For Gurbaux Singh, the chairman of the Commission on Racial Equality, the situation needs
"Is it a sustainable proposition for British companies and firms to focus their recruitment
only on the best white able-bodied males?
"Organisations need an increasingly diverse workforce in order to respond to their
increasingly diverse marketplace."
According to the TUC, "the figures are very disappointing. There is still a big problem
despite the legislation."
But if the facts are not in dispute, there is still a fierce debate on the causes - and
policy consequences - of these disparities at work.
One of the most striking facts is the persistence of the differential between the
unemployment rates among whites and members of ethnic minorities - differences which have
persisted since records began 20 years ago, as the absolute level of unemployment has waxed
Earlier hopes that the next generation - the children of immigrants - would have a similar
pattern of employment to whites has not been realised.
According to Prime Minister Tony Blairís Policy and Innovation Unit, which reviewed the
figures this year, "the evidence does not suggest sufficient or extensive economic
integration - nor does it especially point to improved levels of success by the children of
In fact, their research points to higher unemployment levels by the children of immigrants
in the 1990s than their parents.
There are also big differences in the average earnings received by those in work.
Black and Asian men average nearly £100 a week less than white workers.
However, there are important differences between ethnic groups, and between men and women.
There is no wage gap for Indian men, and black women have been improving their occupational
status much faster than black men.
The low wages may be related to the difficulty that ethnic minority workers have in gaining
promotion to higher levels of management.
A survey of Britain's 100 biggest companies by the Runnymede Trust suggested that just 1% of
senior management posts were held by ethnic minorities, despite the fact that they make up
7% of the population as a whole.
The difficulties that are faced by ethnic minorities at work have led many to conclude that
self-employment might be a better path.
And among Asian workers, especially from India and Pakistan, self-employment rates are
substantially higher than whites, with one in four Pakistani workers now saying they are
But self-employment only results in around 7% of all small businesses being minority-owned.
The Bank of England estimated that there are 15,000 minority owned businesses in London
employing a workforce of 200,000.
There is considerable debate on why the patterns of racial prejudice in employment have
And there are certainly a number of key factors that partly explain what is happening.
Education is one of the most important - black men, in particular, have lower levels of
educational achievement than those in the population as a whole.
And geography is another factor - with some ethnic minorities concentrated in areas of high
unemployment, or far from public transport, or in industries (like textiles and clothing)
that are rapidly shrinking.
Gender is also very important - women from black and Indian backgrounds, in particular, seem
to be gaining employment more easily than many other ethnic minority groups.
What to do?
Most recent legislative attention has focused on racist crime and the reform of public
institutions, leaving the issue of racism in private employment to be dealt with on an
individual basis through employment tribunals.
According to the TUC, however, institutional racism among companies is still a key factor in
explaining the racial divide in the job market.
|BBC News Online: Race survey
Question: How many people object to working
with someone from a different race?
TO FIND OUT MORE CLICK HERE
The TUC's equality officer, Roger McKenzie, told BBC News Online that "the skills and
experience of black males fails to be recognised in the workplace."
The TUC wants the government to extend the provisions of the 2001 Race Relations Act, which
called for public bodies to take positive action to encourage ethnic diversity, to be
extended to the private sector.
And it wants compulsory ethnic monitoring by companies of their workforces.
The main employers organisation, the Confederation of British Industry, acknowledges that
there are "serious issues" but says "it is too easy to point the finger at employers when
other factors are at play."
The CBI's is keen to encourage firms to take "positive action" to encourage recruitment of
ethnic minorities, and is in joint discussions with the TUC.
It is concerned about "aspirations" and "perceptions" among minority groups, which it
wants to influence.
But it is less keen on the use of employment tribunals to fight discrimination, saying that
many are misused by people who take cases that never reach fruition.
The debate over workplace inequality has not yet been fully joined.
But when it is, it is likely that government, employers and unions will all have to look
more broadly at how to tackle one of the biggest social divides in Britain.