New research by Oxford University suggests a disturbing trend of discrimination by employers
British people from Bangladeshi or Pakistani backgrounds are around three times as likely to be in poverty as their white British counterparts, according to new research. A briefing by the Centre for Social Investigation (CSI) at Nuffield College, Oxford finds that people from these particular backgrounds are also more likely to have a life-limiting illness or to live in overcrowded conditions.
The new research contributes to a growing picture of disillusionment for Britons of South Asian origin – last year the New Policy Institute found that 44 per cent of Bangladeshi and Pakistani workers living in London were being paid below the living wage.
According to the CSI, there has been great generational improvement in terms of education, and difficulties with the English language have ‘almost completely disappeared’ among second-generation migrants from Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black African and Black Caribbean backgrounds.
However this attainment has not been matched by employment prospects, and ‘continued discrimination in the labour market…cannot be ruled out as a significant part of the explanation for their continuing disadvantage’.
People from Indian backgrounds, in contrast, have ‘largely closed the gap’.
Rates of poverty are 57 per cent for people of Pakistani and 46 per cent for people of Bangladeshi background – compared with 16 per cent for white British people. Data provided by the CSI shows that monthly personal earnings by this group average around 68 per cent of white earnings.
The briefing shows that Bangladeshi-origin Britons have the lowest number of rooms per person and the highest percentage of life limiting illness, both indicators of poverty.
The findings should be of extreme concern to the government, at a time when community cohesion has a direct impact on national security. Iqbal Wahhab OBE, chair of the CSI’s Advisory Board, says that the research ‘highlights a terrible social indictment’ and that Muslim communities alienated by economic deprivation are much more at risk of turning to crime – be that gang violence, theft, or, in a small number of cases, radicalisation.
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow her on Twitter
39 Responses to “British people with Bangladeshi and Pakistani backgrounds are three times as likely to be in poverty”
Guest
I refuse to let you post your hate unopposed.
You, Lord Blagger, with your ever-changing caste of user names, posting the same attacks. Talking to yourself to confirm your hate.
You will keep attacking using different account.
As you call for censorship of other views, as usual.
You can’t refute what I posted, so you try and get censorship.
damon
These forums are meant to be for people to argue the toss in a civilised manner.
Not to start vindictive trolling campaigns against people you disagree with.
So you don’t like me saying that I think that culture and arriving in Britain poor and unskilled has held Bangladeshis back – as well as racism and our form of free market capitalism.
For saying such things you start spewing out your ”you racist, you hate black people” nonsense.
Just like Trevor Phillips was saying on his Channel 4 programme the other night.
He spoke of idiots like you who had help build the likes of UKIP.
Guest
You are claiming that your far right views are the only “civilised” ones and everything else should be centered. You are the one here, Lord Blagger, whop is engaging in the vindictive trolling campaign against myself for being left wing and Jewish,
You then misreprisent what people said, once more.
As you justify your UKIP views, claiming that it’s because of Jews that you need to hate.
You’re ranting off again, demanding censorship and silence, that only the right’s views be heard. You’re simply here to fight the article, you are what you supposedly condemn.
Guest
Let’s re-examine.
So!
* Blaming the poor for their poor diet.
* Blaming women for not having jobs, when there are so few out there because of austerity. Exercise takes energy, and that means spending more on food. You have no idea what it’s like to be poor.
* Blaming the poor for having children, and justifying overcrowding. Saying that having a large extended family is bad.
* Excusing white racism, with a blatent lie on demographics. (2011 census – 59.79% white). Moreover, ignoring the fact that white people are *on-average* richer, and hence more likely to be hiring
* Trying to use another community to excuse discrimination. The Indian community get round it largely by being SME business owners, avoiding the discrimination that way.
* Claiming that your income, LB, is low. Ridiculous! (And, no, rich people don’t qualify for a council flat like poor ones, which is a dead giveaway)
damon
”Blaming the poor for their poor diet” I wasn’t talking about poor, I was my referring to the unhealthy diet many south Asians have where they use too much of harmful products in the Indian food. A Punjabi friend of mine was almost proud that the food he ate was the most unhealthy of all in India. Causing well known health problems.
Just read a bit now and then Leon.
https://thesouthasianidea.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/why-indians-are-stressed-and-unhealthy/
Bangladeshi women of Tower Hamlets are not unemployed primarily because of white racism.
You say there are few jobs out there. Do you live in the Outer Hebrides or something?
Eastern Europeans have found hundreds of thousands, maybe a million jobs in our economy.
I go and do deliveries at London West End hotels and the majority of the staff are foreign.
Bangladeshi origin women are not going for those jobs in my opinion, the reason isn’t that the hotel personnel department staff are racists.
I don’t understand your last point. I am pretty poor actually. Some of it is my own fault for not being serious about following a career. I get £9 an hour for driving class 2 HGV vehicles, and when there isn’t any of that at my agency I will be stuck with driving a van for £7 an hour like I was on Friday. I wasn’t complaining too much because I’ve just come back from spending the winter in Sri Lanka, but can only do things like that because I live very frugally.