Indians ‘hardest hit’ by mental health worries in lockdown
MOST ethnic minority groups in the UK have experienced a worsening of their mental health between 2019-2020, new data has revealed.
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), British Indians reported greater difficulty with sleep due to worry in April 2020, when the UK was in its first national lockdown. They also had higher scores than other groups on self-reported mental health difficulties.
Around 27 per cent of black, African, Caribbean or black British ethnic groups reported finding it very or quite difficult to get by financially during the first lockdown, the ONS data showed.
This was significantly more than those from Pakistani and Bangladeshi (13 per cent), Indian (eight per cent), other white (seven per cent) or white Irish (six per cent) ethnic groups.
Those from Pakistani or Bangladeshi ethnic groups in the paid work category were less likely to report working from home at least ‘sometime’ in April 2020. They were also more likely to report that their financial situation had worsened or remained negative than their white British counterparts.
“The research shows how the impact on different ethnic groups varies and how people’s circumstances before the pandemic could affect their experience during the first national lockdown,” said Glenn Everett from ONS.
“Perhaps unsurprisingly, mental health deteriorated across most ethnic groups during lockdown and was most marked in the Indian group.”
Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of trade union umbrella body TUC, claimed the pandemic had exposed “the structural racism of the UK’s economy yet again”.
She said: “BAME workers have faced a triple whammy of threats during the pandemic. The figures show that BAME workers were less likely to be earning enough before the pandemic to avoid hardship during lockdown. BAME workers are more likely to be in low-paid, insecure jobs, where they have been more exposed to coronavirus and more likely to die. Today we learned that BAME workers’ mental health has suffered the most during the Covid-19 outbreak. It is past time for the government to act.”
Before the pandemic, white British or other white groups were more likely to report being in paid work compared with working age adults of Pakistani or Bangladeshi, Chinese or other Asian, Indian and black, African, Caribbean or black British ethnicities.
Around half of working age adults of white British (46 per cent) and other white (51 per cent) ethnicities who were in paid work reported a decrease in their weekly hours in April compared to prepandemic. This was true for 33 per cent of Indian, black, African, Caribbean or black British ethnicities, data showed.