Figures released by the labour government have revealed that the number of unemployed ethnic minorities aged between 16 and 24 has risen by 50%.
Over 40,000 young BAMEs have been unemployed for over a year, a figure that has risen dramatically since the coalition came into power in 2010, which the Labour government has described as “astonishing”.
“These figures are astonishing,” shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan told The Guardian. “At a time where general unemployment is going down and employment is going up, it is doing the reverse for this group… we have got a generation that is being thrown on the scrapheap, and what compounds it is that a disproportionate number are black, Asian, minority ethnic.”
While the level of black and ethnic minority unemployment has continued to increase, overall unemployment in England had fallen by 1%. In addition, the number of young white people who are unemployed has dropped by 2%.
“This is going to lead to problems for years to come,” Khan added. “How can we tackle issues around lack of BAME people in the judiciary, civil service or the boardroom if they can’t even get a job as a young person? We are stopping a generation fulfilling their potential and that is not just a problem for them as individuals or their wider families, it is a problem for all of us.”
Although the conservatives have not disputed this report, they have hit back at Labour suggesting that the previous economic crash saw the levels of ethnic minority unemployment double.
“Labour crashed the economy and put everyone’s financial security at risk, with the number of unemployed BAME people doubling last time they were in power,” a spokesman for the Conservative party stated.
Currently the fight for the ethnic minority vote is underway, with figures suggesting that the black vote could swing the elections in several constituencies. Labour is set to release a new BAME manifesto which they say will outline their plans to improve race equality.
The plan guarantees, among other things, to get 3,200 black and Asian youth who have been unemployed for more than a year, paid work or training.
Operation Black Vote, a UK charity that aims to get black citizens to the polling stations this May, has criticised the rise in long term unemployed black youth, suggesting that that they are facing a ‘race penalty’ within the job market.
“It is absolutely critical that political parties have a plan to address this shocking statistic because at the moment it seems as though a generation of young black men – and it is often men and sometimes women – are being cast aside and it is to the detriment of us all,” Operation Black Vote director Simon Wolley stated.
