Analysis of Ethnicity in the 2001 Census - Summary Report

Analysis of Ethnicity in the 2001 Census - Summary Report

3. LABOUR MARKET

Student population

Table 3.1: Student population by ethnic group - Full time students aged 18 years and over
Percentages

Ethnic Group	Percentage of population aged 18 years+ who are full-time students	Base
White Scottish	4	3,453,254
Other White British	8	329,740
White Irish	9	46,126
Other White	17	65,461
Indian	16	11,107
Pakistani	12	19,974
Bangladeshi	18	1,302
Other South Asian	20	4,273
Chinese	26	12,178
Caribbean	13	1,407
African	31	3,745
Black Scottish or Other Black	12	756
Any Mixed Background	22	6,534
Other ethnic group	24	7,290
All People aged 18 years and over	4	3,963,147

• The African and Chinese populations have the highest percentage of full-time students, with 31% and 26% respectively. This compares to only 4% of the White Scottish population being full-time students.

Economic Activity

The 'economically active population' includes all people of working age who were working in the week before the Census (those in employment), those people who were not working but were looking for working and were available to start within 2 weeks (the unemployed) and full-time students who are economically active (they are identified separately). The economic activity rate is the ratio of the economically active population to the working age population (16-59 years for women and 16-64 years for men).

• Chart 3.1 shows that the Other White British and White Scottish groups have the highest rate of economically active people (76% for both groups). In contrast, Pakistanis and Other South Asians have the lowest rate of economically active people (53% for both groups).
• All minority ethnic groups, excluding the Caribbean, have a lower percentage of people economically active compared to the White population. The economically active rate for Caribbeans (71%) is similar to that of the White population.

Chart 3.2 shows the percentage of the working age population who are in employment.

• The employment rates match closely with the economic activity rates shown in Chart 3.1. Again, employment rates of the ethnic minority groups continue to be lower than the employment rates of the White population with the exception being the Caribbean group who have similar employment rates to those of the White groups.
• The Other White British and White Scottish groups have the highest employment rates with 72% and 70% of their working age populations being employed.
• The lowest employment rates are among Other South Asians and people from Other Ethnic Group with only 46% of the working age population in these groups being employed. This is followed closely by Pakistanis and Bangladeshis with employment rates of 47% and 49% respectively.

Unemployed

• Ethnic minority groups have higher unemployment rates compared to all four White groups. Those groups experiencing the highest rates of unemployment are the Africans (15%), Black Scottish (15%) and Other South Asians (14%).

• There are considerable differences between both ethnic group and sex in the proportion of people of working age who have never worked. All minority ethnic groups have a higher proportion than the White group of people of working age who have never worked.
• For the White groups, there is very little difference between males and females: in all cases, less than 10% of the working age population have never worked.
• In contrast, there are large differences between the sexes for minority ethnic groups. This is most prominent within the Asian groups - Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Other South Asian - with a much higher percentage of females of working age never having worked. Pakistani women have the highest proportion (46%) followed by Bangladeshi women (40%).

Self-employed

The proportion of all people in employment who are self-employment is shown in Chart 3.5.

• The groups with the highest levels of self-employment are the Pakistani (32%), Chinese (23%) and Indian (22%) ethnic groups. Bangladeshi and Other South Asian also have high rates of self-employment (19.9% and 19.5% respectively). Africans have the lowest rate of self-employment (8.4%).

Size of organisations

Chart 3.6 shows the size of the organisations for which people work by ethnic group.

• 60% of Chinese and 59% of Pakistani adults work in organisations employing less than 9 people (micro-businesses) compared with 28% of White Scottish adults. The large proportion of Chinese and Pakistani adults working in small organisations may be explained by the high levels of self-employment within these groups as shown in Chart 3.5.
• According to DTi classifications, a firm which employees less than 50 employees is classed as 'small'. Therefore at least 70% of Pakistanis and Chinese and at least 66% of Bangladeshis who are in employment work in 'small' businesses. (The actual figure will be higher since the banded information provided from the census does not include all organisations which would be classed as 'small').
• DTi classes any organisation employing more than 250 people as 'large'. Again, the banded categories do not match, but Chart 3.6 shows that at least 24% of Africans and at least 22% of Indians and Other South Asians who are in employment work for 'large' businesses.

Occupation, Industry and Hours Worked

Table 3.2: Occupation by ethnic group

All People aged 16-74 years in Employment
Percentages

	Managers and senior officials	Professional Occupations	Associate Professional and Technical Occupations	Administrative and Secretarial Occupations	Skilled Trades Occupations	Personal Service Occupations	Sales and Customer Service Occupations	Process, Plant and Machine Operatives	Elementary Occupations	Base
White Scottish	11	10	13	13	13	7	9	10	13	1,968,679
Other White British	18	19	19	10	8	6	6	5	9	196,665
White Irish	14	20	19	10	8	6	6	7	10	23,408
Other White	15	25	16	10	7	6	7	4	11	37,472
Indian	20	30	9	8	6	3	12	4	8	6,527
Pakistani	28	10	7	7	7	3	25	4	8	9,379
Bangladeshi	16	16	7	4	19	2	9	3	24	638
Other South Asian	17	23	15	8	7	5	10	5	10	1,923
Chinese	14	15	7	6	28	3	9	2	17	6,436
Caribbean	11	17	23	10	8	6	8	5	12	840
African	8	24	17	9	6	10	9	3	15	2,013
Black Scottish or Other Black	10	10	21	13	9	5	9	8	14	368
Any Mixed Background	11	18	16	10	7	7	12	4	14	3,542
Other ethnic group	14	22	15	7	9	7	8	5	14	3,391
All People in Employment	12	11	14	13	12	7	9	10	13	2,261,281

Table 3.2 shows the occupational breakdown (using the 1 digit breakdown of the 2000 SOC categories).

• Pakistanis have the highest proportion of the workforce who describe themselves as 'managers and senior officials'.
• Within the Indian group, 30% of people are in professional occupations.
• The Bangladeshi group has the highest proportion of people in 'elementary' occupations (24%). This category covers occupations such as farm workers, construction labourers, packers etc.

Table 3.3: Hours worked by ethnic group - All occupations
All People aged 16-74 years in Employment
Percentages

	1-15 hours	16-30 hours	31-37 hours	38-48 hours	49 hours and over	Base
White Scottish	7	17	21	42	13	1,968,679
Other White British	8	16	17	40	19	196,665
White Irish	7	16	21	39	17	23,408
Other White	9	16	16	40	19	37,472
Indian	8	16	16	34	26	6,527
Pakistani	9	22	13	28	27	9,379
Bangladeshi	11	24	13	32	20	638
Other South Asian	9	16	15	36	24	1,923
Chinese	11	15	13	36	25	6,436
Caribbean	7	16	20	41	16	840
African	11	19	22	34	15	2,013
Black Scottish or Other Black	8	21	17	42	12	368
Any Mixed Background	14	18	18	36	14	3,542
Other ethnic group	10	18	17	37	18	3,391
All People in Employment	7	17	20	41	14	2,261,281

Table 3.3 shows the breakdown of the hours worked by ethnic group.

• Overall 7% of people in Scotland normally work 1-15 hours in their main job. The highest proportion is in the Mixed group (14%) and the lowest is White Scottish, White Irish and Caribbean (all 7%).
• At the higher end of working hours, 14% of people in Scotland normally work more than 49 hours in their main job. The highest proportion is for the Pakistani group (27%) and the lowest proportion for the Black Scottish/Other Black group (12%).

Table 3.4: Industry by ethnic group
All People aged 16-74 years in Employment
Percentages

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	Base
White Scottish	2	0	1	14	1	8	15	5	7	5	11	7	7	12	5	1,968,679
Other White British	2	0	2	10	1	4	11	6	5	4	14	10	10	13	6	196,665
White Irish	1	0	1	9	1	8	10	6	5	5	13	7	11	18	6	23,408
Other White	1	0	3	9	1	3	9	13	4	4	17	4	14	12	6	37,472
Indian	1	0	1	6	1	2	22	11	6	5	14	4	7	19	4	6,527
Pakistani	0	0	0	5	1	2	45	12	7	4	9	3	3	6	3	9,379
Bangladeshi	1	0	1	7	0	3	13	45	1	3	8	1	4	11	3	638
Other South Asian	1	0	2	8	1	2	16	14	6	3	10	6	8	19	4	1,923
Chinese	1	0	0	5	0	2	8	51	2	3	8	2	7	8	3	6,436
Caribbean	1	0	3	9	0	3	11	7	5	6	13	9	10	18	5	840
African	0	0	2	6	0	2	11	11	4	4	15	4	11	23	5	2,013
Black Scottish or Other Black	1	0	2	13	0	4	17	7	5	4	12	5	6	15	9	368
Any Mixed Background	1	0	1	7	1	3	13	12	5	4	14	6	8	15	7	3,542
Other ethnic group	1	0	2	11	1	2	10	16	4	3	12	4	10	19	6	3,391
All People in Employment	2	0	1	13	1	7	14	6	7	5	11	7	7	12	5	2,261,281

Notes:

Industry A: Agriculture, Hunting and Forestry	Industry I: Transport, Storage and Communication
Industry B: Fishing	Industry J: Financial Intermediaries
Industry C: Mining and Quarrying	Industry K: Real Estate, Renting and Business Activities
Industry D: Manufacturing	Industry L: Public Administration and Defence; Social Security
Industry E: Electricity, Gas and Water Supply	Industry M: Education
Industry F: Construction	Industry N: Health and Social Work
Industry G: Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repairs	Industry O: Other
Industry H: Hotels and Restaurants

Table 3.4 shows the breakdown of employment by industry by ethnic group. Overall the industry groups which employ the largest proportion of people are Wholesale and Retail trade (14%), Manufacturing (13%), Health and Social Work (12%) and Real Estate, Renting and Business Activities (11%). However, there are some striking differences between different ethnic groups.

• 45% of Pakistanis and 22% of Indians aged 16-74 who are currently in employment, work in the Wholesale and Retail trade.
• 51% of Chinese and 45% of Bangladeshis aged 16-74 who are currently in employment work in Hotels and Restaurants.
• 23% of Africans, 19% of Indians and 19% of Other South Asians aged 16-74 years who are currently in employment work in Health and Social Work.