White people are more likely to enjoy successful careers than ethnic minorities, despite those groups tending to stay in full-time education for longer periods of time, research from Bristol University has shown.
The report by Dr Nabil Khattab from the University’s Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship also says that white Muslims face greater discrimination than white Christians.
Drawing on information collected in the 2001 census, Dr Khattab showed that different ethinic groups suffered different levels of discrimination, dependent on how far removed they were perceived to be from the indigenous white culture.
White Muslims, for example, were found to be as disadvantaged in the jobs market as non-white groups – showing that the strong religious identity was a bigger disadvantage than colour.
The data was drawn from before the terrorist attacks on the New York world Trade Center in 2001, which Dr Khattab believes means the discrimination for Muslims will be even greater now.
“The data used in the report are not new but the findings are,” Dr Khattab said in a university press release. “They appear to reinforce what we already believe to be the case: that non-white people in England and Wales are disadvantaged because of their skin colour or ethnic background.
“Given that the data are drawn from the 2001 census, which predates the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorist attacks, we can predict that people from ethnic backgrounds, particularly Muslims, currently experience higher levels of discrimination than those indicated in the report.”
