We probably don’t need to tell you this, but back in 2019 around 76% of working-aged people in England, Scotland and Wales were employed, of those employed, 87% of them were white, with only 13% coming from other ethnicities. The percentages of men and women in employment respectively look a little more promising at 52% vs 48%. But these figures are certainly one dimensional. There is something else we must consider, did these statistics just mask the gender pay gap problem, which saw 17.3% of women being paid less than their gender counterpart in that year, despite there being ‘equal’ employment rates?
Though we have seen some positive steps made on this front in recent years; Despite the average percentage of employed people in England, Scotland and Wales dropping from 76% to around 75.5% as of September 2021, the ratios of white employees to those coming from other ethnicities have stayed largely the same. The percentage of people employed from other ethnic groups has risen to 68.1% from 66.6% at the same time in 2019. the overall Gender Pay Gap fell by 0.5% overall from 2018 and has continuously fallen year on year since 1997 (other than a few temporary blips). Fast forward to 2022, the GPG for under-40 category is now almost 0%.
Fast forward to 2021…
Despite these great improvements in ED&I, there is still a way to go, which brings us nicely to the big question…
What are other businesses doing to advance shocking statistics in 2022?
In the UK, 79% of business leaders have said that addressing racial bias and achieving racial equality is a priority of their business this year, with over £5 billion spent annually on diversity. These leaders have said that they understand adopting an inclusive culture and directly tackling race-related issues, they see improvements across their entire organization, including wellbeing, productivity, engagement, and innovation.
There are several large-scale initiatives that are encouraging companies to take the lead in advancing anti-racism in the workplace; Change the Race Ratio is focused on improving racial equity amongst senior leadership teams, while 10,000 Black Interns aims to get 2000 young Black people into paid internships every year for the next 5 years.
The Inventum way:
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