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BME women are the most disproportionately affected group, followed by BME men (4.7 per cent compared to 4 per cent). “structural racism in action.”
Whilst the cost-of-living crisis affects us all, it doesn’t affect us equally. TUC research identified how Insecure work tightens the grip of structural racism on the labour market and deepens gender inequalities.
One million workers are now on zero-hours contracts, after a rise of 40,000 in the last year. Recent analysis reveals Black, minority and ethnic (BME) women are twice as likely to be on zero-hours contracts as white men. Overall, BME workers are significantly overrepresented on zero-hours contracts compared to white workers (4.3 per cent compared to 3 per cent.) BME women are the most disproportionately affected group, followed by BME men (4.7 per cent compared to 4 per cent). “structural racism in action.” People Like Us, a non-profit organisation, found that people from minority ethnic backgrounds are disproportionately impacted by the challenging economic environment.
Their findings show that this disparity starts in the workplace. Working professionals from ethnically diverse backgrounds are nearly twice as likely to have been told they won’t be getting a promised pay rise this year due to inflation (19% compared with 10% of white professionals). To compound matters, two-thirds (67%) of racially diverse working professionals believe that a white colleague doing the same job is on a higher salary. Fact is no worker should be held back or paid less because of racism at work. Yet structural, systemic racism still plays a big role in determining Black workers’ pay and career prospects. It should be mandatory for all employers to report their ethnicity pay gaps.
Alongside publishing the raw data, they should publish their action plan setting out how they will close their pay gap to really drive more equal workplaces. The good news is business and unions are united in their support for compulsory ethnicity pay gap monitoring. We now need UK Government to ensure this happens. Here in Wales, we have an opportunity to embed some of these good practices as part of our commitment to becoming an anti-racist Wales, I like many will do my bit in fighting to make this commitment a reality, both for now and for future generations to come.
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