Black unemployment levels show ‘persistence of workplace discrimination’ - TUC

The unemployment rate for black and asian workers increased from 10.2 per cent in October-December 2007 to 13 per cent in the same quarter in 2010 (a figure almost twice as high as the 7.1 per cent unemployment rate for white individuals) according to a TUC analysis of the UK Labour Force Survey:http://www.tuc.org.uk/equality/tuc-19457-f0.cfm
The study is published as the TUC’s Black Workers' Conference meets this weekend in London. Brendan Barber TUC General Secretary said: 'It gets even worse for black youngsters - almost one in three are without work. That's not just a terrible waste of talent, but evidence of persistent discrimination within the labour market.’

'Around 640,000 black people are employed in our public services, and with redundancies there now coming through thick and fast, and access routes to further and higher education being closed off, these figures are set to get even worse.

'So whether it's the mass cull of public sector jobs, huge cuts to welfare, changes to housing benefit, the scrapping of education maintenance allowances, the trebling of student tuition fees, or the hike in VAT, the evidence is clear - black people will pay a very heavy price for this government's policies. Inequality will rise, poverty will increase, and social mobility - to the extent it exists any more - will be further undermined.'