Ethnic discrimination in recruitment still persists in some parts of the private sector. This report reviews new evidence on the problem and the experience of the public sector to suggest some new policy responses.
Key points:
- New evidence from the National Centre for Social Research shows that across large UK cities, ethnic discrimination is prevalent during the application stage of recruitment into the private sector.
- The experience of the public sector in largely eliminating ethnic discrimination in recruitment suggests that achieving similarly low levels in the private sector is a reasonable objective for policymakers.
- Potential policy responses include increasing the application of workforce diversity monitoring in the private sector, and exploring how procurement regimes within the private sector could be used to change recruitment practice. More ambitiously, private sector employers in targeted regions could be encouraged to use outsourced, online recruitment services that exclude the scope for ethnic discrimination.
Author: James Lloyd, Strategic Society Centre
Download the report: Ending ethnic discrimination in recruitment