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Ethnic Groups in the Labour Market

Published: August 2001

This report seeks to address the many requests we receive for information on ethnic groups in the labour market. In the absence of a perfect database we have made the fullest possible use of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for Birmingham. In addition we have made frequent use of LFS data for the West Midlands County (as a proxy for Birmingham) in order to have a large enough sample to drill down to individual ethnic groups.

Key Findings include:

Economic Activity
The economic activity rate for white men is 84.4% compared to 75.6% for non-white men.

Employment
There were considerable differences in employment levels over time between ethnic groups and between gender within ethnic groups.

Full-time Employment
Full-time employment among whites remained stable in Birmingham in the second half of the 1990s, but among non-white groups it increased by nearly 17%, mirroring national trends.

Part-time Employment
Part-time employment locally in Birmingham is highest among African-Caribbeans and lowest among Indian residents.

Employment by Industry
Numbers of white residents employed in the Manufacturing and Construction sectors fell slightly between 1994 and 1998, but non-white residents experienced a much greater fall. The proportion of residents employed in the service sector increased for both white and non-white groups.

Employment by Occupation
18% of people employed as managers and professionals were non-white, only slightly lower than their share of total employment (19%), but non-white groups account for higher shares of both lower skilled and lower paid occupations.

Unemployment
In 1998 the non-white ILO unemployment rate was two and a half times higher than for white residents. Pakistani-Bangladeshi residents continued to record the highest unemployment rates.

Education, Training and Skills
Indian groups have the highest proportion of 16 year olds achieving 5 or more GCSEs with grades A-C. The lowest achievers are African-Caribbean and Pakistani boys. Birmingham's qualification base is very polarised, with both a high proportion of residents having no qualifications and a high proportion with high-level qualifications. The least qualified are Pakistani groups.

Income Distribution
The highest earners were white male and the lowest Pakistani-Bangladeshi employees. There is a particularly large gap between white and non-white women's earnings.

Conclusion
The report demonstrates that inequalities exist between the different ethnic groups. But the limitations of the data mean that we have raised as many questions as answers. The challenge now is to improve the quality of local data provision.