White/ethnic minority earnings and employment differentials in Britain: evidence from the LFS

Abstract

It is twenty years since Britain passed legislation to combat racial discrimination. Despite this, evidence presented in this paper suggests that Britain's non-white ethnic minorities still do not appear to face a level playing field in the UK labour market and their relative position does not appear to have improved since the 1970s. Native ethnic minorities also appear to be faring little better than their parents. It is in gaining employment that the situation is particularly acute.

Employment and earning differences in the early career of ethnic minority British graduates: the importance of university career, parental background and area characteristics

“…In this paper we focus on employment and earning inequalities among British people of different ethnicity graduating from U.K. universities. We show that ethnic inequalities in earnings and employment among graduates are substantially lower than what is generally found in the literature including all levels of education (Blackaby et al 2002). We find almost no earnings differences by ethnicity between graduates six months after graduation, and when continuously employed there is little difference in earnings growth.…”

The labour trajectories of immigrant women in Spain: Are there signs of upward social mobility?

“…Skills learned in the country of origin may be difficult to transfer, especially if the immigrant has a weak understanding of the labour market norms and the language of the host society (Chiswick 1978;Chiswick, Lee, and Miller 2005;Clark and Drinkwater 2008;Kanas et al 2012). A key factor in determining the labour market performance of new immigrants is the extent to which their education, pre-migration labour market experience, and training obtained abroad are valued at the destination (Blackaby et al 2002;Kee, 1995;Clark and Drinkwater 2008;Kanas and Van Tubergen 2009). Moreover, other researchers stressed the importance of proficiency in the host country language in explaining the employment levels immigrants attain at the country of destination, as having better language skills increases the range of jobs in the labour market for which immigrants are qualified (Leslie and Lindley 2001;Dustmann and Fabbri 2003;Berman, Lang, and Siniver 2003;Bleakley and Chin 2004).…”

Do Ethnic Minorities 'Stretch' Their Time? Evidence from the UK Time Use Survey

“…It is well documented in the literature that immigrants and ethnic minorities are often disadvantaged in the host country's labor market and society in general, in particular in Europe, although some groups may perform relatively well. While white immigrants in the UK perform comparatively well or even better than the native-born whites, it is the ethnic minority immigrants who experience lower labor market outcomes than natives, such as employment probabilities, labor force participation and wages, with Pakistani and Bangladeshi (as well as Blacks) being the most disadvantaged groups (see among others Blackaby et al 2002). And the employment rate of all ethnic minority women in the UK, in general, is much lower than for white natives.…”