NEWS IN BRIEF

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has recently published the results of its research into race discrimination in the construction industry, launched in January 2009. The report - Race Discrimination in the Construction Industry Inquiry Report - revealed a range of poor recruitment practices that block ethnic minorities from entering the industry.

Using a combination of evidence-gathering questionnaires, interviews and research, the Commission found that:

• Non-white ethnic minorities are no less likely than white people to want to work in the construction industry. However, levels of representation remain low across the sector. Non-white ethnic minorities make up just 3.3 per cent of the workforce compared to 7.9 per cent nationally
• Despite positive initiatives across the industry to increase diversity, the level of non-white ethnic minority representation has gone up by only 1.4 per cent in ten years
• There are problems with the image of the industry - perceived by a third of non-white ethnic minorities who were surveyed for the report as more racist than other industries
• Non-white ethnic minorities tend to be less aware of the potential range of roles and opportunities within the sector
• Word of mouth recruitment remains a significant barrier to both employment and access to some aspects of training
• A lack of job or career progression and problems making the transition from training to work appear to be major factors involved in non-white ethnic minority underrepresentation.

The report makes 31 broad-based recommendations for key issues to be addressed to improve representation of non-white ethnic minorities in the industry. These range from training and education to recruitment and contracting, retention, unlawful discrimination, monitoring and influencing change.

To read the report, go to:
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/ehrc_race_and_construction.pdf