THE LATEST data on the ethnicity pay gap in 2022 reveals that Black, African, Caribbean, or Black British employees earn less (8.5 per cent less per hour) than White employees.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), individuals with a mixed ethnicity of White and Black Caribbean background had the lowest median gross hourly earnings at £11.75, in contrast to White British employees earning £14.42.
UK-born Black British employees earned more, averaging £15.18, while non-UK Black British employees earned the least at £12.95, compared to UK-born White employees earning £14.26.
White Irish employees topped the charts with the highest median gross hourly rate of £20.20, surpassing the average White British employee by 40.1 per cent.
The ONS stressed the significance of country of birth in determining pay, indicating that UK-born employees across all ethnicities generally earn more than their foreign-born counterparts.
However, this trend did not hold for White and Mixed or Multiple ethnic employees.
Addressing these findings, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak argued that the data underscores the need for mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting legislation.
Nowak said: “No worker should be held back or paid less because of racism at work. But structural racism still plays a big role in determining Black workers’ pay and career prospects – and this government has done nothing to change that.
“Labour’s New Deal for Working People would help tackle the discrimination that holds BME workers back by introducing a new duty on employers to report their ethnicity pay gap.”
Meanwhile, last year the government chose not to proceed with a formal ethnicity pay gap policy.
Earlier guidance acknowledged the potential value of such reporting but raised concerns about data collection challenges and the risk of skewed numbers due to low employee representation in certain ethnic groups.
Subscribe for our weekly news letter here!
You can unsubscribe us at any time
