Unemployment twice as high for BAME workers

The unemployment gap between BAME and White workers has widened significantly since the start of the pandemic, according to the TUC, with the unemployment rate for BAME workers now more than double that of their White counterparts.

The out of work rate for BAME workers now stands at 7.7% compared to 3.5% for White workers, the widest gap since 2008, having grown by 33% since before the pandemic, the union body said. This compares to a 2% increase among White workers. The ethnicity gap in unemployment was 69% at the end of 2019, but 120% by the fourth quarter of 2021.

The data shows that BAME workers were disproportionately affected by Covid-related job losses and are now more likely to be trapped in unemployment, said the union body’s general secretary, Frances O’Grady.

“The pandemic held up a mirror to discrimination in our labour market,” she stated. “In every industry where jobs were lost to the impact of Covid, BAME workers were more likely to have been made unemployed. Now, BAME workers are being held back in their search for work.”

The TUC is calling on employers to work with trade unions on comprehensive ethnic monitoring, and on the government to introduce race equality requirements into public sector contracts. It also wants the Equality and Human Rights Commission to investigate race discrimination in all labour market sectors.