Number of unemployed young people from BAME communities risen by 50%

The number of unemployed young people from ethnic minorities has risen by almost 50% since 2010, according to figures from the Labour party.

The Labour party released statistics from the House of Commons library, which show 41,000 18- to 24-year-olds from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities are long-term unemployed.

This figure has risen by 49% in the last five years (2010-2015). However, numbers show that overall, long-term youth unemployment has fallen by 1%, and 2% among young white people.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves called it “a huge waste of the next generation’s skills, potential and talent”. “It comes at a huge cost to young black and minority ethnic people, their families, taxpayers and the economy,” she added.

She claimed Labour’s Compulsory Jobs Guarantee will give more than 3,200 young BAME people “the chance to earn, learn and fulfil their potential”.

Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said: “Ethnic minority Britons have been hit hard by the cost of living crisis and many communities are really struggling".

He added: “Labour’s BAME manifesto will outline our plan to build an economy that works for ethnic minority families and to tackle race inequality.”

Race for Opportunity director Sandra Kerr called for "focused and targeted action from employers and government".

She said: “Our 2014 Race and Gender Benchmark showed that there is a significant drop-off in the proportion of BAME candidates progressing from application to hiring stages.

However, we also found that organisations with similar conversion rates from application to hire for BAME and white candidates were likely to take steps including targeting diverse candidates at recruitment fairs, mandating unconscious bias training for all staff involved in recruitment, ensuring ethnically diverse recruitment panels where possible and using a range of recruitment sources to attract a wider variety of candidates.

We would encourage all employers to adopt these approaches to help increase BAME representation within their workforce and reflect the clients, customers and communities they serve."