Race discrimination in selecting job applicants – results of DWP test 
Race discrimination in selecting job applicants – results of DWP test
DWP – 19/10/2009
The results of a DWP test for racial discrimination in recruitment practice have been published.
The test involved submitting duplicate “matched” job applications from white and ethnic minority applicants to each of 987 vacancies advertised between October 2008 and May 2009. The test was conducted in Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, London and Manchester, all being centres with major mixed populations. Ethnic identity was conveyed in the applications using names found to be widely associated with the ethnic groups included in the study randomly assigned to the applications. Otherwise the applications were identical.
Differences between the ethnic groups in the proportion of positive responses from employers could therefore be attributed to racial discrimination.
The results of the test showed net discrimination in favour of white British names over equivalent applications from ethnic minority candidates was 29 per cent. Of the 987 applications with a white British name, 10.7 per cent received a positive response. This compared to 6.2 per cent of the 1,974 applications with an ethnic minority name.
In a well reported tribunal case in 2007 a Mr Qamar Mohammed Malik sent two job applications to Amec Group, one under his own name and the other using the name Rhyddir Aled Lloyd-Hilbert. Mr Malik did not get an interview but the fictional Mr Lloyd-Hilbert received a “positive response”. Mr Malik sued Amec for race discrimination but lost as Amec was able to show that there were non-racial reasons for the difference in treatment.
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