Research: ONS Ethnicity pay gaps in Great Britain

The ONS has cross-referenced data from its Annual Population Survey with an earnings weighting to arrive at the first and, it claims, most accurate indication of ethnicity and pay than was previously possible.

Being the first presentation of this data, ONS is actaully looking for feedback on the methodology (via [email protected]).

The results show that there is a large pay gap between white employees and those of an ethnic background.

It reveals that not only are white employees the largest employed group (comprising 79.5% of the working population), but the ethnicity gap is wider than the gender pay gap.

It finds employees from the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups have the lowest median hourly pay in the UK. In the Bangladeshi group alone, earnings are on average 20% less than white British employees.

It also finds:

* 16 to 30-year-olds from ethnic minority groups tend to have narrower pay gaps than older ethnic minority groups

* London has the largest pay gap, with ethnic minority groups earning 21.7% less than White employees on average

* The two ethnic groups with the lowest employment rates are Pakistani and Bangladeshi, with employment rates of 58.2% and 54.9% respectively