Not working by country of birth
Key points
- More than three-quarters of women living in London but born in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Turkey are not working.
- By contrast, the proportion of men from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Turkey who are not working is similar to those living in London and born in other countries such as Ireland and Jamaica.
- Only average proportions of men and women born in Ghana and Nigeria lack work.
The proportion of working-age adults in London not working, by country of birth and gender
What does this graph show?
More than three-quarters of women from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Turkey, are not working, a much higher proportion than for women born in other countries. By contrast, the proportion of men born in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey who lack work is only slightly higher than for men born elsewhere.
Though markedly lower than in these three countries, the proportion of women from India not working is also high in comparison to women from other countries.
Though doubts about the reliability of the data mean it is not included in the graph, the proportion of adults born in Somalia and not working appears to be higher still then the rates for those born in Pakistan, Bangladesh or Turkey. This illustrates the difficulty of using broad classifications such as Black African: as the graph shows, the proportions of men and women born in Ghana and Nigeria and lacking work about average.
Within ethnic classifications, there are also differences in work rates between those born in the UK and overseas.
Additional information
London's workforce is diverse not only in its ethnicity but also in the different nationalities represented within it. For instance:
- 39% of London's working-age population was born outside the UK.
- 16 countries together account for at least 1% each of London's working-age population, including Nigeria, Ghana, Australia, USA and Turkey.
Data used
Labour Force Survey, ONS 2007 – 2009
GLA Data Management and Analysis Group (2008) Londoners and the Labour Market: Key Facts, Preliminary results from the 2007 Annual Population Survey, GLA,
Indicator last updated: 11 October 2010
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Other indicators in Women
- Child ill health
- Premature death by region
- Underage conception by borough
- Low-paid residents by region
- Unemployment by ethnicity, country of birth and gender
- Part-time work
- Job Seeker's Allowance by region
- Child poverty and work
Other indicators in Working-age adults
- Poverty in Inner and Outer London
- Working-age out-of-work benefits by region
- Working age out-of-work benefits within London
- Income inequality in London compared with other English regions
- Income inequalities within London boroughs
- Pay inequalities within London
- Working-age adults lacking work over time
- Working-age adults lacking work by borough
- Adult ill health
- Adult ill-health by borough
- Low-paid residents by borough
- Low-paid jobs by borough
- Low income and ethnicity in London
- Lacking work by ethnicity
- Not working by ethnicity and country of birth
- Low pay by ethnicity
- Premature death by borough
- Low-paid residents by region
- Low-paid jobs by sub-region
- Families receiving in-work benefits
- Working age out-of-work benefits by borough
- Unemployment rates over time
- Unemployment numbers by sub-region
- Unemployment by ethnicity, country of birth and gender
- Unemployment in London by age
- Part-time work
- Job Seeker's Allowance by region
- Job Seeker's Allowance by borough
- Child, adult and pensioner poverty
- London's low income population
- Child and adult poverty and work
- Recession impact on out-of-work benefits
- Young adult unemployment over time
View all indicators
Glossary
Workless :
People who are not working but want a job and those people who are officially unemployed make up a group who can be described as 'lacking work but wanting work'. Anyone else of working-age who is not working is therefore 'lacking work but not wanting work'. The total workless population therefore includes those lacking and wanting work as well as those lacking but not wanting work.
Official ethnic classifications:
The current official classification – used in the census and in many of the official datasets used in this research – is based on the following 16-way division:
- White, comprising White British, White Irish, and White Other
- Asian or Asian British, comprising Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Other Asian
- Black or Black British, comprising, Black Caribbean, Black African, and Black Other
- Chinese, and Other
- Mixed, comprising White and Black Caribbean, White and Black African, White and Asian, and Any Other Mixed
In some of the low income analysis, White British and White Other are grouped together to enable comparisons over time, as the White Other group was only introduced in the relevant dataset in 2001. In some datasets, White Irish are included as White Other. ONS estimate that White Irish make up around one fifth of this larger White Other group.
Moreover, these definitions assign an ethnicity to the household, rather than the individuals in the household, based on the ethnicity of the head of the household.
The 'Other' and 'Mixed' groups are not analysed either collectively or separately on grounds of sample reliability. Given the diversity within the groups, we do not present an analysis of, for instance, All Other, or All Mixed.
Ethnicity:
characteristics of a group with distinctive cultural, linguistic and/or religious ties