Young people from black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are much more likely to have unstable employment than white people of the same age – and it’s affecting their mental health.
A new study has found that BAME millennials are 47% more likely to be on zero-hours contracts and have a 10% greater chance of having a second job. They are 5% more likely to be doing shift work and are 4% less likely to have a permanent contract than white workers.
And the instability of these precarious forms of work have a negative impact on mental health.
The Race Inequality in the Workforce report, by Carnegie UK Trust, the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies and Operation Black Vote, calls for the government to improve access to good work, and for employers to carry out internal audits of racial disparities.
They also want to develop guidance for mental health services on how to improve access for ethnic minority groups.
The report looked at research from more than 7,700 people born in 1989-90 and who are being followed by UCL’s study Next Steps. Researchers looked at the employment status of 25-year-olds from different ethnic backgrounds and examined the mental health of people in different types of employment.
Millennials from BAME backgrounds were 58% more likely to be unemployed than white peers.
Black African 25-year-olds had lower odds of being in a permanent role – and are more likely to be doing shift work – than white workers of the same age.
Most millennials were in permanent work by age 25. Indian and white workers (89%) were most likely to be in a stable role, followed by mixed-race (87%), black Caribbean (86%), Bangladeshi (85%), Pakistani (84%), black African (81%) and other ethnicities (80%).
‘This report highlights that young people from BAME communities are particularly likely to enter into precarious forms of work,’ says Douglas White from Carnegie UK Trust.
‘We need policy and practice to recognise and respond to this to ensure that good work is available to all.’
Last month, the Parker Review Committee found 31 of 83 FTSE 100 companies have no ethnic minority representation on their boards.
And at board level across FTSE 250 companies, 119 out of 173 had no ethnic diversity.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/02/bame-millennials-much-likely-unstable-jobs-white-workers-12331162/?ITO=squid
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