Image Text:

DISPARITY: Pay gap among BAME workers in the UK

BLACK, ASIAN and ethnic minority workers are losing out on £3.2bn a year in wages compared to white colleagues doing the same work, according to a new study.

The study conducted by the Resolution Foundation, aims to add pressure on the government to introduce mandatory reporting of race pay gaps due to the large salary disparity among BAME employees and their white counterparts.

The Resolution Foundation said its research showed that the ethnicity pay gap represented “a huge blow to the living standards of those affected”. It found Pakistani and Bangladeshi male graduates earned an average £2.67 an hour (12%) less, while among female graduates, black women faced the biggest pay penalty, of £1.62 an hour (9%).

The thinktank noted that while ethnic minority workers have long earned less overall, on average, than white male workers, its pay penalty calculation was controlled for factors such as occupation, contract type, industry and qualifications.

Kathleen Henehan, research and policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said to The Guardian: “Black, Asian and minority ethnic workers have made important gains in the labour market in recent years. A record number of young BAME workers have degrees, and a record number are in work.

“However, despite this welcome progress, many of Britain’s 1.6 million black, Asian and ethnic minority workers face significant disadvantages in the workplace.

“After the successful steps taken to expose and tackle the gender pay gap in 2018, we now need greater accountability on the ethnic pay gap in 2019.”

Read every story in our hardcopy newspaper for free by downloading the app.