Lacking work by ethnicity
Key points
- About 10% of White and Indian working-age adults and 15% of Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi working-age adults lack, but want, paid work.
- About 35% of Bangladeshi and Pakistani working-age adults lack paid work and say they do not want it.
The proportion of working-age adults lacking paid work in London by ethnicity and ‘wanting work’ status
What does this graph show?
About 10% of White and Indian working-age adults, 15% of Black working age adults and 15% of Pakistani and Bangladeshi working age adults lack, but want, paid work. While these differences are significant, they are dwarfed by the differences in the proportion of people who lack and do not want paid work.
About 35% of Bangladeshi and Pakistani working-age adults lack paid work and say they do not want it. This compares to 10-15% of all other ethnic groups. The group of people not wanting paid work is made up of students, carers, people with long-term illnesses and disabilities, and people looking after families. Work rates among Pakistani and Bangladeshi women are much lower than for other groups, as a high percentage of both are looking after families.
Lacking Work, Poverty and Ethnicity
In 2006/07, compared with the White British population, each of the Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black African and Black Caribbean groups had a much higher share of their population in non-working families (between 11% and 18%). In addition, the Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups also have a much higher share of their population in part-working families (between 20% and 24%).
This difference in work rates accounts for half of the higher levels of poverty (compared with White British) experienced by Black African and Black Caribbean groups. But it only explains a third of the 'excess' poverty rates experienced by Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups.
In other words, the very high poverty rates among the Pakistani and Bangladeshi populations are not simply the result of low work rates; the nature and the pay of the work is as much a part of the problem as the sheer lack of work itself. Find out more about pay by ethnicity.
Data used
Labour Force Survey, ONS 2007 to 2009
The age profiles of different nationalities and ethnicities vary. For instance, a higher proportion of Bangladeshis and Pakistanis in the 16-25 age group. Given low rates of work among this age group, this graph only looks at adults aged 25 to retirement.
We have grouped together people who describe their ethnicity as Pakistani
or Bangladeshi because the sample size is small and we are concerned that the data is not robust enough when considered separately. The outcomes for the separate population groups appear, however, to be very similar so we do not judge this combination to be misleading
Indicator last updated: 13 July 2010
Latest News
Supermarket staff 'live in poverty'
The Fair Pay Network has criticised the four largest supermarket chains - Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda and Morrisons - for paying... More...
'Thompson' is a 53 year old man from Ecuador who has been working as a cleaner in London without legal papers since 2000. He left Ecuador in 1999 when the economy collapsed and there was massive unemployment. I am a...More…
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
- Not working by country of birth
- 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