Indians and Chinese earn more than white British counterparts: UK report

LONDON

: It’s official. Chinese and Indian employees in Britain earn more than their white British counterparts, a new report has revealed.


But employees of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin have the lowest hourly pay of all ethnicities, according to the report “Ethnicity Pay Gaps in Great Britain: 2018”.

The report, which details for the first time earnings and employment statistics for different ethnic groups in Britain, was published by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday.

It found that employees from the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups have consistently earned more than white British employees since 2012.

The two ethnic groups with the highest median hourly pay in Britain in 2018 were Chinese and Indian with Chinese earning 30.9% more than their white British counterparts’ hourly earnings at £15.75 (Rs 1,347) whilst ethnic Indian employees earn 12% more, with an average hourly pay of £13.47 (Rs 1,152). Those from mixed/multiple ethnic groups also earn more than white British with an average hourly pay of £12.33 (Rs 1,054). The median pay of white British employees stands at £12.03 (Rs 1,028) per hour.

The ethnic group that has the lowest median hourly pay is Bangladeshi at £9.60 (Rs 821), 20.2% less than white British, followed by Pakistani at £10 (Rs 855) per hour, which is 16.9% less.

The ethnicity pay gap data was commissioned as part of a UK government examination into the barriers faced by people from ethnic minority groups in the workplace which followed a 2017 report, “Race in the Workplace”, which stated that equal progression across ethnicities could be worth an additional £24 billion (a little over Rs 2 lakh crore) to the UK’s economy per year.

Despite being at the top, the largest pay difference between males and females in 2018 was for the Indian ethnic group, with Indian men earning 23.3% more per hour than Indian women compared to Chinese men who earn 19.1% more per hour than Chinese women, and white British men who earn 18.5% more than white British women.

Bangladeshi women, on the contrary, earn 10.5% more than Bangladeshi men, the report found.

The ethnic group with the highest employment rate is white other (such as white Australian and white European) at 81.7%, followed by white British at 76.4 %, with Indian in third place, ahead of Chinese at 75.9%.

The two ethnic groups with the lowest employment rates are Pakistani and Bangladeshi, with employment rates of 58.2% and 54.9%, respectively, and the inactivity rates of women in the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups are substantially higher than that of any other ethnic group.

Pratik Dattani, MD of economic research firm EPG, based in London and India, said: “As there are four times as many Indians as Chinese in Britain, the data underlines the substantial, unmatched value that Indians create for the British economy.”

Jasvir Singh, founding chair of City Sikhs, said: “Having the breakdown regarding the ethnic pay gap is extremely useful, but it doesn’t paint the full picture when it comes to the representation at senior levels of all

industries

. For example, whilst Chinese and Indian heritage people may be paid more on average than other ethnic backgrounds, recent research has shown that there are more people called ‘Steve’ heading FTSE 100 companies than there are individuals from ethnic minorities. Also, the majority of FTSE 100 companies have no ethnic minority board group members whatsoever. Much more needs to be done to ensure that people from all backgrounds are supported in the workplace and are able to reach all levels within their respective industries.”

Indian origin self-made millionaire

Rami Ranger

said: “Citizens of ancient civilisations, namely India and China, are working very hard for Britain and getting rewarded accordingly.”