Charity urges Scottish Government to do more to end employment discrimination
THE Scottish Government must show greater leadership in tackling the underlying issues of racial discrimination in employment practice, according to the Runnymede Trust.
The comments were given at the United Nations’ (UN) session on the UK's collective strategy on race equality today in Geneva, as director Omar Khan gave his summation of the report.
Runnymede is the UK's leading independent race equality think tank and conducts research on legal rights, anti-discrimination and multi-faith community empowerment.
Even within local authorities, white applicants are almost three times more likely to be successful in securing a post than non‐white applicants, where the figures are 6.1 per cent compared to 2.1 per cent.
The report stated: "The Scottish Government should show leadership in tackling the deep‐seated issues which our inquiry has uncovered, and commit to long‐term concentrated action.
"Initiatives such as, unconscious bias training are not the solution and can serve to mask underlying negative attitudes towards people from an ethnic minority background.
"There are considerable also gaps in data collection which must be addressed with great urgency if the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty in relation to occupational segregation are to be met in 2017."
The report, referred to as the 'Submission to the UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination', also statds that despite better on average educational attainment at school, and higher participation rate in higher or further education, non‐white groups aged 25‐49 have a significantly lower employment rate at 55.2 per cent.
This is lower than their white counterparts at 72 per cent, with the same or better skills set, they also have a higher unemployment rate at 7.9 per cent compared to 5.5 per cent.
"If Scotland is to harness its talent and avoid placing an ethnic penalty on its young people, diversity in the workplace should be valued and seen as a positive goal." Runnymede Trust
There is also a compounded disparity between white and non‐white applicants who are shortlisted and then appointed.
Where, as 7.1 per cent, of all white applicants for public sector posts go on to be appointed, only 4.4 per cent of non‐white applicants get appointed.
This figure is said by Runnymede to be at its starkest in large public sector organisations where BME applicants only have a 1.1 per cent chance of being subsequently appointed, compared to 8.1 per cent for their white counterparts.
Even within local authorities, white applicants are almost three times more likely to be successful in securing a post than non‐white applicants, where the figures are 6.1 per cent compared to 2.1 per cent.
In the summer of 2015, the Equal Opportunities Committee (EOC) began its inquiry 'Removing Barriers: race, ethnicity and employment’ and within a six-month period the committee received 63 written submissions from individuals, organisations, employers and leading practitioners and held a series of oral evidence sessions.
The EOC report, published in January 2016 and referenced in Runnymede, highlighted some of the key barriers that BME people face in the workplace and the steps that could be taken to reduce them.
"The Scottish Government should show leadership in tackling the deep‐seated issues which our inquiry has uncovered, and commit to long‐term concentrated action." Runnymede Trust
Runnymede commented: "Despite 40 years of legislation, training initiatives and equality policies, the world of work is not representative of Scotland’s communities and people.
"If Scotland is to harness its talent and avoid placing an ethnic penalty on its young people, diversity in the workplace should be valued and seen as a positive goal.
"Existing employment and recruitment practices must be improved otherwise we cannot confront any underlying racism and discrimination.
"People from ethnic minorities are all too often clustered into lower grade jobs and denied access to the training opportunities that may help them progress into promoted posts."
However in its report, Runnymede commended the Scottish Government's ‘steady’ commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights, which it stated was an important underlining of tackling structural discrimination.
Picture courtesy of Omar Khan
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