Why we need an inquiry into ethnic minority female unemployment

Our latest guest blog comes from Jyoti Bhojani @jyotibhojani

I’ve written in the past about the disproportionate effect of the recession on Black and Minority Ethnic communties and how evidence from previous recessions suggests that the BME community as a whole has the most to fear from economic downturns.  Equally, much as been said about about rising levels of unemployment and how BME workers are typically the first to lose their jobs should the situation arise. 
 
Now, a committee of MPs and Lords are turning their attention to black female unemployment.  The Right Honourable David Lammy MP, will lead a cross party inquiry to attempt to determine why there are huge inequalities between the BME women compared to their white counterparts.  Current figures show that 20.5% of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women, 17.7% of Black women are unemployed, while only 6.8% of their white counterparts are unemployed.  The Inquiry will attempt to determine why this is and how we can go about attempting to reduce these inequalities.  Addressing these inequalities are all the more important, given that the cencus figures show that there has been a rise in the BME population. 
 
In order for the Inquiry to fully attempt to address BME female unemployment, their focus will be on Black, Pakistanti and Bangladeshi women.  The Inquiry wants to hear from young women from these groups who are currently umeployed and who would be willing to take part in a short video to talk about their experiences of finding a job.  If you think that this might be something you would like to get intouch with Vicki Butler at the Runnymede Trust.  Further details can be found here:  http://www.runnymedetrust.org/projects-and-publications/parliament/appg-2/appg-inquiry.html

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