The new figures, which do not include students, also reveal that the youth unemployment rate for black people has increased at almost twice the rate for white 16- to 24-year-olds since the start of the recession in 2008. Young black men are the worst affected of all, according to a gender breakdown contained within the data supplied by the Office for National Statistics.
In terms of individual groups, 48% of black people, 31% of Asians and 20% of whites reported that they were out of work.
Unemployment among young black men has doubled in three years, rising from 28.8% in 2008 to 55.9% in the last three months of 2011.
Black unemployment has been roughly double that of whites since the government started tracking the figures in 1972.
Asked to respond, the Department for Work and Pensions stressed the overall proportion of young black people who are unemployed was only 22%. This differs because it includes students and others not available for work, whereas the ONS calculates the official unemployment rate as a percentage of the economically active population.
"We have introduced a number of measures designed to give all young people the right skills and experience to match them to vacancies," said a DWP spokesperson. "This includes the Work Programme, which assesses people as individuals to discover what barriers are preventing them from getting a job and will then work with them overcome these problems. We are also spending £1bn over the next three years to help young jobseekers by creating around half a million opportunities through work experience and apprenticeships."
Economists blame a variety of factors. The black workforce is younger than the white workforce, lower numbers of blacks get a college degree and many live in areas of the country that were harder hit by the recession -- all things that could lead to a higher unemployment rate. But even excluding those factors, blacks still are hit with higher joblessness.
Lisa Harker, co-director of the IPPR, said the findings were a "worrying reminder" that those from ethnic minorities or with fewer qualifications were "far more likely to become part of a generation lost to unemployment and disadvantage".
The think tank said the government's pledge to shield ethnic minorities had "not been effective" and urged the government to draw up alternative measures to prevent long-term unemployment.
The IPPR said unemployment was highest for those with no qualifications, standing at 43%. The IPPR found that young women with no qualifications were the worst hit across all age groups with unemployment at 46%, up by 18% from March 2008. It said youth unemployment followed similar regional patterns to adult unemployment - and areas worst hit were those dependent on manufacturing and construction industries.
David Blackaby, an expert on the labour market at the University of Swansea, says legislation designed to combat racial discrimination has failed. In the 30 years since the Race Relations Act was passed the position of black people in the labour market appears to have got worse.
"We assume in Britain that we don't discriminate and that there is a level playing field," he said. "But when you look at the numbers, it's quite frightening."
But Dr Blackaby is puzzled by why the gap between black and white workers has not closed as the labour market has improved. He thinks the government and firms are complacent about equal opportunities.
Firms are paying lip service to equal opportunities and diversity issues, according to a report published today by the Industrial Society. Employers say tackling racism and sexism is a priority yet fewer than half of the firms the society surveyed had a strategy for it
Jeremy Crook, director of the Black Training and Enterprise Group (BTEG), said part of the problem was there were very few black role models in Britain. Mr Crook said black and ethnic minority communities suffered from a "long-term persistent recession" and the government needed to make a "more targeted effort" to suggest they could "achieve in life".
"Long-term unemployment is quite devastating, the government needs to improve outcomes and show pathways into apprenticeships. "There is still discrimination amongst employers, particularly in construction and engineering," he added.
The term has been used from the 1950s to refer to Black people from former British colonies in the West Indies i.e. the New Commonwealth and Africa, who are residents of the United Kingdom and consider themselves British.
Black British is primarily used as a official category in UK national statistics ethnicity classifications, where it is sub-divided into 'Caribbean', 'African' and 'Other Black' groups.
The black population has increased from 1.1 million to over 1.5 million from 2001 to 2009, a growth of 40%. The U.K. has the second-largest black population in Europe, after France.
Asked to respond, the Department for Work and Pensions stressed the overall proportion of young black people who are unemployed was only 22%. This differs because it includes students and others not available for work, whereas the ONS calculates the official unemployment rate as a percentage of the economically active population.
"We have introduced a number of measures designed to give all young people the right skills and experience to match them to vacancies," said a DWP spokesperson. "This includes the Work Programme, which assesses people as individuals to discover what barriers are preventing them from getting a job and will then work with them overcome these problems. We are also spending £1bn over the next three years to help young jobseekers by creating around half a million opportunities through work experience and apprenticeships."
Economists blame a variety of factors. The black workforce is younger than the white workforce, lower numbers of blacks get a college degree and many live in areas of the country that were harder hit by the recession -- all things that could lead to a higher unemployment rate. But even excluding those factors, blacks still are hit with higher joblessness.
Lisa Harker, co-director of the IPPR, said the findings were a "worrying reminder" that those from ethnic minorities or with fewer qualifications were "far more likely to become part of a generation lost to unemployment and disadvantage".
The think tank said the government's pledge to shield ethnic minorities had "not been effective" and urged the government to draw up alternative measures to prevent long-term unemployment.
The IPPR said unemployment was highest for those with no qualifications, standing at 43%. The IPPR found that young women with no qualifications were the worst hit across all age groups with unemployment at 46%, up by 18% from March 2008. It said youth unemployment followed similar regional patterns to adult unemployment - and areas worst hit were those dependent on manufacturing and construction industries.
David Blackaby, an expert on the labour market at the University of Swansea, says legislation designed to combat racial discrimination has failed. In the 30 years since the Race Relations Act was passed the position of black people in the labour market appears to have got worse.
"We assume in Britain that we don't discriminate and that there is a level playing field," he said. "But when you look at the numbers, it's quite frightening."
But Dr Blackaby is puzzled by why the gap between black and white workers has not closed as the labour market has improved. He thinks the government and firms are complacent about equal opportunities.
Firms are paying lip service to equal opportunities and diversity issues, according to a report published today by the Industrial Society. Employers say tackling racism and sexism is a priority yet fewer than half of the firms the society surveyed had a strategy for it
Jeremy Crook, director of the Black Training and Enterprise Group (BTEG), said part of the problem was there were very few black role models in Britain. Mr Crook said black and ethnic minority communities suffered from a "long-term persistent recession" and the government needed to make a "more targeted effort" to suggest they could "achieve in life".
"Long-term unemployment is quite devastating, the government needs to improve outcomes and show pathways into apprenticeships. "There is still discrimination amongst employers, particularly in construction and engineering," he added.
The term has been used from the 1950s to refer to Black people from former British colonies in the West Indies i.e. the New Commonwealth and Africa, who are residents of the United Kingdom and consider themselves British.
Black British is primarily used as a official category in UK national statistics ethnicity classifications, where it is sub-divided into 'Caribbean', 'African' and 'Other Black' groups.
The black population has increased from 1.1 million to over 1.5 million from 2001 to 2009, a growth of 40%. The U.K. has the second-largest black population in Europe, after France.
Sources:
The Guardianen.wikipedia
Infowars
BBC News
money.cnn
ippr.org
minoritypersp..
Sky News
No comments:
Post a Comment