This is 2016, so it’s disappointing that wages are still not equated to an employee’s skills and experience. Feminists have raised awareness of the fact that female graduates are grossly underpaid in comparison to their male counterparts, but a similar wage gap is seen between races.
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New research has revealed that black graduates are faced with a massive wage gap and typically earn much less than white colleagues with similar qualifications. This comes after an analysis of pay data by the Trades Union Congress, which, according to BBC, has revealed that the difference in average hourly pay rates amounts to a shocking 23 per cent.
Black graduates earn on average £14.33 an hour, compared with £18.63 earned by white graduates. But it’s not just graduates experiencing this discrimination — so too are A-level holders, with the gap between white and black at 14 per cent, and GCSE workers with a gap of 11 per cent.
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TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady revealed that “race still plays a huge role in determining pay”.
He continued, “The harsh reality is that at any level of education, black and Asian workers are getting paid less than their white counterparts. The government cannot afford to ignore these figures and must now take genuine action to tackle pay discrimination”.
These statistics are disturbing, and it’s clear that reform is needed. According to Mashable, Equality and Human Rights Commission is calling on the British government to take action.
Equality and Human Rights Commission chief executive Rebecca Hilsenrath said in a statement, “50 years after the Race Relations Act, this report suggests that ethnic minorities are still facing challenges in finding opportunities to enter and stay in work”.
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“The Commission’s consistent view has been that the government needs to do more to address the hurdles that ethnic minorities face by putting in place a long-term strategy to achieve equality of opportunity regardless of race”.
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