Ethnic minority youth employment data analysis

Overview

Previous work has identified substantial gaps in the collection and analysis of data relating to young people from minority ethnic backgrounds. These data gaps can make it difficult to understand key outcomes for young people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

We comissioned Learning and Work Institute (L&W) to conduct secondary data analysis and a quantitative evidence review to:

Understand labour market outcomes for young people (aged 16-24 inclusive) from minority ethnic backgrounds over the last 15 years.
Provide evidence on gaps in data and analysis of employment outcomes for minority ethnic young people, and solutions for better analysis, evidence and research to facilitate better policy.

Methodology

Key insights

The report presents trends in employment outcomes.

It also higlights:

systematic erasure in data collection
lack of observations and sampling
a lack of culturally relevant data including availability of ethnic breakdowns; demographic data; employment details andfeatures of surveys or datasets.

Recommendations

Ensure increased observations of separate ethnic and religious groups in national surveys, through modifications to sampling methods or boosters for specific groups.
Young people should always be asked to identify their own ethnic background in surveys, and there should be a particular focus on ensuring the representation of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller groups in data and analysis.
All government and national statistics should include ethnic breakdowns in as much granularity as possible. Published Government statistical analysis (e.g. the Ethnicity Facts and Figures website) should include wider demographic breakdowns and more in-depth intersectional analysis.
ONS should provide a standardised list of ethnic subgroups in order to facilitate their identification in data collection.
National surveys should contain a wider range of data on employment, including aspects such as progression and discrimination at work, and on different types of employment, such as apprenticeships and equivalent programmes.
Research should be undertaken to identify and design key culturally relevant questions in relation to employment outcomes for separate ethnic groups.
There should be increased collection and publication of local and regional employment datasets, with sufficient sample size for minority ethnic groups.