The first data from the Government's Race Disparity Audit was published earlier this month. The aim of the audit is to provide data in order to examine how people from different backgrounds are treated across society. Labour market participation and income is one key focus of the audit, along with others, such as education, health, housing, crime and policing and the criminal justice system.
The audit highlights a significant disparity between the working age unemployment rate of white British people (of whom around 1 in 25 are unemployed) and that of black people, Pakistani and Bangladeshi people and those identifying as being of mixed ethnicity (of whom around 1 in 10 are unemployed). Broken down by age, the unemployment rate of white British people is almost half that of most other ethnic groups.
There is further disparity in the type of work undertaken by people of different ethnicities. More than 2 in 5 Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers work in one of the three lowest-skilled occupation groups, compared to 1 in 4 white British workers.
Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers, along with black workers, receive the lowest average hourly pay of the ethnicity groups identified. On average, Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers are paid £4.11 less per hour than Indian workers.
Damian Green, First Secretary of State, comments in the Foreword: "I expect local and national service providers to look at the data in the Audit and use it to identify where they most need to improve and where they really need to be offering a better service. And I know charities, academics, community groups and the private sector will also find this data valuable to inform their work to improve our country."
First published October 2017.
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