Black youths twice as likely to be unemployed

New employment analysis reveals that black 16-24 year olds are almost twice as likely to be unemployed as their white counterparts.

The analysis was carried out by the Institute of Public Policy Research, a think-tank often described as having close links with the Labour Party.

Online commentators have afforded considerable focus to the contrast between the rate of unemployment of 48 percent for black people against a rate of 20 percent for white people, within the category of 16 to 24 year old men and women.

On 14 January, the government published the related report 'Tackling race inequality: A statement on race', containing a foreword by John Denham, the communities secretary.

In the foreword to the report John Denham, the communities secretary, stated: “Across government, our efforts to raise incomes, reduce poverty and promote equality—whether through the minimum wage, Sure Start or housing—has made a real difference to the lives of the most disadvantaged, including those from BME [black minority ethnic] communities.”

Of those graduating in 2009, 17 percent are unemployed, an increase of 11 percent compared with the previous year.

Dianne Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, in a recent comment piece for The Guardian, said : “Denham's recent attempt to claim that substantial progress has been made on racial disadvantage and that consequently we must now turn to class, was a transparent attempt to pander to a BNP narrative.”

The institute’s analysis was based on data taken from the Labour Force Survey, conducted every quarter with information taken from a total of 60,000 households.