Jim Knight MP

A study carried out by National Centre for Social Research has shown that discrimination occurred for those applying for jobs with a name suggesting they were from an ethnic minority.

For every nine applications sent by a white applicant, an equally good applicant with an ethnic minority name had to send sixteen to obtain a positive response.

Applications were sent to a total of 987 advertised jobs in the private, public and voluntary sector.

The public sector vacancies included in this study, which usually required standard application forms, did not discriminate at this initial stage of recruitment.  This suggests that discrimination might be reduced by the use of standard application forms.

Jim Knight, Minister for Employment at Welfare Reform said:
“This research clearly shows that some employers are discriminating when it comes to choosing staff.  This has no place in a modern society and racial discrimination cannot be allowed to continue.  

“We introduced laws to stop discrimination at work and strengthened them in 2000.  We also introduced new diversity and equality requirements in DWP contracts with suppliers.  Employees can use the Race Relations Act to take employers to a tribunal if they are being treated unfairly and they will also get support and advice from the European Human Rights Commission to do so.

“We are determined to stop this scourge on society - the Equality Bill will strengthen our hand and we are already preparing to publish specific plans for dealing with discrimination in the workplace later this year.”

Sandra Kerr, National Campaign Director, Race for Opportunity said:
“Race for Opportunity welcomes all research into the ethnic minority employment gap and, in particular, into the reasons why ethnic minorities remain underrepresented in the UK workforce. However, it is important that we work beyond the headlines, and concentrate on addressing the causes for this unfairness.”

The need for the research was based on the persistent and unexplained gap in the employment rate between the ethnic minority population and the population of Great Britain, where there is still a 13.8 percentage point difference today.