TUC points up increase in bme unemployment rate

The unemployment rate among Black and minority ethnic (BME) workers is more than double that of their white counterparts.

An analysis by the TUC of annual averages of the unemployment gap over the last 20 years shows it is now the widest it has been since 2008. And the TUC warns that the gap has widened significantly since the start of the pandemic.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the unemployment rate for BME workers is now 7.7% compared to 3.5% for white workers.

This is now 33% higher for BME workers than it was pre-pandemic. For white workers, it is 2% higher.

BME workers were disproportionately impacted through the pandemic by Covid-related job losses, says the union body, and are now significantly more likely to be trapped in unemployment than their white counterparts.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The pandemic held up a mirror to discrimination in our labour market and as we start to build back, the time for excuses and delays is over.”

The TUC wants employers to work with unions to:

• establish comprehensive ethnic monitoring systems;

• analyse, evaluate and publish monitoring data; and

• develop action plans that address racial disparities in their workplaces.

It is also calling on government and public authorities to introduce race equality requirements into public sector contracts for the supply of goods and services.