Black net Community - BME employment rates rising steadily but pay and poverty still a concern

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BME employment rates rising steadily but pay and poverty still a concern

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The ‘employment gap’ between black and ethnic minority (BME) workers is closing steadily, but BME poverty rates are still nearly twice as high, according to a new report released today (Friday) by the TUC.

The TUC report – Ten years after – launched at the 2008 TUC black workers conference in Eastbourne says that steadily improving BME employment rates have reduced the ‘employment gap’ between BME and white workers by 2.2 percentage points over the last decade.

The fastest area of growth in BME employment has been part-time work. The number of BME men working part-time has more than doubled in ten years. This growth has widened the part-time pay gap between BME and white workers in the private sector to 26.3%, as part-time work pays less than full-time work.

The report also identifies differences in pay between the public and private sector. Over the last ten years, the pay gap in the public sector has been virtually eliminated, with black men earning 6.7% more than white men. However, BME men working full-time in the private sector are still paid 11% less than white men. BME women earn the same as white women in both sectors.

The report says that BME employment growth has helped to reduce the number of BME people living in poverty by 11 percentage points in the last ten years. However, in spite of this progress, nearly half of black and ethnic minority children are living in poverty and are nearly twice as likely to live in poverty as white children.

In order to further boost employment rates and pay for black and ethnic minority workers, the report calls for employers to develop recruitment, retention and progression policies so that BME workers are able to move into senior positions.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “The steady reduction in BME poverty rates proves that full employment is a vital cure for poverty. But with nearly half of BME children still live in poverty, these welcome trends cannot be taken for granted.

“As more BME men move into part-time work and receive the same low pay as women, the stark reality of in-work poverty is growing. Tackling the deep-rooted problem of poor part-time pay must be at the heart of the Government’s anti-poverty strategy.”

The black workers conference will also see the launch of a new joint campaign between the TUC and the Refugee Council, which aims to give asylum seekers the right to work. Both organisations want a change in policy that would allow asylum seekers who have been in the country for longer than six months, or who are unable to return home, to work and support themselves, and make a contribution to the UK economy.

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