Grave disparities remain, with minority workers still far more likely to be unemployed or in low-paid, precarious work
The publication of figures from the Office for National Statistics this week could have been seen as a rare moment of encouraging news. The ethnicity pay gap in England and Wales stands at just 2.3%, the narrowest since the ONS began collecting data in 2012. In the 16- to 29-year-old category, ethnic minority workers are even out-earning their white British peers.
The broad gains have led some in the British media to herald “the end of the ethnicity pay gap”, traducing the data and diminishing the issue to a “white v other” scrap among workers. The MailOnline’s dog-whistling headline – “Young employees from minority groups now earn MORE than white British workers” – is emblematic.
