Race, Education and Work : The Statistics of Inequality

This is a study of the education and labour market experiences of 28,000 black and white young people of whom 900 were Asian and nearly 500 were Afro-Caribbean.

The data, collected between 1985 and 1989, was taken from the Youth Cohort study of England and Wales, a nationally representative survey funded by the Employment Department and the Department for Education.

The analysis focused on three main areas; educational attainment at 16, post-compulsory education (routes through academic and vocational courses) and entry into the labour market (YTS participation, employment and unemployment).

The results showed that at 16, Afro-Caribbeans somewhat lag behind Asians and whites in average educational attainment.

This result, however has to be placed in the context of social class and other differences.

Participation in post-compulsory education is high for Afro-Caribbeans and particularly Asians but generalization about academic and vocational routes taken should be made with care.

Finding employment continues to be difficult for black young people whatever their level of attainment and unemployment levels continue to be high relative to white young people. The logit models showed that ethnic origin was highly significant in determining employment and unemployment probabilities, whatever the educational level or route taken into the labour market.

This shows the continuing consequences of racism on the lives of black young people.