LRD guides and handbook November 2020

Tackling racism and inequality - a trade union guide

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)

https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/work-pay-and-benefits/unemployment-and-economic-inactivity/unemployment/latest