Muslims are facing the worst job discrimination of any minority group in Britain, according to new research which found that they had the lowest chance of being in work or in a managerial role.
Muslim men were up to 76 per cent less likely to have a job of any kind compared to white, male British Christians of the same age and with the same qualifications. And Muslim women were up to 65 per cent less likely to be employed than white Christian counterparts.
Muslims were the most disadvantaged in terms of employment prospects out of 14 ethno-religious groupings in the UK, researchers Dr Nabil Khattab and Professor Ron Johnston found using data from the Office for National Statistics’ Labour Force Survey of more than half a million people. Skin colour made little difference to the figures. As we all know that this shouldn’t be the case, unfortunately, this is the discrimination ethnic minority groups face. Everyone should be treated equal, no matter what background they are from. But this is the very reason why employment law exists. Everyone has the right to work without feeling targeted. If this is something you deal with regularly at your place of work, it may be time to take the next step and do some research into something as simple as employment law firms london, in the hopes of speaking to a professional lawyer, who can help protect your employees rights. Nothing will be done if you don’t speak out and you may be able to make a change.
Dr Nabil Khattab, of Bristol University, said the situation was “likely to stem from placing Muslims collectively at the lowest stratum within the country’s racial or ethno-cultural system due to growing Islamophobia and hostility against them.
“They are perceived as disloyal and as a threat rather than just as a disadvantaged minority,” he added. “Within this climate, many employers will be discouraged from employing qualified Muslims, especially if there are others from their own groups or others from less threatening groups who can fill these jobs.”
Dr Khattab said the “penalties” for being Muslim got worse when applying for better-paid managerial or professional jobs.
“If this persists, it could have long-term implications for the cohesion of the UK’s multi-ethnic, multicultural society. The exclusion of well-qualified black and Muslim individuals could undermine their willingness to integrate in the wider society,” he said.
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For women, Muslim Pakistanis and a “Muslim other” group were 65 per cent less likely to have a job, with Muslim Indians 55 per cent, Muslim Bangladeshis 51 per cent and white Muslims 43 per cent less likely. For men, the “Muslim other” group was 76 per cent less likely to be in work, followed by Muslim Bangladeshis (66 per cent), white Muslims (64 per cent), Muslim Pakistanis (59 per cent) and Muslim Indians (37 per cent), the Social Science Journal study found.
White British men and women of no religion were, respectively, 20 and 25 per cent less likely to have a job than Christians. Black Christians with Caribbean origins were 54 per cent and 48 per cent less likely.
The only ethno-religious group with better work prospects than white British Christians were British Jews, with women and men 29 and 15 per cent more likely to be employed.
Of those in work, the researchers found only 23 per cent and 27 per cent of Muslim Bangladeshis and Muslim Pakistanis, respectively, had a salaried job. White British Jews had the highest rates, with 64 per cent in salaried jobs, followed by Hindu Indians and white Christian Irish on 53 and 51 per cent respectively. White British Christians, white British of no religion and black Christian Africans were all above 40 per cent.
Dr Khattab added: “The main components of this discrimination are skin colour and culture or religion. But colour is dynamic, which means white colour can be valued in one case, but devalued when associated with Muslims. Equally, having a dark skin colour – Hindu Indians, for example – is not always associated with any significant penalty.”
“Alarming findings”
Meanwhile, the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) said the findings are alarming in both their scope and implications.
The IHRC said it is under no illusion that the descent has been accelerated by government policies and media demonisation based on tropes of Muslims as “traitors” at best and “terrorists” at worst.
In statement the IHRC said: “The research confirms IHRC’s own findings that the prevailing security prism through which successive governments have viewed Muslims has fostered a social climate in which they can be demonised on the basis of their faith in a manner that is considered unacceptable for other ethno-cultural groups.
“An Islamophobic discourse has been ‘normalised’ that perpetuates bigotry towards Muslims and results in an intensified climate of antipathy marginalising them from many areas of everyday life.
“There is a clear correlation between rising Islamophobia and increasing hostility towards Muslims. At the same time as attitudes towards Muslims have hardened attacks against Muslims and their religious symbols and buildings have increased at a frightening rate – these have included murders and bombing of mosques – leading to heightened levels of insecurity.
“IHRC finds the prevalence of institutional discrimination in employment disturbing because it excludes Muslims from the most important area of economic life – the ability to earn a livelihood – which has adverse repercussions for many other areas such as physical and mental health, family wellbeing, and living standards.”
IHRC chair Massoud Shadjareh added: “Given that the UK has not only been feted across the world as an example of multicultural success these findings finally expose the myth that this claim is. The levels of discrimination regarding employment – despite a legal culture against discrimination – is an indictment of the descent into a divided society that places and pushes Muslims to the very bottom.”
