The ethnicity pay gap

Pakistani people earn less on average than any other ethnic group

THE pay gap between White people and other ethnicities is shrinking, but some groups are still being left behind. New figures from the Office for National Statistics have revealed that the ethnicity pay gap in England and Wales has narrowed to its smallest level since 2012.

Last year, White people earned an average of £12.40 an hour - 2.3% more than all other ethnicities, who earned an average of £12.11.

That compares to a gap of 3.8% in 2018, and a recent peak of 8.4% in 2014.

However, this simple comparison masks a wide variety of experiences among different ethnic minorities.

Looking at a more detailed breakdown of 17 ethnic groups, White Irish people earn the most, at £17.55 an hour - 66% more than Pakistani people, who earned the least at £10.55 an hour.

Other ethnicities to earn more than White British people include Chinese, Indian and people of mixed White and Asian heritage.

Meanwhile, other groups to earn a particularly low amount include Bangladeshi people and people of mixed White and Black Caribbean descent.

The analysis by the ONS accounts for factors other than ethnicity that can contribute to pay differences - including occupation, qualifications, and working pattern, among other characteristics.

Dr Wanda Wyporska, executive director of The Equality Trust said: "The ethnicity pay gap figures reveal some of the dangers of conflating non-white groups all together and taking a ' BAME' approach to very differing ethnic groups.

“The danger here is the lack of nuance which masks huge disparities between different ethnic groups.

“If we really want to make progress on measuring the ethnicity pay gap, then we have to take a more sophisticated approach.

“It is also extremely concerning to see the high pay gap in London, given that it is home to so many ethnic minority workers."

London has the worst overall ethnicity pay gap out of any region in England and Wales, with White people in the capital earning 23.8% more than other ethnicities.

The gap is smallest in Wales, at 1.4% - and the East of England is the only area to see ethnic minorities earn more than White people, at 8.6%.

The gap also varies by gender. In 2019, ethnic minority men earned 6.1% less than White men, whilst the hourly pay of ethnic minority women was 2.1% more than White women.

However, men earned a higher hourly median wage than women of the same ethnicity in all but three groups.

The exceptions were Arab, Bangladeshi and Caribbean women, who earned more than men of the same ethnicity - although only marginally more, and often less than men in other ethnic groups.

Meanwhile, the pay gap is also larger for those aged 30 years and over than for those aged 16 to 29 years.

While White people aged 30 years and over earned 7.3% more than other ethnicities in 2019, people aged 16 to 29 from ethnic minorities actually earn 5.5% more than their White peers.

Again, this varies by individual groups, but the trend can be seen across most ethnicities.