Race inequality is increasing in the UK workforce

Barack Obama won the US presidential election with a message of hope, “Yes, we can!” His election showed the American dream to be alive: an African American with a very un-American sounding name won the most high profile management job in the world. “Could it happen here?” we asked. We might not wear our values so brazenly – there’s no such thing as the British dream - but surely opportunity and hope are as plentiful in UK society? Race is no barrier to success in the UK? Most commentators concluded that it wasn’t.

Depressingly this seems a long way from the truth. Bluntly, without major and urgent policy intervention and action from businesses, the message to ethnic minorities in the UK is: “No, you won’t”. Ethnic minorities don’t and, as the investigation Business in the Community's Race for Opportunity campaign has recently concluded shows, won’t ever hold a representative share of jobs.

A wasted opportunity for employers

Thirty three years since the passing of the landmark Race Relations Act there is still a colour bar to jobs in the UK. This must ring alarm bells with both employers and policymakers. It is not just that it hints at the possibility of institutional racism in corporate Britain - it is exactly 10 years since the Macpherson Report made that devastating finding about the Metropolitan Police in the wake of the murder of Stephen Lawrence. It is also a wasted opportunity for employers.

With our economy in such an unhealthy state, the potential to regress further is very real. In previous recessions ethnic minorities have been disproportionately represented amongst those being made redundant. There is no evidence that employers have wilfully discriminated against ethnic minorities when job cuts have had to be made, but we should be prepared for a worsening of the current situation.

Why have we made such depressingly poor progress on closing the gap in employment between ethnic minorities and whites? Is racism so deep rooted in UK society? Probably not, but the UK does have a problem with the race issue because unlike the United States we have no comparable civil rights history. We’re very comfortable with the idea that race equality is more of an American thing.

If ever we want to reflect the multicultural society in which we live, it will mean shattering the last glass ceiling and having an ethnic minority man or woman as Prime Minister and Chief Executives of FTSE 100 firms. And to achieve this UK society needs to recognise that it has a problem with race. In this respect the United States is a much more progressive society than the UK.

To again borrow from Barack Obama’s rhetoric, it is time for a change, not just on moral grounds but on commercial grounds. If no action is taken now then the problem will not just remain, it will get worse and become a more obvious lesion on society. That is hardly the face that the UK wants to present to the rest of the world.

The report and it's recommendations

The report is based on new research carried out by Race for Opportunity who used data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) in order to analyse the changes in ethnic minority populations, both in terms of total numbers and in the number achieving management positions and particularly senior-level jobs. It then broke the data down by region, gender, ethnic group and occupation to give an overall picture of the successes - and obstacles - on the path to management. By going back to 2000 the report also reveals how much progress has been made over time and whether the rate of change has increased or slowed down.

To shatter the last glass ceiling, words are no longer enough. Action is needed now. The devastating picture painted by this report demonstrates the need for immediate and constructive action by government and positive intervention by employers. Each must make a co-ordinated contribution to ensure that their actions have maximum effect.

The Government must make race an issue in its employment agenda and campaigns, just as it has done for gender. Until it acknowledges the existence of race we will not achieve race equality. To achieve this it must:

• Promote positive action to speed up progress of ethnic minorities in a way that both gives clarity to employers and does not stoke up accusations of unfair treatment
  against the white population;
• Invest in targeted projects to promote the progression of BAME people into leadership positions;
• Ensure that the achievements - working class whites and ethnic minorities - are recognised across the curriculum; and
• Ensure that talented BAME people progress in the public sector; and in all walks of public life. Only by leading by example can government show the private sector what can be achieved. Employers can contribute by looking at their own individual employment and promotion policies. A sustained, long term commitment to the agenda and recognition that it will take lots of small steps by lots of people are required.

This should include:

• Setting public targets and monitoring and measuring progress in an accountable and visible way;
• Taking positive action such as organising workplace mentoring, supporting employee networks and establishing links with the community to provide positive role models; and
• Ensuring BAME workers can see clearly how they can progress within an organisation, ensuring the talent pipeline is representative of the workforce and community. There can be no more ‘old school tie’ or‘one of us’.