Ethnic minority workers three times more likely to have had hours reduced since pandemic, poll finds

Black and minority ethnic workers are three times more likely to have lost working hours during the pandemic than their white counterparts, according to a new survey.

The poll – conducted for the Trades Union Congress (TUC) by Britain Thinks – found that around one in 11 (9 per cent) of BME (black and minority ethnic) workers had their normal 35-48 hours a week cut back during the Covid crisis, compared with just one in 33 (3 per cent) of white workers.

Nearly one in eight (13 per cent) of workers from ethnic minorities told the TUC that their hours were cut without them requesting it in the last 12 months, compared to one in 11 (9%) of white workers. 

Meanwhile, a quarter (25 per cent) of ethnic minority workers said they were now only working between one to 24 hours a week, compared to one fifth (20 per cent) of white workers. 

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Covid-19 has shone a spotlight on the structural discrimination that has been hidden in our jobs market for too long.

“BME workers have shouldered the burden of the pandemic. They’ve faced the double whammy of being more likely to be working in industries that have been hit hardest by unemployment. And it’s now clear they’ve also have been more likely than white workers to lose hours – and therefore pay. Too many BME workers are having to take on second jobs now just to make ends meet.

“We know that BME workers are more likely to be in low-paid, insecure work with less employment rights. Through the pandemic, many have paid for this discrimination by losing hours, jobs and wages. Tragically, many more have paid with their lives.

“Enough is enough. Everyone deserves a decent job, with decent pay and with decent terms and conditions. Ministers must address this inequality once and for all and challenge the structural discrimination that holds BME workers back at every level of the labour market.”

The poll also found that ethnic minority workers were nearly twice as likely to say they had been forced to take on more than one job in the last 12 months than white workers; around one in 14 (7 per cent) BME workers had more than one job during the past year, compared to just one in 25 (4 per cent) white workers. 

Some 20 per cent of ethnic minority respondents told the TUC they were worried that if they did not go into their workplace this would impact negatively on their status at work, for example in terms of their job security or their chances of getting a pay rise.

By contrast, 14 per cent of white respondents shared this concern.

Previous TUC analysis revealed that the unemployment rate for ethnic minority workers has risen three times as fast as the unemployment rate for white workers during the pandemic.

Chair of the TUC anti-racism task force and NASUWT General Secretary Patrick Roach said: “This latest evidence comes on top of other data showing that black workers are bearing the brunt of precarious employment, zero-hours contracts and employers using ‘fire and rehire’ to drive down wages.

“With rates of unemployment rising fastest amongst Black workers, we need to see urgent action from the Government to tackle these inequalities and secure a recovery that works for everyone.

“It will also be important that employers consider and are held to account for how their decisions are impacting on black and white workers.”

The TUC is now calling on government ministers to act now to tackle the structural discrimination in our jobs market.

Recommended measures include the introduction of mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting and banning of zero-hours contracts which already have a disproportionate impact on BME workers.

The research comes after it recently emerged that living through the pandemic has made it more likely that workers from a minority ethnic background have experienced racism or other events that have harmed their mental health in the office.

The research, published in a report by Mental Health and Race At Work commissioned by the City Mental Health Alliance (CMHA), in partnership with Lloyds Banking Group, found that 56 per cent of those employees said they have suffered racism at work and it had negatively impacted their mental health and wellbeing.