Researching Discrimination in Employment David Drew & Stephen Munn (Department for Work and Pensions)

Introduction Ethnic Penalties Research Discrimination Testing Qualitative Research Conclusions

The Employment Gap Figure 1: Employment rate of the working age ethnic minority population and the gap relative to the whole population, Great Britain, Source: Labour Force Survey

Table 1: Economic activity rates, by ethnic origin, Great Britain, Summer 2002 Source: Labour Force Survey Notes: Base is the working age population. The non-employment rate is the sum of the unemployment and inactivity rates Unemployment and inactivity rates are high for ethnic minority groups

Analytica l issues Human Capital Geography and poverty Ethnicity (including discrimination)

Ethnic penalties in the labour market: data and methodology used in eight papers Table 2 Ethnic penalties in the labour market

Ethnic penalties in the labour market: data and methodology used in eight papers (continued) Source: DWP EMED IB4 (2003)

Employment rates vary considerably between different ethnic groups Table 3: Probability of non-employment by various characteristics. Source: Berthoud 2002

After controlling for human capital characteristics ethnic differences in outcomes are still large Table 4: Comparing gross and net differentials in employment and unemployment outcomes between ethnic minority men and their white counterparts. Great Britain Source:Carmichael and Woods (2000) plus Berthoud (2000) Notes: For employment and occupational attainment figures, one indicates parity. I.e. the value is the same for whites and ethnic minorities. The figure for occupational attainment should read as the likelihood of being in the professional class for ethnic minorities relative to whites. The figures for earning power are the amount of disadvantage ethnic minorities experience relative to whites. Unemployment and occupational attainment are taken from Berthoud (2000).

Discrimination Testing Job Applications Job Interviews

Discrimination testing – potential issues Ethical issues – possible entrapment Research issues – lack of control Practical issues – sample size

Net discrimination is high relative to whites for all ethnic groups Table 5: Ethnic Minority Discrimination Tests: Written applications, UK.

Qualitative Work There has been little direct qualitative research Qualitative work is required to answer how and why questions

Qualitative research - some examples Interview analysis Employment Agencies

Why does employment discrimination occur Employers may have negative stereotypes of (particularly young) ethnic minorities. Employers may be unwilling to antagonise workers in their firms who are known racists by hiring ethnic minorities. Employers who recruit using word-of-mouth and local (white) social networks may (inadvertently) exclude ethnic minorities. Employment agencies may discriminate by following covert instructions from employers not to recruit ethnic minorities. Source Wrench & Modood (2001)

Conclusion – research 1 DWP has established a major research programme. Statistical analysis Discrimination testing Qualitative research

Conclusion – research 2 Other government departments undertaking complementary work (DFES, Home office, ODPM, DTI) Continuing academic work e.g. ESRC longitudinal survey

Conclusion - policy Establishment of the inter-governmental Task Force Joined-up policy making between departments Use of research to develop policy

Annex A: Estimated odds ratios of being in employment compared to whites for ethnic minority groups after taking into account qualifications, age, gender, disability levels and being born in the UK Source: Labour Market Survey, Spring 2001-Winter2002 * Statistically unreliable due to small sample size