The economic integration of ethnic minorities in Britain

1. The economic integration of ethnic minorities in Britain Anthony Heath Oxford University

2. Outline of presentation Brief review of labour market participation, unemployment rates and occupational attainment of ethnic minorities Some tentative explanations, especially discrimination, social capital and preferences Implications for political participation

3. Labour market participation(focus of government policy) • 14 point employment gap between majority and minorities in 2009 • But varies by gender, ethnicity/religion and generation. Crucial to disaggregate. • Employment gap is biggest for 1st generation women of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin (around 50 points) • Gap is smallest for 2nd generation Indian men (almost zero) Sources: DWP; Heath and Martin using 2005/6 Annual Population surveys.

4. Unemployment • All minorities (except Chinese), both 1st and 2nd generation, have higher ‘gross’ unemployment rates than the majority. • Highest rates are for Black African and Pakistani women and Black Caribbean men (15-20% compared with around 5% for white British in 2006) • Little difference between 1st and 2nd generations, men and women • Also note ‘discouraged workers’ who will not be included in these figures

5. Occupational attainment • Among those fortunate enough to be in work, ‘gross’ differences from the majority group are smaller than the differences in unemployment • Most successful groups are Indian and Chinese men and women, and Black Caribbean women. • Least successful are Pakistani/Bangladeshi men and women – though 2nd generation have caught up (19% of P/B men in salariat compared with 11% in 1st generation and 35% of white British men) Source: Cheung and Heath 2007.

6. Self-employment • Self-employment rates are particularly high among 1st generation Indian, Chinese Pakistani and Bangladeshi men • But self-employed minorities tend to earn considerably less than self-employed white British • Self-employment rates are lower in the second generation Source: Cheung and Heath 2007.

7. Explanations – jobseekers • Low qualifications? • Spatial mismatch? • Lack of information? • Lack of contacts/bridging social capital? • Preferences?

8. Different explanations for different groups/outcomes • Low qualifications explain some of the gross disadvantages of 1st generation Pakistani and Bangladeshi men and women • 1st generation with foreign qualifications get lower returns on their education • But low qualifications do not explain 2nd generation disadvantage since all 2nd gen groups have closed the education gap (and many have overtaken the white British) and have British qualifications

9. Ethnic penalties • Ethnic penalties (ie disadvantages after controlling for age and education) persist for all 2nd generation groups with regard to unemployment • Ethnic penalties are present both for the highly as well as the less well-educated minorities

11. Religious penalties • Some evidence of a consistent Muslim penalty, more or less invariant across all ethnic groups. • Muslim penalty is largest with respect to women’s employment. • Muslim penalty also apparent with respect to men’s unemployment, ie Muslim men have higher unemployment rates (after controlling for ethnicity) • But controlling for religion, Black men and women have consistent ethnic/racial penalties Sources: Berthoud and Blekesaune 2006; Heath and Martin 2010

12. Explanations - employers • Direct discrimination • Indirect discrimination • Other barriers, eg word of mouth recruitment • Chill factor

13. Discrimination DWP’s recent cv testing is most powerful demonstration of direct discrimination. 10.7% of applications from candidates with ‘white’ names received positive responses compared with 6.2% for minorities Level of discrimination did not vary significantly by ethnicity, gender or by job level But was significantly less in the public sector

14. Self-reports of discrimination The picture is similar in self-reported experience of discrimination in the labour market Self-report studies show higher levels in the 2nd generation and among Black Africans and Black Caribbeans Also the more highly-educated show greater awareness of discrimination – ‘the integration paradox’ Source: Heath and Cheung 2006

15. Explanatory significance of direct discrimination • Direct discrimination appears unlikely to explain all, or even the majority of, the ethnic penalties (Li and Heath 2007) • But experiences of discrimination may explain high rates of self-employment • May also explain high rates of continuation into further and higher education

16. Implications for political participation • Standard theories of resource mobilization suggest that groups with lower education and lower class positions will have lower rates of political participation. • May be a major factor among some 1st generation groups (eg Bangladeshis) • But less likely to be a major factor among the 2nd generation, who have generally achieved high levels of education • Though could be a factor among young minorities with their very high unemployment rates and ‘discouragement’

17. Implications for class voting • Most minorities are now quite internally stratified by class, so would expect to see some class variation in party support within ethnic groups • But relative absence of minorities in private sector managerial positions, and the different nature of their self-employment, is likely to lead to weaker class effects

18. Implications of discrimination • Shared experiences of discrimination, cutting across class and education levels, may generate a sense of ‘shared fate’ and shared experiences of exclusion (cf US class vs race debates, eg Dawson) • Could be a major factor in alienation and radicalization (eg Maxwell)

19. Some concluding reflections • Crucial to disaggregate by ethnicity, gender and generation and to recognize within-group stratification • ‘Objective’ class positions probably less important for many outcomes than subjective experience of discrimination and exclusion • Direct discrimination is only one among several mechanisms of exclusion • Crucial also to make distinction between egocentric and socio-tropic bases of political behaviour