Chapter 1
Unemployment
[ch 1: page 5]BAME people face a bigger struggle than their white counterparts to get a job in the first place. Even before the effects of the Covid pandemic, people from ethnic minorities experienced on average almost twice the rate of unemployment of white people (7% compared to 4%). For young, BAME people (aged 16-24), the unemployment rate was 18%, compared with 11% for young, white people.
Black people have the highest unemployment rate of all, at 9%. However, when gender is also taken into account, it is women from a Bangladeshi or Pakistani background who experience the highest rate of joblessness, at 13%.
Unemployment rate by ethnic background Britain 2018
| All | 4% |
| Asian | 6% |
| Indian | 4% |
| Pakistani, Bangladeshi | 8% |
| Asian Other | 6% |
| Black | 9% |
| Mixed | 7% |
| White | 4% |
| White British | 4% |
| White Other | 3% |
| Other | 8% |
Source: Annual Population Survey (released October 2020)