Ethnic minorities in the Labour Market

Population

Almost one in eight working age people in Great Britain are of an ethnic minority background.

24% of the working age ethnic minority population are under 25 years old, compared with 19% per cent for whites.

Over two thirds of all working age ethnic minorities are concentrated in London, West Midlands Metropolitan, East Midlands, West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester, with 43% concentrated in London alone.

Only 59% of ethnic minorities are employed, compared with 73% of the general popuulation
Bangladeshi women have the lowest employment rate of all groups, with just 28% being employed
About a quarter of ethnic minorities are employed in the distribution or hotel and restaurants industry sectors compared with under a fifth of white people.

13% of ethnic minority people are unemployed (ILO unemployment), compared with only 8% of the general population
Other Asian unemployment is the lowest of all ethnic minority groups at 9%
Pakistani and Black African women (both 21%) and Black Carribean males (22%) are the groups most likely to be unemployed.

The employment gap between people from ethnic minority communities and the general population stands at 13.8 percentage points.

The economically inactive group includes those who are working age retired, those studying, looking after the family or home and those people who are long term sick or disabled
32% of people from an ethnic minority background are economically inactive, compared with only 21% of people for the general population
Two thirds of all Bangladeshi women are economically inactive, compared with only a quarter of white women
76% of Chinese people who are outside of the labour force are students
Over half of the Bangladeshis who are outside of the labour force are taking care of the family or home.

Source: Labour Force Survey, second quarter 2009.