ETHNICITY & PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYMENT DURING THE CURRENT
RECESSION: A SUMMARYi
INTRODUCTION
The current government has decided to make unprecedented cuts to government spending of
over £83 billion within the course of one parliament. These cuts are likely to have a
significant impact on the ways in which public services are delivered and on the workforce
which is currently employed to deliver them.
In 2011 Runnymede commissioned a research paper exploring the likely impact of public
sector cuts on Black workers. This summary sheet outlines the key findings of that paper,
which paint a picture of some clear differences, both in employment and unemployment, for
minority ethnic individuals when compared to their White counterparts. This analysis, in
exploring how minority ethnic individuals are faring within the labour market, has been
conducted in order to foreground a new project we are embarking upon, in association with
the TUC, UNISON, Unite, NASUWT and PCS unions. This project will aim to illustrate where
employment cuts have occurred and how they are affecting the Black public sector workforce.
MAIN FINDINGS
Through an analysis of the Labour Force Survey during the four years between 2008 – 2011,
the main findings of the paper can be summarised as follows:
 There are declining rates of overall employment among minority ethnic groups in Great
Britain with Black (African as well as Caribbean) men and women 2.5 times as likely to
be unemployed as White people
 Most minority ethnic groups (apart from Indian and Chinese men, and Eastern
Europeans) had lower employment rates than White British: Black Caribbean and
African groups were 2 -3 times as likely to be unemployed.
 There is clear evidence of an ‘ethnic penalty’ on employment for most Black groups.
This means that Black people have much higher rates of unemployment or
worklessness that remain unexplained even after taking their socio-economic
backgrounds into account.
 These ethnic penalties worsened as the recession proceeded particularly for Black
African men.
 Some minority ethnic females experience high rates of economic inactivity - 66% of
Pakistani/Bangladeshi women are economically inactive compared to 31% of Black
African and 25% of White British women. The highest rates for unemployment among
women are found among those of Black African heritage
50
40
30
20
Percent
60
70
80
Figure 1 – Ethnic Group Employment by year by sex – Women
2008
2009
2010
2011
Year
W British
B Caribbean
Pakistani/Bangladeshi
W Irish
B African
Chinese
E European
Indian
Other
Source: Labour Force Survey (2008 – 2011)
 Black African and Black Caribbean people in particular rely heavily on public-sector
employment, therefore government public sector cuts will have a negative impact on
their livelihoods
 Women generally are more likely to be employed within the public sector
 White Irish, Black Caribbean and Black African groups were most likely to be found
working in the public sector. 30% of all Black Caribbean women are public sector
workers compared to 26% of all White British women. However, even the Black
African and Black Caribbean workers in professional/managerial positions were badly
paid.
 Black workers in the public sector also experience differences compared to White
workers in the hourly pay they receive, their access to professional & managerial
positions and overall employment.
60
70
Percent
80
90
Figure 2 – Ethnic Group Employment by year by sex – Men
2008
2009
2010
2011
Year
W British
B Caribbean
Pakistani/Bangladeshi
W Irish
B African
Chinese
E European
Indian
Other
Source: Labour Force Survey
 Given that Black African men, together with Chinese and Indian men, tend to have the
highest levels of education, it is telling that their rate of unemployment is 12%
compared to a 6% rate for White British men. They are also the most likely out of all
men to be employed in the public sector – 17% of them are public sector workers
compared to only 7% of Pakistani and Bangladeshi men.
 2nd generation immigrants born and educated in Britain have similar unemployment
rates to their first generation counterparts
 Black unemployment has been found to be particularly high in times of economic
recession in the UK such as during the mid 1980s and early 1990s
 When unemployment rises during periods of recession, it begins earlier among Black
groups and at its highest point, during the 4 years between 2008 and 2011, Black
unemployment was 3 times higher than that for the rest of the population
 When the economic situation begins to improve, it takes longer for the impact to be felt
among Black groups, as unemployment remains higher for them for a longer period of
time
CONCLUSION
In total then, as some of the most disadvantaged groups are more likely to work within the
public sector, the full impact of the government’s austerity policies in this area will surely
make the employment situation of these groups much worse, with serious social implications.
With the support of the TUC, UNISON, Unite, NASUWT and PCS, Runnymede will use a new
project to achieve a number of aims - to assess the impact of the cuts on the profile of the
public sector workforce; to connect organisations working to promote equality during this
difficult period and to provide up to date monitoring data to inform employers and government
about the impact of their choices.
As part of this work we will be surveying public sector workers via their union branch
representatives in order to assess how employment situations may have changed or are due
to. We have also produced an Online Guide In this Together? Counting the equality costs of
public service reform – an online guide to monitoring where you work. This Guide provides
advice and tools to support union members who want to collect monitoring information that
will help them to ensure their employers assess the equality impact of potential decisions
before those decisions are made. These tools, survey and a final report available in Autumn
2012 will help us to assess the full impact of public sector cuts and enable us to hold both
employers and government to account under their equality legislation responsibilities.
This summary is taken from a longer paper “Ethnicity and public sector employment during the current recession”
commissioned by Runnymede and written by Professor Yaojun Li, University of Manchester
i