1. Researching race and discrimination in the UK: A case study in methods
David Drew and Duncan Carnie
DWP Sheffield, England
Presentation to ESF Partnership Meeting: Warsaw 29 May 2008
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2. Ethnic minorities and employer discrimination: Research methods
The employment gap is 14 percentage points and if present trends continue it will take 100 years to close the gap…
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…and employment rates for individual ethnic minority groups vary widely
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4. … whilst government strategy is built around three strands
Equal opportunities in the workplace
Building employability
Connecting people to work
……..and addresses distinct disadvantages including:
Employer discrimination on the grounds of race still exists
Lack of fluency in English – for example 75% of Bangladeshi women aged are not fluent in English
High rates of inactivity – particularly amongst Pakistani and Bangladeshi women
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5. 1. Self report in surveys: Job refusals
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6. Those with post school qualifications
… and there is a ‘chill’ factor, prejudice amongst employers and managers
Self reported prejudice – white employees and employers. Percent very or fairly prejudiced
All current employees and employers
Those with post school qualifications
Employers and managers
Manufacturing 36 30
Construction 37 38
Distribution 33 29 39
Transport 34 40
Finance 28 24 27
Public administration 21 19
All
Pooled BSA
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7. 2. Statistical modelling: Ethnic penalties
Heath and Cheung, Oxford University (2006)
An ethnic penalty is the disadvantage experienced by a group after control for age, qualifications and other important factors
Different outcomes (unemployment, progress to salariat) and different sectors: (construction, transport)
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8. … logistic analysis of unemployment: trends over time for men
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… show large penalties for ethnic minority men and little improvement over time
Limitations
Unobservable factors (personal and cultural preferences) could explain differences
No account taken of pre-labour market discrimination
Latest research
Discrimination (job refusals) is the largest factor in the employment gap for blacks
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10. 3. Qualitative research: Videos of interviews
Roberts, Kings College London (2006), Talk on Trial
Research objectives to understand:
how ethnic minority candidates are systematically disadvantaged in interviews
how job selection decisions are made by employers
Method:
60 real job interviews video-recorded with pre- and post-interviews with candidates; post-interviews with interviewers. Manual jobs mostly.
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… and the findings were
first generation ethnic minorities were less successful
mismatch of cultural expectations
communicative competence rather than job skills competence
equal (but not fair) interviews
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12. 4. Experimental approach: CV testing
French Strategy Unit (2007)
Matched written applications for jobs based on names and qualifications
Closest to randomised trial ‘gold standard’
Unequivocal evidence of discrimination
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13. …Moroccan and French names and combinations were used
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14. … and applicants with Moroccan names were less successful
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…and finally…employment penalties by ethnicity, gender, disability and family structure
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References
French strategy unit research:
Heath, A. and Cheung, S. (2006) Ethnic penalties in the labour market: Employers and discrimination. DWP Research Report 341 (116 pages).
Roberts, C. (2006) Talk on Trial: Job interviews, language and ethnicity. DWP research report 344.
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Other references
Berthoud, R. and Blekesaune, M. (2007) Persistent employment disadvantage. DWP Research Report 416
Crawford, C. et al. (2008) Estimating ethnic parity in Jobcentre Plus programmes: a quantitative analysis using the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. DWP research report 491. Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Modood, T. et al. (2006) Developing positive action policies. DWP research report. Bristol University.
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Previous work
Drew, D. (1995) Race, Education and Work: The Statistics of Inequality. Aldershot, Avebury.
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