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Union equality reps:promoting equality and preventing discrimination

Issue date

Despite 40 years of equality legislation and an increasingly diverse workforce, significant inequalities persist in Britain’s workplaces.

There is a 30 per cent gap in the employment rate between working age disabled people and non-disabled people. Disabled people are more likely to be in lower skilled jobs and three in ten earn less than the living wage. People with mental health conditions and learning disabilities are considerably more disadvantaged.

There is still a significant gender pay gap, especially for women working part-time. Pregnancy and maternity discrimination is still rife despite the strengthening of employment protections and improved rights to leave. Many older women find themselves stuck in low paid, part-time work. Nearly half of women over 50 work part time and the majority earn less than £10,000 a year.

Half of young black men are unemployed – double the unemployment rate for young white men. They experienced the sharpest rise in unemployment as a result of the 2008 recession and austerity. There is evidence that race still plays a part in recruitment decisions. Department for Work and Pensions research found that equally qualified candidates with names suggesting a black or ethnic minority background were much less likely to be shortlisted than those suggesting a white background.

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