Jobless rate higher among UK ethnic groups

The rate of joblessness among Britain’s ethnic minorities is twice that of white people, new official figures show.

According to the statistics, released by the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on Wednesday, the rate of unemployment for working age people from ethnic minority backgrounds was 14 percent in average in the year to September 2013, compared with 7 percent recorded for white people.

Unemployment among Pakistani/Bangladeshi ethnic groups, black people and those of mixed race in the UK was 18, 17 and 15 percent respectively over the same period.

Meanwhile, working-age Pakistani and Bangladeshi women were found to be the hardest hit group with an unemployment rate of 24 percent.

British Shadow Minister for Employment Stephen Timms described the figures as “deeply worrying” and accused the coalition government of “failing to help thousands of young people find work.”

Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the UK’s national trade union centre, also urged the Tory-led government to do more to help youngsters from ethnic groups rather than leaving them to “languish on the dole.”

“The jobs picture may be slowly improving, but these figures suggest that the recovery and the return to employment are not being experienced equally across all the UK’s different communities,” she said.