conditions, alongside pulling the right policy levers that stimulate job creation and encourage people to join the workforce. The involvement of local partnerships in commissioning the successor to the Work Programme will be an early opportunity to ensure that the needs of ethnic minority groups are met.”

For further information, visit www.resolutionfoundation.org