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Tackling Worklessness among Ethnic Minority Communities

Tackling Worklessness among Ethnic Minority Communities. Narrowing the Gap Conference 30 th October 2007 Lucinda Platt, ISER, University of Essex lplatt@essex.ac.uk. Overview. Forms of worklessness Individual, household, area level

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Tackling Worklessness among Ethnic Minority Communities

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  1. Tackling Worklessness among Ethnic Minority Communities Narrowing the Gap Conference 30th October 2007 Lucinda Platt, ISER, University of Essex lplatt@essex.ac.uk

  2. Overview • Forms of worklessness • Individual, household, area level • Factors involved – and do they vary at individual and household and area level? • Approaches and strategies • Questions for discussion

  3. Forms of worklessness • Unemployment and Economic Inactivity • Both important – even if boundaries porous • Workless individuals and workless households differently distributed. Area level worklessness an aggregate of individual/household, but rates of worklessness vary within group across area and within area across group. However, ‘Differences in the labour market circumstances between ethnic minorities are larger than differences between areas’ (Simpson et al. 2006)

  4. Individuals’ economic activity by (selected) ethnic group Source: Labour Force Survey 2002-2005, those of working age

  5. Household economic activity Source: Household Labour Force Survey 2002-2005, pooled, households containing a working age adult only

  6. Area worklessness • Some examples(taken from Simpson et al. (2006) tables 5.7 and 5.9) • In Bedford West with an overall employment rate of 69% and a population that is 68% White British, Bangladeshi women (25-74) have a 5.2% employment rate. • In Sparkbrook with an overall employment rate of 29.5% and a population that is 20% White British, Bangladeshi women (25-74) have an 8% employment rate. • In Moss Side with an overall employment rate of 60% and a population that is 55% White British, Caribbean men (25-74) have a 46.8% employment rate. • In Liverpool Riverside North with an overall employment rate of 48% and a population that is 83% White British, White British men (25-74) have a 48% employment rate.

  7. Factors in different rates of worklessness • Opportunities and obstacles • Different labour markets and skills sets • Variations in family structure • Variations in rates of disability and chronic ill-health • Variations in perceptions of demands of parenting • Rewards of work… Poor rewards creating poor incentives?

  8. Variations in family type among working age households Source: Household Labour Force Survey 2002-2005, pooled

  9. Individual rates of ill-health (selected groups) Men Women Source: Labour Force Survey 2002-2005 (pooled quarters).

  10. Household rates of ill-health (hhs with working age adult) Source: Labour Force Survey 2002-2005 (pooled quarters).

  11. Worklessness not the full story • Families with an earner may still be poor • Work may be part time rather than full-time • Different opportunities for promotion and progression may lead to different experiences in later life even for those in work • ‘Low quality’ work may not have the positives associated with employment generally

  12. Risks of child poverty by family type Source: HBAI 2002/03-2004/05

  13. Challenges • ‘Making work pay’ • concentration in low-paying employment • progression/promotion options • rates of pay (and of NMW) • Increasing skills and qualifications not just among labour market entrants but those in the market place • Tackling discrimination • employer discrimination, but also • co-employee/client discrimination, and • racial harassment that may make some labour markets less viable or attractive • Caring responsibilities and levels of long-term ill health for some groups. • Knowledge of types and use of benefits

  14. Approaches • New Deal for Partners • Area based initiatives • Skills agenda • Tackling employer discrimination • Encouraging take-up of particular benefits – and routes into job adviser support • Supporting families with long-term illness

  15. Questions for discussion • How to balance work and family – especially if strong views about what is best for children? • What if opportunities – or appropriate opportunities aren’t there? • Long-term or short-term perspective? • Targeting groups or circumstances? • Targeting areas or individuals? • Recognising diversity within as well as between groups?

  16. Acknowledgements and sources • I am grateful to ONS for use of the Labour Force Survey and to the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex for making it available. Neither ONS nor the Data Archive, however, bear any responsibility for the analysis or interpretation offered here. • Sources other than own analysis of LFS: • Platt, Platt, L. (2006a) Ethnicity and Child Poverty. Paper prepared for the Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force. • Salway, S. Platt, L. Chowbey, P. and Harriss, K. (2007) Long-term illness, poverty and ethnicity. Bristol: The Policy Press. • Simpson, L. Purdam, K., Tajar, A.,Fieldhouse, E., Gavalas, V., Tranmer, M. Pritchard, J. and Dorling, D. (2006) Ethnic Minority Populations and the Labour Market: An analysis of the 1991 and 2001 Census, Department for Work and Pensions Research Report No 333. Leeds: Corporate Document Services.

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