A test for racial discrimination in recruitment practice in British cities

DWP Copyright acknowledged

The Department for Work and Pensions has published the findings of research to test the extent of racial discrimination in the recruitment process in different areas of the British labour market.

In line with techniques used in several countries, the test involved submitting matched job applications from white and ethnic minority applicants to each of 987 vacancies advertised between October 2008 and May 2009. Ethnic identity was conveyed in the applications using names found to be widely associated with the ethnic groups included in the study, and these were randomly assigned to the applications. Differences between the ethnic groups in the proportion of positive responses from employers can therefore be attributed to discrimination.

A key conclusion was that the level of favouring applications with white names over applications from ethnic minority candidates was 29%.

In a DWP press release, Jim Knight, Minister for Employment at Welfare Reform, said: “We introduced laws to stop discrimination at work and strengthened them in 2000. We also introduced new diversity and equality requirements in DWP contracts with suppliers.  Employees can use the Race Relations Act to take employers to a tribunal if they are being treated unfairly and they will also get support and advice from the European Human Rights Commission to do so.”

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