PROJEKTĄ IŠ DALIES

PROJEKTĄ REMIA
FINANSUOJA
LIETUVOS RESPUBLIKA
EUROPOS SĄJUNGA
Europos socialinis fondas

Europe’s Ethnic Minorities and the Labour Market:

Good EQUAL Practice in Five European Countries
A Joint Publication of the European Network of Ethnic Diversity
in Employment (ENEDE)
Publisher Lithuanian Children’s Fund

Design and layout Tomas Fedosejev

Editor Irena Maciulevičienė
Figures and tables supplied by country authors
Photos from EQUAL project archive

ISBN 978-9955-9997-1-3 © ES EQUAL project

Europe’s Ethnic Minorities and
the Labour Market:
Good EQUAL Practice in five
European Countries

A Joint Publication of the European Network of Ethnic Diversity

in Employment (ENEDE)

France
Germany
Lithuania
Spain
United Kingdom

Edited by Naina Patel, Director of PRIAE

(ENEDE) European Network of Ethnic Diversity in Employment

Index
Forewords........................................................................................... 6

Chapter 1: Contextual Overview: the EU and its non-White

Ethni Minorities vis à vis the Social Environment and
Integration Policies............................................................................ 24

Chapter 2 France: Ethnic and Racial Discrimination in the

Frenc Job Market and the Development of anti-Discrimination
Policies: The Poitou – Charentes Region and the
Commitment of the Châtellerault Community................................... 34

Chapter 3 Germany: EQUAL Bremen & Bremerhaven: Diversity

Management in Employment Promotion........................................... 46

Chapter 4 Lithuania: Challenges to the Employment of

Roma in Lithuania............................................................................. 56

Chapter 5 Spain: Spain Becomes Diverse: Main Trends

of its Rapid Immigration Process...................................................... 72

Chapter 6 United Kingdom: Ethnic Diversity and Small

and Medium-sized Businesses in the UK......................................... 84

Bibliography....................................................................................... 98
Forewords
Acknowledgements..........................................................................................9

Contributors....................................................................................................10

Aims of the Book............................................................................................14

Introduction.....................................................................................................16

Key Issues......................................................................................................18
Foreword from Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE, DL
Founder and Chairman of Cobra Beer Visiting Entrepreneur,
University of Cambridge Chancellor,
Thames Valley University
It is a privilege for me to introduce this publication,
Europe’s Ethnic Minorities and the Labour Market:
Good Practice in Five European Countries. This
is a significant publication, created by five Euro-
pean partner countries which have been led by
the UK partner PRIAE (Policy Research Institute
on Ageing and Ethnicity), in combating racial dis-
crimination and promoting equal opportunities and
diversity in employment across Europe.
Today, Europe is operating in a changing global
community where its countries are interdependent
on each other. Knowing each other’s cultural as-
pects makes interaction and communication easier
and more understandable. With the recent enlarge-
ment of the European Union and increased immi-
gration from non-EU countries, Europe finds itself
dealing with its largest ever minority ethnic popula-
tion. Most members of minority ethnic groups are
young but unfortunately are underachieving in the
labour market. This book demonstrates how the
participation of minority ethnic communities in the
labour market is affected by a number of factors
that have little or nothing to do with their skills,
experience or qualifications. Most importantly, this
book identifies the necessity of filling the gap in
research linking ethnicity and business perform-
ance. As this area of research is relatively new
and required proper attention, this study attempts
to inform governments, policymakers, and employ-
ers how companies can perform when diversity is
present in the companies.
While a large number of minority ethnic groups
are experiencing high levels of unemployment and
underachievement in the labour market, European
9
companies face labour and skills shortages. Com-
panies across Europe need to realise that diversity
within their workforce can bring great benefits
to the company and community if it is properly
implemented and managed. Diversity and equal
opportunities are not only an issue of fairness and
justice, but also an important element facilitating
success of the future economic growth. As a an
enterpreneur myself, I truly believe that diversity
in my company has been key to the success of
the business.
When companies try to access international mar-
kets, diversity within its workforce helps companies
work more effectively in the international arena.
Companies that embrace diversity are capable of
providing better services internationally because
they better understand the needs of their multi-
cultural customer base. Therefore, it is becoming
crucial for European companies to try to capitalise
on and encourage their multicultural workforce.
The Europe’s Ethnic Minorities and the Labour
Market: Good Practice in Five European Countries
is a milestone in manifesting a more practical
approach to issues of diversity in employment
through the introduction of good practice across
Europe. I hope that the recommendations pre-
sented in this study will be positively approached
and implemented.
Foreword from Arnaud Gauci
Director of the PIC EQUAL LATITUDE – ADECCO
Associate Director of consulting firm ALETHEIA
We have all experienced situations that we consid-
ered unfair or hurtful. A person who arrived after
us in a restaurant was served first. We applied for
a job and received no reply while others did. We
stood patiently in a queue, and when it was our
turn, someone else was called before us. A promo-
tion was given to someone clearly less competent
than we were, and so on.
We remember the feeling of injustice that swept
through us in these situations. Sometimes it was
anger, sometimes guilt or shame that overcame
us. Many people try to find reasons for this inex-
plicable favouritism. Some reach the conclusion
that they are persecuted for the sole reason that
they are who they are.
These memories may help us to understand
people who are victims of discrimination because
of their real or imagined origin. They can help us
understand the damage to one’s identity that can
occur when a clear case of discrimination excludes
a man or woman from a job, from housing, or from
obtaining a service. In this context, our work in
the European EQUAL projects takes on particular
importance. And perhaps we begin to understand
that a personal, individual change is necessary if
we are to understand the reality of our societies
and begin to participate in advance in the area
10
of equality and the fight against discrimination.
When we address problems of ethnic or racial
discrimination, we cannot ignore the conflicts that
disrupted Europe in the twentieth century and
which continue to tear humanity apart in various
parts of the world today.
Our judicial systems, national and European, must
be mobilised. The law must serve the cause of jus-
tice. It is not reserved for specialists; it must be for
the benefit of all. Laws regarding equal treatment
and non-discrimination are based on the will to
protect the weak and to create a society of justice,
citizenship, security and peace. The EQUAL Com-
munity initiatives are exceptional opportunities to
work at regional and national levels, in partnership
with other countries of the European Union. To
take just one example from this book, the ACCEES
Europe project is clearly part of the effort to raise
general awareness of discrimination in the Châtel-
lerault area. It uses the law to professionalise par-
ticipants in social and economic sectors; it informs
and assists victims of discrimination; it promotes
diversity not as something that should be, but as
something that is. Efforts made at a personal or
small group level can radiate outward, affecting
others. They can have an immense influence for
change in discriminatory practices for a given area,
for a country, for a whole continent.
Acknowledgements
This book was funded by the EQUAL Initiative
which is a part of the European Social Fund
(ESF). On behalf of ENEDE partners, we would
like to express our special thanks to EQUAL teams
across Europe that made the production of this
book possible.
We would also like to thank PRIAE staff members
working on the Contribution of Ethnic Minority
Employees to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
(CEMESME) Project for proposing the research
outline and the template for this book and for
designing the report in a way that facilitates its
use among policy makers, researchers, profes-
sionals and employers who will be our primary
audience.
11
Our special thanks also go to Hazel Waters for
her excellent copyediting of the manuscripts, given
that, for the majority of the authors, English is not
their working language.
We would also like to express our special thanks
to the Equality and Human Rights Commission for
allowing us to use the original graphs and tables
from the Commission for Racial Equality fact files
in the UK national chapter.
And finally, we would like to thank everyone who
participated in this research project and facilitated
the production of this book.
Contributors
United Kingdom
PRIAE Policy Research Institute on
Ageing and Ethnicity
Naina Patel OBE is the Director and founder of
PRIAE. Naina is a Professor in Ageing and Eth-
nicity at the Centre for Ethnicity and Health at the
University of Central Lancashire. She is also the
UK representative on the European Monitoring
Centre on Racism, Xenophobia and Anti-Semitism
(EUMC) and Observer on ECRI (Council of
Europe). In addition, Naina is a member of the
Leadership and Race Equality NHS Panel. She
is part of the Old Age and Mental Health Delivery
Board at the Department of Health and is on the
Partnership Group for Older People at the Depart-
ment for Work and Pensions. Naina has written
extensively on the subjects of age and ethnicity,
race equality and social work. Her background is
in economics, race relations and social work. She
is a principal editor of this book.
Ahsan Malik is the Director of the Contribution of
Ethnic Minority Employees to Small and Medium-
sized Enterprises (CEMESME) project. Ahsan’s
role within CEMESME is to lead the CEMESME
team successfully to deliver the UK and transna-
tional aspects of this ESF – and EQUAL – funded
project; bringing in effective processes and del-
egating responsibilities to the team members to
achieve this. He also manages the Personalised
Mentoring Programme under which postgraduate
students from various ethnic backgrounds develop
international trade activities in UK companies. He
is a principal coordinator of the European Network
12
of Ethnic Diversity in Employment (ENEDE), which
is a partnership of five organisations from France,
Germany, Lithuania, Spain and the United King-
dom and is responsible for the overall administra-
tion of this book.
Dr. Gonzalo E. Shoobridge was the former leader
of the CEMESME project and a former principal
coordinator of ENEDE. Gonzalo was also previ-
ously a Project Manager at the Bradford University
School of Management, where he focused on
economic development initiatives, making use of
his past experience as special adviser and consult-
ant on European policy affairs and external funds
in the UK. He was responsible for setting up a
framework for the research and conceiving the
content of the book. He conducted the extensive
literature review prior to the research and is the
author of Chapter 1.
Akja Karajakulova, who holds a Master’s degree
in International Business and Management, is a
Research Officer at PRIAE. Akja works primarily
on the CEMESME project and is responsible for
the secondary research in the introductory parts
of the book and a co-author of the UK national
chapter. She is also responsible for liaising with
partner countries’ organisations and coordinating
the chapters of the book.
France
Sunergeia
Catherine Grandin is the Director and founder of
Sunergeia, which is a private employment service
specialising in the area of equal opportunities and
the fight against discrimination. She specialises in
public employment services and social inclusion
for disadvantaged people. Her background is in
social sciences and education.
Elena Schiroli is a Project Manager at Suner-
geia. She is in charge of the coordination of all
national and transnational activities of the French
Development Partnership, as well as of all aspects
linked to the administration of ESF for the EQUAL
programme, ACCEES Europe. She is a co-author
of the French national chapter. Elena holds a
Master’s degree in International Economics, Co-
operation and Development and has worked as a
consultant for UN agencies, the Italian Ministry for
Foreign Affairs and NGOs on the formulation and
management of complex humanitarian emergency
and poverty reduction programmes.
Alberto Balaguer holds a Master’s degree in
Human Geography and a Master’s in Intercultural
Mediation, and works for the Regional Agency for
Social Inclusion and Equal Opportunities. He has
experience in researching and writing on the sub-
jects of migration and family reunification among
North Africans. His main contribution to this book
is the analysis of regional data on migrants and
their socio-economic conditions.
Alessandro Pannuti holds a Master’s degree in
Politics and International Relations, and has con-
tributed to the literature review in this book.
13
Germany
Senator for Labour, Women, Health,
Youth and Social Affairs in the state of
Bremen (EQUAL Management Unit)
Dr Saul W. Revel works for the Senator for Labour,
Women, Health, Youth and Social Affairs in Bremen
(Freie Hansestadt Bremen) and leads the EQUAL
Management Unit. He is responsible for labour
market programmes with external funding, focusing
particularly on diversity management. Dr. Revel
is of German and non - German background (his
mother is from Berlin, Preußen, and his father from
Louisville, Kentucky). Initially, Dr Revel entered the
labour market becoming a printer and working as such
for several years; later he studied social, cultural and
economic sciences. He holds a PhD in Economics and
specialises in labour market theory and politics.
Simone Müller is a researcher and a consultant
at the Lawaetz-Stiftung in Hamburg, Germany.
Her main focus is an on-going evaluation of labour
market policies and networks. A social scientist,
she is of German and Spanish family background;
she works in the areas of labour market and ethnic
minorities, social exclusion and urban develop-
ment. The ongoing evaluation of ‘Equal Bremen
and Bremerhaven’ is carried on by Simone and
her colleague Peer Gillner.
Peer Gillner holds academic degrees in social
education and business administration. He is a re-
searcher and a consultant at the Lawaetz-Stiftung
in Hamburg in Germany. Peer has several years
of experience in the evaluation of labour market
policy programmes and networks, communal so-
cial planning and regional, national and European
project management. Former areas of his research
have included youth welfare services, vocational
qualification programmes and integration projects
for disadvantaged groups.
Lithuania
Lithuanian Children’s Fund
Department of National Minorities and
Lithuanians Living Abroad under the
Government of the Republic of Lithuania
Roma Community Centre
Centre of Ethnic Studies of the Institute
for Social Research
Romualda Navikaitė is the Director of the
Lithuanian Children’s Fund, which is the leading
organisation among the Lithuanian partners of the
EQUAL project ‘The Creation and Testing of Sup-
port Mechanisms of Integration of Roma People
into the Labour Market’. She has extensive experi-
ence in Roma issues. The first project in this field
dates from 1993 and her knowledge gleaned from
other successful projects is drawn on for EQUAL
partnership.
14
Rasa Paliukienė is the Head of the National
Minorities Division of the Department of National
Minorities and Lithuanians Living Abroad (DNMLA)
under the Government of the Republic of Lithua-
nia. The DNMLA is responsible for arranging
and implementing state programmes on national
minorities and Roma integration specifically. Rasa
has been a curator of the state Roma integration
programme for the last six years and is one of the
most experienced specialists on Roma issues.
Svetlana Novopolskaja is the Director of the
public institution, the Roma Community Centre
(RCC). Since 2001 when the Centre was opened,
it has implemented a wide range of projects on the
local and international levels. Situated close to a
disadvantaged Roma settlement, RCC is able to
contact and assist in the integration of the Roma
community through different technologies, methods
and approaches.
Dr. Tadas Leončikas is a sociologist and works as
a senior researcher at the Centre of Ethnic Studies
in the Institute for Social Research (Lithuania). His
research focuses on social inequalities between
ethnic groups, discrimination and equal opportuni-
ties, ethnic intolerance, and issues of Roma inclu-
sion. He is also a manager of the Lithuanian focal
point for the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency,
an expert in the NGO Human Rights Monitoring
Institute, and a co-editor of the journal ‘Ethnicity
Studies’. He is an author of the Lithuanian national
chapter.
Spain
Fundacion Directa
Dr. Gema de Cabo holds a PhD in Economics
from the Complutensian University of Madrid (the
Universidad Complutense de Madrid). She works
as an economist and project manager at the Tomil-
lo Economic Studies Centre (Centro de Estudios
Económicos Tomillo (CEET)). She specialises in
time series econometrics, labour economics and
social exclusion. Gema is a scientific director of the
Spanish national chapter and its co-author.
Mateo Silos works as an economist at the Tomillo
Economic Studies Centre (Centro de Estudios
Económicos Tomillo (CEET)) and is a co-author
of the Spanish national chapter.
Ana Moreno Romero is an industrial engineer and
a PhD student in social and organisational psychol-
15
ogy. She is an organisational consultant, a partner
in Enred, and an independent consultant on infor-
mation and communication technologies (ICT) and
development. At present, she is a Vice-President
of Aula Solidaridad, working on the digital divide
and corporate social responsibility. She is on the
board of directors of the Energy without Borders
Foundation (Energías sin Fronteras), and a mem-
ber of AECOP (Spanish Association for Coaching
and Organisational Consulting).
Manuel Acevedo is a consultant specialising in
information and communications technology for
development. He is an engineer with research
interests in the information society, digital inclu-
sion, and third sector networks. He worked for
about a decade for the UN, where he initiated the
UNITeS initiative (www.unites.org) and the UN
Online Volunteering service (www.onlinevolunteer-
ing.org). In the ‘Madrid Entre Dos Orillas’ project,
he was responsible for studying the influence of
digital inclusion on the socio-economic integration
of immigrants in Spain.
Aims of the Book
Working towards the elimination of racial discrimi-
nation, promoting racial equality in employment
and reducing the exclusion of minority ethnic
populations are fundamental objectives of the
European Union. The proper integration of ethnic
minorities in EU countries is especially important
today due to recent demographic changes, such as
the increasing ageing of the population, increasing
immigration from the Third World countries and EU
enlargement. This book looks at the current social
environment of ethnic minorities in France, Germa-
ny, Lithuania, Spain and the UK; more specifically
it looks at the situation of ethnic minorities in the
labour markets of these five European states.
The book’s main aim is to raise awareness of the
current situation of ethnic minorities in the EU
and generate evidence on relevant issues facing
EU policy-makers, governments and employers.
It attempts to explain the benefits of the inclusion
of ethnic minorities in all sectors of EU labour
markets. Each country has its own approach
to minority ethnic issues, as different EU states
have gone through different development stages
in respect of immigration. For instance, while the
UK has a comparatively long history of migration,
in Spain it is a fairly recent phenomenon. But
in all five countries stress is laid on the crucial
importance of policy intervention to secure minor-
ity ethnic populations’ proper integration into all
mainstream sectors of the EU economy.
This book underpins the concept of the ‘business
case for diversity’ through various case studies and
findings. It also underlines the reasons for minority
ethnic concentration in certain employment sec-
16
tors and factors affecting incentives for minority
ethnic employment, such as the lack of realistic,
local employment opportunities, as well as other
obstacles. The chapters, written by representatives
from five EQUAL development partnerships1, show
various sources of disadvantage which might lead
to the underachievement of ethnic minorities in the
labour market.
Due to limitations of time and resources, each
country chapter focuses on selected ethnic
groups.
Below is the list of ethnic groups for each country:
UK
• Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Other
Asian)
• Black (Black Caribbean; Black African, Black
Other)
• Chinese
• Mixed
1
Operational entity of the Equal initiative. The DP (geo-
graphical or sectoral) gathers several public, semi-public
or private organisations, called national partners, with a
view to implement experimental activities on the basis of
a common project linked to a thematic field of EQUAL.
The partners participate at the decision making process
on an equal footing. One of the partners ensures the ad-
ministrative and financial co-ordination (Europa 2007).
France Germany

• North Africans • Turks

• Sub-Saharan Africans • Repatriates from Eastern Europe and the
former Soviet Union
Spain – Latin Americans
• Southern Europeans (former Yugoslavians,
Lithuania – Roma Italians, Greeks, Spanish and Portuguese)

17
Introduction
This book is a product of a partnership between
five European states – France, Germany, Lithua-
nia, Spain and the UK. This partnership, the Eu-
ropean Network of Ethnic Diversity in Employment
(ENEDE) operates nationally with universities, spe-
cialist institutes, governmental institutions, NGOs
and other partner organisations. A literature review
conducted prior to writing of this book identified
a gap in research linking ethnicity and business
performance. This relatively new area required
further attention, and ENEDE recognised the need
to fill this gap, so as to inform governments, policy
makers and employers how companies perform
when ethnic diversity is factored in. In fact, the
creation of ENEDE (funded by the European So-
cial Fund), has become critical in the face of the
changing demography of the European Union. The
project specifically promotes equal opportunities
and ethnic diversity in employment, particularly in
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It is
of particular importance, given that SMEs make
up a large part of the Europe’s economy. In total,
there are about 23 million SMEs in the EU, which
are a source of around 65 million jobs. Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises account for 99 per cent
of all EU businesses. Moreover, SMEs, as key
to delivering growth and better jobs for Europe,
cannot afford to ignore the consequences of
globalisation.
Schemes promoting the employment of ethnic
minorities have mainly focused on training and
on improving the job skills of their participants
through a variety of activities. Such projects have
tended to concentrate on minority ethnic employ-
ees, to make them more attractive to employers
by improving their skills base. ENEDE’s approach,
18
however, is to concentrate on the ‘demand’ side
of the problem by demonstrating to employers
the contribution which minority ethnic employees
can bring to companies. Showing how the rich
cultural backgrounds such employees bring with
them impacts on business performance makes this
project different from others promoting the minority
ethnic employment.
The study Europe’s Ethnic Minorities and the
Labour Market: Good Practice in Five European
Countries was undertaken as a serious attempt to
contribute to combating racial discrimination and
promoting equal opportunities and diversity man-
agement in employment across the EU. Through
documenting the different obstacles that minority
ethnic individuals face in both the search for em-
ployment and at work, the book demonstrates how
their participation in the labour market is affected
by a number of factors which have nothing to do
with skills or qualifications.
The participation of five European countries in this
project shows the importance and necessity of
anti- discrimination measures in employment not
only as an issue of fairness and justice but also
as an important aspect of the future economic
growth of the EU.
Moreover, the gap in empirical studies which focus
on ethnic diversity in the workforce as an element
that influences business and export performance
means that there is a lack of even basic descrip-
tive information. Therefore, ENEDE, recognising
the lack of sound empirical data for establishing
practice and policy, has provided thoroughly re-
searched documentation enabling:
• the analysis of the current social environment
relating to ethnic diversity
• the identification of various sources of dis-
advantage which lead to ethnic minorities’
underachievement in the labour market
19
• the assessment of good practice initiatives
undertaken by some companies; and
• the assessment of individual and companies’
experiences of workforce diversity through
various case studies and research findings.
Key Issues
It is a truism that sound empirical knowledge will
help to establish practical and policy responses
on combating racial discrimination and promoting
racial equality and diversity in employment. But
in order to generate appropriate evidence and
knowledge, certain key questions had to be ad-
dressed:
• Why do ethnic minorities still face obstacles
when trying to access mainstream services
and employment?
• What is the attitude of SMEs to ethnic diver-
sity today?
• How do minority ethnic employees in SMEs
view themselves and what do they think
should be done differently by SMEs with
regard to diversity?
• Is there an easy way of introducing diversity
in SMEs?
• What lessons can we learn and how can
we identify good practice on which to build
for the future as minority ethnic populations
expand?
Following Article 13 of the Amsterdam Treaty2,
the EU passed two anti-discrimination directives
in 2000:
2
The Article 13 complements Article 12 of the Amster-
dam Treaty, which prohibits discrimination on grounds of
nationality. The new Article enables the Council to take
appropriate action to combat discrimination based on
sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability,
age or sexual orientation (Europa 2007).
20
• the Racial Equality Directive (Council Direc-
tive 2000/43/EC)
• the Employment Framework Directive (Coun-
cil Directive 2000/78/EC)
The Racial Equality Directive sets down principles
protecting all EU citizens against discrimination on
the grounds of race or ethnic origin. This directive
applies to both the public and private sectors.
The Employment Framework Directive sets down
principles of equal treatment in employment and
occupation, and provides the minimum level of
protection against discrimination on the grounds of
religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orienta-
tion. Each EU member state has been responsible
for transposing the Equality Directives into national
legislation, which means that existing legislation
should conform to the norms laid down in the EC
Racial Equality and Employment Equality Direc-
tives. Each member state undertakes its own
national implementation measures to cover the
two directives.
The increase in minority ethnic populations in
Europe and their high unemployment rates, in
the context of the overall ageing of the European
population, demonstrates an urgent need to ad-
dress the issue of their underachievement in the
labour market. Continuation of this tendency may
well lead to an unnecessary growth in social and
economic costs, representing a major challenge for
national governments and EU businesses.
What is crucial in any examination of employment
issues regarding minority ethnic populations is to
take account of the enormous variety in legal sta-
tus. In some European states ‘immigrants’ residing
in the country for decades, until recently, still had
the legal status of a’ foreigner’ – for example those
former ‘guestworkers’ imported into Germany and
France in the post-war period as a ‘temporary’
solution to those countries’ labour shortages. Or
there are those ethnic minorities from a colonial
background, such as those who moved to the UK
during the post-war reconstruction period. More
recently, of course, there are others such as those
seeking asylum, or economic/political migrants
21
who needed to escape unbearable or oppressive
conditions in their countries of origin.
But, as this book shows, whatever the differences
in migration histories, or the relationship with indig-
enous but socially excluded minorities, and how
these are played out in the labour market, all the
country studies show basic similarities in the types
of problems faced by minority ethnic populations,
their needs and the types of issues that have to
be addressed.
Chapter 1
Introduction.....................................................................................................21

1. Background . .............................................................................................21

2. The EU as a Multicultural Environment.....................................................22

3. Social Quality in Europe...........................................................................22

4. The Social Environment for Ethnic Minorities..........................................23

5. EU Policies for Social Inclusion...............................................................24

6. Approaches to Cultural Integration in Europe..........................................27

7. Approaches to Social Inclusion in the Workplace....................................28

7.1 Diversity Management and Equal Opportunities.....................................28

7.2 Benefits of a Diverse Workplace.............................................................29

7.3 Arguments against Diversity in the Workplace........................................30

8. Considerations for Further Research.......................................................31

9. Conclusion................................................................................................32
Contextual Overview: the EU and its non-White Ethnic
Minorities vis a vis the Social Environment and Integration
Policies
By Dr Gonzalo E. Shoobridge
Introduction
This chapter begins with the following question:
Does the European Union (EU) enable its minority
ethnic residents to perform to their full potential
in an equitable social environment, where no one
group has an advantage or disadvantage, by
providing an atmosphere that encourages and
enables all its members to draw on their talents,
skills and experience for the benefit of society?
To answer this question, this chapter surveys the
existing literature on European social policies,
providing an updated discussion on the European
social environment that non-White ethnic minorities
experience. The chapter discusses current trends
in different European states concerning the accept-
ance of this segment of the European population,
as well as theories of social inclusion and how they
link with initiatives currently being implemented by
the EU and national governments. It also highlights
the importance of anti-discrimination measures in
employment, which are rightly seen as key drivers
for social integration. And it aims to identify the
potential social exclusion of minority ethnic groups
and facilitate the development of appropriate and
effective policy interventions.
1. Background
Discussions with various academics, professionals
and different organisations in the UK handling Eu-
ropean race-related projects reveal that there is a
23
range of views and understanding concerning key
concepts of ethnic diversity and social inclusion.
Further debate and clarification of these concepts
is therefore needed to assist the general public
and employers to fully grasp the current European
environment as it relates to social exclusion and
ethnic diversity.
But how do we define an ‘ethnic group’? Broadly
speaking, whereas the notion of ‘race’ – mired as
it is in the historical attempt to order population
groups on the basis of skin colour and physiog-
nomy within a social hierarchy – refers to a group
of people of common ancestry with distinguishing
physical features, ‘ethnicity’ refers to a human
group with racial, religious, linguistic character-
istics, history and symbols in common. In other
words, it encompasses both the physical and the
cultural characteristics of a group.
Within any given nation, minority ethnic com-
munities may be indigenous or may have been
brought into being by the processes of migration.
They may be differentiated from the majority
population by skin colour and/or subscription to
noticeably different cultural, religious or value
norms. Most immigrants have been drawn to Eu-
rope for employment, to escape often desperate
living conditions in their home countries, or to flee
persecution or oppression. Indeed, many from an
earlier period of
Europe’s post-war history were deliberately re-
cruited in the project to restore Europe’s war-torn
industries.
2. The EU as a Multicultural Migrants from developing countries usually suffer
most from discrimination and social exclusion.
Environment
Some 15 to 17 million non-European citizens
from Third World countries suffer from the poor-
Europe is experiencing a gradual and wide-ranging est housing conditions, the worst paid jobs, the
transformation into multi-ethnicity, through internal highest unemployment rates and daily exposure
and external migrations into its territories, that to racism. In general, ethnic minorities in Europe
poses a challenge to the traditions of EU member have limited power and influence, whether politi-
states and their concepts of citizenship (Kundu cally, economically, or socially.
2003; Sanchez and Kepir-Sinangil 2003; Syfox
2000). The incursion of non-European immigrants 3. Social Quality in Europe
in the labour market is radically changing the de-
mographics of Europe’s workforce (Sanchez and Several authors measure the social environment
Kepir-Sinangil 2003). for ethnic minorities using the concept of ‘social
quality’. Beck et al. (1997) define ‘social quality’ as
the degree to which citizens are able to participate
On May 1, 2004, the EU saw the enlargement of its
in the social and economic life of their communities
15 member states to 25. In January 2007 Bulgaria
under conditions which enhance their well-being
and Romania joined the EU, bringing the number
and individual potential.
of EU member states to 27. Croatia, Macedonia
and Turkey are candidates for future membership.
In June 1997, the Amsterdam Declaration on So-
The current and future incorporation of Eastern
cial Quality of Europe was signed by a group of
European countries will accelerate an internal mi-
European social scientists. It focuses on respect
gration that will bring noticeable demographic and
for the fundamental human dignity of all EU citi-
cultural changes. At the moment, among Europe’s
zens and temporary residents. It aims to create a
most distinctive ethnic minorities are minorities of
European society that is economically successful
African descent (18 million); Muslim communities
and which promotes social justice and participation
(12.5 million); and the Roma (numbering some 7
for all European citizens and residents. According
to 9 million). These figures are, of course, very
to the European Foundation on Social Quality
approximate – in some European states statistics
(1997), social quality requires the following basic
may be scanty, or, for political/ideological/legal
conditions:
reasons, they are not collected. Hence, the data
was also drawn from organisations running EQUAL
• Security and protection from violence
projects in different European states. A number of
member states are also home to different minority • Decent housing, heating, clothing and food
ethnic groups related to their colonial histories. for all

24
 • Access to health care and other social serv-
ices
• The opportunity to conduct one’s personal life
in conformity with one’s preferences
• Sufficient employment for all
• An income for all workers that allows them to
fully participate in society
• A decent income for those who cannot work
due to ill health, age or other circumstances
• An equitable tax system
• The opportunity for all young, older and disa-
bled people, for minorities and immigrants to
fully integrate into the wider society and local
community
• The elimination of discrimination on the ba-
sis of nationality, age, gender, race, religion,
political or other beliefs, marital status, and
sexual orientation
• Life-long access to education and training
opportunities for all
• Access to social protection systems enabling
citizens to maintain their standard of living in
case of social contingencies.
Source: European Foundation on Social Quality, 1997
The social environment of ethnic minorities dis-
cussed in the next section and all EU social inclu-
sion policies discussed in this chapter are based
on the concept of ‘social quality’ and the basic
principles and indicators stated above.
25
4. The Social Environment for
Ethnic Minorities
A recent Eurobarometer survey commissioned by
the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and
Xenophobia - EUMC (Europa 2005) shows a
disturbing trend among EU citizens:
a) 2
1 per cent are ‘actively tolerant’ towards
minorities and migrants
b) 3
9 per cent consider themselves ‘passively
tolerant’ towards minorities and migrants
c) 2
5 per cent admit being ‘ambivalent’ to-
wards minorities and migrants
d) 14 per cent admit being frankly ‘intolerant’
towards minorities and migrants.
The high percentage (39 per cent) in the lower
part of the spectrum (‘c’ and ‘d’) is excessive and
disturbing. According to the European Monitoring
Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (Europa 2005),
there are large and persistent disadvantages for
migrants and minorities in the labour market. In
employment, minority ethnic individuals suffer from
lower wages, lower payments for overtime and har-
assment. They are also excluded from certain jobs,
particularly, in some countries, in the public sector.
The chances of White people being invited to a
job interview are three times greater than those
of Asian people and five times greater than for
those of African or African Caribbean backgrounds.
Discrimination against ethnic minorities was higher
in relation to occupations that involve face-to-face
contact with customers or clients. As a result, some
minority ethnic individuals who feel disadvantaged
when searching for employment may well adopt a
‘racism-avoiding’ strategy, which in turn severely
restricts the range of jobs available to them.
This situation of exclusion also translates to the
wider social scale. There is some concern that
Europe’s cities are developing visible ‘ghettos’
populated by minority ethnic communities cut off
from the mainstream of social and economic life.
Arriving minorities tend to cluster geographically
because destination communities provide them not
only with a zone of familiarity but also tangible, if
rudimentary, assistance and contacts. Those from
settled minority ethnic communities who undertake
internal migration tend to move for fairly pragmatic
reasons, mainly because of economic opportunities
in the minority ethnic business labour market.
The social and economic exclusion and isolation
of minority ethnic communities in Europe has
generated wide-ranging resentment among their
members. On occasion this has translated into
crime and violent social disturbances, as well as
opposition to, and alienation from, the majority’s
way of life (Atwood 2003).
At the same time, far Right parties are a signifi-
cant force across the EU, and there is evidence
to show that they have developed links and often
co-ordinate their activities. Needless to say, their
approach to migration issues is unrelentingly nega-
tive. Economic uncertainty and slowdown is an
important breeding ground for supporters of such
movements. As Netanyahu (1996) declares: ‘The
majority’s toleration of every minority lessens with
the worsening of the majority’s condition’.
26
The EUMC’s findings show that a substantial pro-
portion of the European populace is intolerant of
those with a different ethnicity. What ethnic minori-
ties in Europe have in common that unites them
is a general feeling of exclusion from mainstream
European society.
5. EU Policies for Social Inclusion
To understand ‘social inclusion’, it is necessary to
consider what is meant by ‘social exclusion’. Ab-
rahamson (1998) defines ‘social exclusion’ as the
condition of being marginalised from mainstream
society that some ethnic minorities endure. This
lack of belonging leaves members of minority
ethnic groups trapped in a kind of ‘social limbo’, a
liminal condition in which they no longer belong to
their country of origin and are not accepted in their
country of residence. Moreover, the mere fact of
being born in Europe and knowing no other home
does not, of itself, negate such marginalisation, as
many young minority ethnic people across Europe
would attest.
In order to tackle the problem of exclusion and
marginalisation, Europe has gradually developed
certain laws, institutions and policies to give dis-
advantaged minorities a voice in society, protect
them from social vulnerability and economic dis-
advantage, protect them from racial discrimination
in the labour market, and support their cultural
heritage.
Citizenship is an integral part of inclusion at both
the national policy level and at the level of individ-
ual experience (Weiler 1997), even in multicultural
societies (Baubock 1995). According to the law,
no EU citizen can be denied equal employment
opportunity because of ancestry, culture or lin-
guistic characteristics common to a specific ethnic
group. Nevertheless, Byrne (1997) has noted that
European social welfare systems have placed too
much importance on individual citizenship rights,
rather than on community rights, ignoring the fact
that non-citizens also form a substantial part of the
European population.
In 1992 the European Commission published the
second annual report of the EC Observatory on
Policies to Combat Social Exclusion. In 1995 the
Council of Europe published its report on social
exclusion; in 1996 the European Community held
a conference on ‘Public welfare services and
social exclusion’ which identified significant steps
in making public services a more effective instru-
ment for social cohesion at national and European
levels (Washington and Paylor 1998). The signing
of the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997 granted the
EU powers to take action against discrimination in
a number of areas, including race (as set out in
Article 13). In 2000, directives on racial equality
and on equality in employment were issued which
member states were required to incorporate into
their domestic law by 2003.
Europe-wide, the Fundamental Rights Agency
(formerly the European Monitoring Centre on Rac-
ism and Xenophobia, EUMC) and its information
network (RAXEN) exist to provide data on race and
racism that is comparable across member states,
and to identify best practice throughout the EU
27
(Europa 2005). Another institution, the European
Commission against Racism and Intolerance of the
Council of Europe (ECRI), specialises in combating
racism and racial discrimination.
The standard of the information collated by these
European institutions has generally been good, but
its impact has been limited by the lack of its dis-
semination. It is worth noting here that one crucial
feature for the creation of an evidence base that
can support action against racial discrimination is
ethnic monitoring. Such easily comparable statisti-
cal data can show where disparities of access to
the labour market, social facilities and benefits
exist between ethnic groups. Ethnic monitoring is
not widely accepted across all EU member states
and is unlawful in some, such as France.
In 1999, The Tampere European Council had set
a framework for closer co-operation at the EU
level in the fields of immigration and asylum, with
the integration of migrants as a major emphasis.
For this to be fully achieved, integration needs
to take place not only within the labour market,
but also within the social, political and cultural
spheres of society. Effective policies need to take
account of integration strategies for permanent
immigrants, their families, temporary migrant work-
ers, refugees and students as well as reception
measures for asylum seekers that can facilitate
future integration.
This framework aims to ensure successful integra-
tion through considering three key areas:
(a) Effective anti-discrimination measures to
remove barriers that may prevent migrants’ in-
tegration in any of the main spheres of society
described above
(b) The roles and responsibilities of the host socie-
ty, including the roles played by NGOs, the media,
unions, the general public and employers.
(c) The roles and responsibilities of migrants
themselves and the provision of services to enable
them to fulfil these (e.g., language class provision
to enable migrants to develop language skills).
However, there are also integration and discrimina-
tion issues concerning the nationals of other EU
member states, particularly since the accession of
new member states.
Hence, the European Commission has launched
campaigns to raise awareness and provide infor-
mation about anti-discrimination measures with
reference to employment in all the areas cov-
ered by the directives. The EQUAL programme,
funded by the European Social Fund (ESF), aims
to increase the employability of ethnic minority
individuals through encouraging and supporting
innovation and sharing solutions and best practice
between member states. It operates in a number
of areas including race (Europa, 2005). These EU
strategies also take minority-led businesses into
consideration.
Although, as seen in this section, the EU is at the
forefront of a number of positive initiatives towards
social integration in various areas, the European
Commission still needs to harmonise criminal law
against racial discrimination in member states
28
and facilitate judicial co-operation over this. And
although much work is being done on social in-
clusion, the problem of racism in the European
Union goes far deeper than existing data might
suggest. For example, minority ethnic individuals
in the EU are often afraid to report racist attacks to
the authorities, and only a limited number of such
incidents are officially recorded. There is no doubt
that the reporting and recording of incidents of ra-
cial discrimination and racial violence will become
more accurate once effective legislation, reporting
methods and independent bodies to tackle racism
are introduced in all EU countries. The authorities
must also ensure that such designated bodies are
genuinely independent and have the powers to
deal appropriately with racism and discrimination,
so as to win the trust of the victims and make the
reporting of racist incidents more effective.
Europe is currently faced with some very real
challenges in the areas of cultural diversity and
social integration, challenges that need creative
handling and that cannot be addressed solely by
passing new laws. Therefore, it is necessary to
evaluate and contemplate new approaches to the
increasingly complicated and difficult questions
of citizenship and integration. EU policy makers
need to consider: (a) making all major European
policies subject to a social cohesion impact study;
(b) creating uniform statistics on social aspects of
the EU as a whole; (c) drafting clear measurable
benchmarks for social objectives; (d) engaging
policy makers, scientists, educators at all levels
and citizens in the promotion of social equality.
6. Approaches to Cultural
Integration in Europe
This section comments on four main approaches to
cultural integration in Europe, that of assimilation;
that of multiculturalism; a combination of the two;
and monoculturalism as favoured by the extreme
Right and separatist movements.
a) Assimilationism proposes an amalgamation
process, in which people of different ethnicities
are to be assimilated into a common national
culture; they are to be absorbed into the ways of
the host country. Under assimilation, controlled
amounts of immigration, enough to benefit society
and economic growth, but not so much as to alter
it, are allowable.
b) Multiculturalism views each culture or subculture
in a society as contributing something unique and
valuable to the whole. The valuing and retention
of minority groups’ distinctive cultural patterns and
ways of life, where these are not in conflict with the
fundamental rule of law or rights and freedoms of
others, is seen as a characteristic of a democratic
and free society. This more tolerant approach sug-
gests that different ethnic groups can retain their
cultural patterns and co-exist with each other in
a kind of ‘cultural mosaic’ style of society. This is
something that we can see, at least as an ideal if
not always fully practised, in Canada, USA, Aus-
tralia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Such
an approach can also shade into a more overt
concern with preserving and defending the distinc-
tions between cultures. This approach is clearly at
odds with some government programmes aimed
29
at fully assimilating minority communities into the
mainstream culture of the host country. The issue
of ‘integration’ in practice can verge on assimila-
tion, if the regard for cultural distinctiveness with
equality, is not fully respected.
c) Under a combination of assimilationism and
multiculturalism, minorities are not expected to
abandon their culture and traditions to achieve the
goal of assimilationist host countries, as long as
the new citizens put the interests of the host nation
first and their nation of origin second.
(d) Monoculturalism typifies those whose aim is to
define the nation as an indivisible, homogenous
and monoethnic entity. It is mostly espoused by
separatist and extreme or far Right movements.
Nations that conceive of themselves as monocul-
tural do not recognise the existence of other ethnic
groups within their territories.
The efforts to manage social inclusion in Europe
are directly linked to these contradictory pressures,
as well as the need to reinvent European social
identity in times that are changing rapidly and
significantly under the processes and pressures
of globalisation (Ward 1997). The increasing in-
tensification of globalisation and the permeability
of borders that it engenders directly challenge
the commonly accepted stereotype of Europe as
ethnically homogeneous and culturally bounded.
It is this that is shaping the debate between the
advocates of multicultural and anti-racist policies
and those who defend policies born of racial ex-
clusion and cultural assimilation. Assimilationists
in Europe hold that multiculturalism destroys the
fabric of society through ethnic division and the
economic burden of policies for social inclusion.
The challenge is to develop policies for democrati-
cally managing linguistic and cultural diversity, as
well as tackling racial discrimination and preju-
dice. But it is a challenge that, if surmounted, will
strengthen significantly the fabric of European
democracy and social justice – to the benefit, not
only of Europe’s minority ethnic communities but to
the wider European publics. And there is a tradition
to draw on in this respect. It is necessary to stress
that many Europeans are opposed to racism and
actively contest efforts to incite hatred and violence
towards minority ethnic communities.
The cultural integration approaches discussed in
this section, which are employed by different EU
member states, clearly influence impact on the
human resource diversity initiatives undertaken
and practised in business, and the subsequent
employability of minority ethnic individuals in the
European labour force.
7. Approaches to Social Inclusion
in the Workplace
This is an appropriate time for the European Com-
mission to adopt a new strategy on ‘corporate
social responsibility’, whereby companies inte-
grate social and environmental concerns in their
business operations and in their interaction with
stakeholders. Rather than focusing solely on short-
term profits, the Commission argues that, in the
modern global economy, the ‘double bottom line’
has to include a company’s social performance as
30
part of its image and hence long-term success.
The Commission, then, encourages businesses
to assess their performance not on profit margins
alone but also on the welfare of their workforces.
As it was already stated, extensive EU attention
has been paid to equality and anti-discrimination
measures in employment. Such employment is
being deemed the key component in the well-being
of minority ethnic individuals in Europe, and their
consequent integration into society.
There is a considerable literature covering employ-
ment discrimination, equal rights in employment
and racism within society (Brown and Gay 1985;
Jenkins 2004; Jenkins and Solomos 1987; Lust-
garten 1986; Shoobridge 2006), which concludes
that racism is an institutionalised element of daily
life for minority ethnic groups.
7.1 Diversity Management and Equal
Opportunities
The ‘diversity management’ approach to an ethni-
cally mixed workforce, along with other theories
aimed at dealing with this issue, is based on the
multicultural approach to social inclusion. Various
researchers in the field, such as Richard (2000)
and Hartenian and Gudmundson (2000), cor-
roborate the fact that a multicultural approach in
the workplace has a positive impact on business
performance; thus, all European organisations
that create an inclusive work environment valuing
and respecting difference will benefit. ‘Diversity
management’ is about encouraging and enabling
all employees to draw on their talents, skills and
experience for the benefit of the business. Diversity
management regards human differences in the
workplace as contributing to the success of the
business by optimising the ability and willingness
of all employees to contribute to that success.
EU initiatives have used the concept of ‘equal
opportunities’ as a starting point for strategies of
social inclusion. Policy makers believe that once
minority ethnic individuals are fully participating
members of an organisation and able to demon-
strate their capabilities, the old negative attitudes
to ethnic difference, on which discrimination
against particular social groups is based, should
gradually change. Nevertheless, according to
Torrington and Holden (1992), this assumption is
not born out in real life. Creating and maintaining
a diverse workforce demands more than simply
by-passing the gatekeepers to employment op-
portunity. Rather, policy makers need to transfer
the principles of ‘social quality’ to the workplace, by
ensuring that organisations develop the capacity
to create and maintain an environment that em-
powers employees, an atmosphere in which each
person is respected in their own terms, and where
all employees can contribute and be rewarded for
their results and performance rather than treated
according to preconceptions about their ethnic
status. In this respect, The UK’s Commission for
Racial Equality (now replaced by the Equality and
Human Rights Commission) has published a new
statutory code of practice which sets out employ-
ers’ legal obligations under the Race Relations
Acts and provides recommendations and guidance
on how to avoid unlawful racial discrimination and
harassment at work.
31
7.2 Benefits of a Diverse Workplace
There is considerable, and remarkably consistent,
published information that offers an explanation
for the primary business drivers for diversity (Salo-
mon and Schork 2003). Basically, European firms
need to respond to competition, labour shortage,
changing demographics and changing workforce
values in the current business environment (Kundu
2003). From a global perspective, there are some
additional arguments for European firms to move
towards a more ethnically diverse organisation/
workforce:
(a) European companies must be prepared to
market effectively to a broad global customer
base (Salomon and Schork 2003). As globalisation
gathers pace, diversity will help organisations to
compete more effectively in the international arena
(Cascio 1998). Organisations with a diverse work-
force can provide good services because they can
better understand diversified market segments and
specific customers’ needs/niche markets (Fleury
1999; Mueller 1998; Salomon and Schork 2003;
Wentling and Palma-Rivas 2000).
(b) Diversity enhances creativity and innovation
(Adler 1997; Jackson et al. 1992; Salomon and
Schork 2003). In this, it produces competitive
advantages (Coleman 2002; Jackson et al. 1992).
Diverse teams make it possible to enhance flex-
ibility (Fleury 1999) and a rapid response and swift
adaptation to global change (Adler 1997; Jackson
et al. 1992). The ideas generated by ethnically
diverse workforces were judged to be of higher
quality than the ideas produced by homogeneous
groups.
(c) As all the segments of the European public
have a stake in the development and prosperity
of society as a whole, creating and managing a
diverse workforce should be seen as a social and
moral imperative (Mueller 1998). As international
customers recognise the value of diversity in their
workforces, they are demanding to see it in those
of their European suppliers. Customers want to
hear about diversity programmes, and they want
to interface with teams that are diverse (Salomon
and Schork 2003).
(d) As European economies shift from manufac-
turing to service economies, diversity issues will
gain in importance. In a service economy, effective
interactions and communications between people
are, first and foremost, essential to business suc-
cess (Wentling and Palma-Rivas 2000).
(e) The ability to attract, retain and motivate talent
from all over the world is critical to business suc-
cess. European organisations that aspire to recruit
the best and brightest employees cannot afford to
ignore any portion of the talent pool. Organisations
that restrict themselves to selected talent pools
and ethnicities are forced to recruit deeper into
such pools, and lower talent levels (Jackson et al.
1992; Salomon and Schork 2003).
7.3 Arguments against Diversity in the
Workplace
Efforts to implement diversity still encounter some
resistance. Stockdale and Standing (2004) believe
that diversity impairs organisational effectiveness.
32
Thomas (1999) found that culturally homogene-
ous groups performed better than culturally het-
erogeneous groups. Williams and O’Reilly (1998)
conclude that mismanaged diversity initiatives can
negatively affect both processes and outcomes. In
terms of human resource strategy, homogeneity
appears more suitable for cost-reduction systems
(Arthur 1994). Richard (2000) noted that diverse
workforces in firms not pursuing growth strategies
can represent additional costs to the firm. These
researchers and others have suggested that dif-
fering values across subgroups in a firm can slow
down organisational processes and procedures,
ultimately affecting a firm’s performance.
Because of these mixed findings, further research
is needed to explore the relationship between di-
versity, group process gains/losses, and business
performance. Given, however, the EU’s fundamen-
tal commitment to the betterment of the lives of all
its citizens – and given that the populations of EU
nations are, whatever the image that is promoted,
already extremely mixed and that this is no recent
phenomenon but has a long historical pedigree,
policy makers in Europe are duty-bound to take a
pro-diversity stance and concentrate on maximis-
ing the positive benefits from these mixed findings.
Let us not forget that ‘diversity management’ sup-
ports the view that ‘if managed well’ diversity will
improve organisational effectiveness (Saji 2004).
What is required are EU policies to educate and
sensitise business decision makers concerning
issues related to organisational diversity.
In the last three decades, European schemes
for promoting the employment of ethnic minori-
ties have focused on training and on improving
the job skills of participants through a variety of
guidance activities. These initiatives have mainly
concentrated on minority ethnic employees and
how to make them more valuable to employers by
improving their skills base. But this issue can also
be approached from a different perspective, by
advising EU policy makers to concentrate on the
‘demand’ side of the problem, through demonstrat-
ing to employers the important contribution ethnic
minorities make to European businesses, and
showing how their diverse cultural backgrounds
have an enriching impact on business perform-
ance. By demonstrating these benefits, the case
for European firms to employ minority ethnic work-
ers will be strengthened.
8. Considerations for Further
Research
Further research on the concept of ‘social quality’
could well inform such policy decisions. Any such
research, however, should adopt an environmen-
tal scanning approach, which involves analysing
social, economic, political (regulatory), and de-
mographic trends, so as to anticipate sources of
threats and opportunities to the European social
environment (Wright and Snell 1991).
Such research could, for example, focus on politi-
cal factors linked to legislation. And it should ideally
involve a dynamic approach concentrated on the
combination of various indicators of social quality:
the different cultural integration approaches, poli-
cies for social inclusion, immigration and human
resource practices (Diversity Management and
Equal Opportunities in the workplace) and their
33
links with the ‘social quality’ of life for minority
ethnic communities in Europe. Hence, it would,
for example, be appropriate to measure ‘social
quality’ by linking human resource management
strategies (diversity management and equal op-
portunities) to quantitative social quality indicators
at a national level. Other key indicators of social
inclusion / exclusion linked to legislation and the
social macro-environment should also be taken
into account.
Moreover, in order to provide a comparative
framework between EU member states; subjec-
tive social indicators should be avoided when
possible, since any such subjectivity could reduce
the significance of the research results by making
cross-comparisons too difficult at the Europe-wide
level. To facilitate such comparisons, any research
would need to concentrate on social indicators at
the member state level, since indicators at a com-
munity level are too subjective in nature (Berman
and Phillips 2000). Given the need to garner basic
information in the first instance, measures of a
mostly objective nature should be employed to
compare data between the different social realities
of different Member States. Bearing this in mind,
propositions that could be usefully explored are:
• The degree of ‘social quality’ is influenced
by specific political factors
Factors to be taken into account here would
include the integration model adopted by each
member state; legislation on immigration; policies
of social inclusion; employment practices in the
public and private sectors. How far are concepts
of ‘diversity management’ and ‘equal opportunities’
implemented in the labour market? How far is a
national policy aimed at the promotion of multicul-
turalism directly related to diversity-oriented human
resource practices, and proactive programmes to
educate the general public about social diversity?
What are the indicators of the extent of racial
discrimination in the workplace? To what extent
does a state-sponsored policy of multiculturalism
affect employment legislation?
• The degree of ‘social quality’ is influenced
by specific economic indicators
All the factors listed above need to be analysed in
the context of the macro-environment, the econ-
omy as a whole. Economic indicators will have a
direct bearing on ‘social quality’ and should help
account for some of the behaviour and attitudes
of the majority population towards minority ethnic
groups.
• The degree of ‘social quality’ is influenced
by specific demographic indicators
‘Social quality’ is also directly related to the size
of the minority ethnic population, the number of
different ethnic groups, and their distribution within
the member state. The larger the proportion of a
uniform and evenly distributed minority ethnic com-
munity within an EU member state, the higher the
‘social quality’ indicators.
• The degree of ‘social quality’ is influenced
by specific social indicators
Such indicators could include, e.g., racial violence
and harassment; interethnic conflict and violence;
the presence and active influence of far-Right and
34
racist movements; the visibility of social problems
linked to minority ethnic communities.
9. Conclusion
This article has discussed the European social
environment and those factors affecting the well-
being of ethnic minorities, focusing mainly on
indicators of social inclusion and exclusion. Exten-
sive review of the existing literature illustrates that
European societies are still, to varying degrees,
class-based and that they suffer from multi-racist
tendencies - those that are relatively class equal,
as well as those in which class is still a powerful
social factor. The question for the EU is how to
enable its minority ethnic residents to perform to
their full potential in an equitable social environ-
ment that encourages and enables all its members
to draw on their talents, skills, and experience for
the benefit of society, when:
(a) European racist movements targeting minority
ethnic groups are supported by a significant sector
of the majority population
(b) minority ethnic groups are noticeably excluded
from mainstream employment
(c) noticeable income and economic inequalities
exist between majority and minority groups;
(d) the contribution of minority ethnic groups to
society is often overlooked and ignored;
(e) minority ethnic traditions, beliefs and culture
are not respected by the majority of social groups
in the EU.
In terms of social inclusion, employment is crucial,
with attention needing to be paid to the role of the
employer and not just the potential employee. Edu-
cation is also key – for the public, for policy-makers
and for business managers - on the importance
and value to social and business well-being of di-
versity. Any assessment of social quality in Europe
for minority ethnic communities needs to take a
holistic approach, analysing the impact of political,
social, economic and demographic indicators.
35
The European Union, it is worth repeating, with
its enormous diversity of minority ethnic popula-
tions is already a multicultural entity. Europe must
necessarily be multicultural, or it cannot exist. It is
perhaps more correct to say that the European
Union is still in the process of fashioning itself, and
part of this self-fashioning must include not just the
acceptance and protection of Europe’s various
minority ethnic communities but the deep-seated
realisation that they are as much part of Europe’s
lifeblood as any other population.
Chapter 2
1. Context.......................................................................................................35
1.1 Populations of Foreign Origin since 1999...............................................35
1.2 Current Immigration Policy......................................................................36
1.3 Immigration and Integration Law: towards Selective Immigration?........36
1.4 The Origin of the Fight against Discrimination in France.......................36
1.5 Transposing EU Directives into French Law...........................................37

2. Discrimination.............................................................................................37

3. Components of the System......................................................................39

3.1 The Position of Companies.....................................................................39
3.2 The Position of the State.........................................................................40
3.3 Training for Public and Private Sectors...................................................40
3.4 Efforts to Influence Regional Bodies.......................................................41

4. The Poitou – Charentes Region: the Town of Châtellerault ....................41

4.1 Châtellerault’s Commitment to anti-Discrimination..................................41
4.2 The Impact of Unemployment in Poitou–Charentes...............................41
4.3 ‘Unemployed People Who Have Never Worked’ by Nationality.............42
4.4 Job Insecurity...........................................................................................43
4.5 Châtellerault and its Immigrants . ...........................................................43
4.6 The anti-Discrimination Project PIC EQUAL ACCEES Europe:
‘Act in Châtellerault against Exclusion and for Socio-professional
Equality’....................................................................................................44

5. Conclusion.................................................................................................44

36
France
Ethnic and Racial Discrimination in the French Job Market and
the Development of Anti-Discrimination Policies: The Poitou
– Charentes Region and the Commitment of the Châtellerault
Community
1. Context
1.1 Populations of Foreign Origin since 1999
In France, ‘foreigners’ and ‘immigrants’ are two
different concepts. Immigrants are not necessarily
foreigners and foreigners are not always immi-
grants. Foreigners do not hold French nationality.
Immigrants are persons who moved to France
from another country, but in some instances they
became French citizens through naturalization
process. And foreigners are not necessarily im-
migrants as they can be people who were born in
France from foreign parents.
According to the INSEE (National Institute for Sta-
tistics and Economic Studies), under globalisation
the nature of immigration is changing. European
immigrants have been increasingly replaced by
people from the African and Asian continents.
Among the 3.2 million foreign residents in France,
almost two-thirds (2.06 million) are of non-Europe-
an origin, mainly from countries with colonial or his-
torical ties to France. North African, sub-Saharan
African and Southeast Asian as well as Turkish
nationals have become more numerous.
Within the immigrant population, a decline in EU
nationals may be noted. There are 1.3 million im-
migrants from North Africa (the Maghreb)3 which
3
North African region encompassing Morocco, Algeria,
Tunisia, Mauritania and Libya. In Arabic, it translates to
where the sun sets, meaning the western Arab world,
but as a place it refers to Kingdom of Morocco (Western
Sahara Online 2007).
37
is 6 per cent more than in 1990. Three-quarters of
that increase is due to immigration from Morocco.
The sub-Saharan African presence has increased
by 43 per cent compared with 1990. Sub-Saharan
Africans number some 400,000 people. The num-
bers of immigrants from the rest of the world has
also gone up from 850,000 in 1990 to 1.1 million
by 1999.
According to data collected by the INSEE in 2004,
the percentage of immigrants in the total popula-
tion has increased slightly, with women now being
in the majority of the immigrant population (50.3
per cent). And the percentage of adult immigrants
who have acquired French nationality has gone up
to 41 per cent, compared to 37 per cent in 1999.
As to the geographic origin of immigrants, the
preliminary findings of this study generally confirm
the trends already noted: the declining presence of
nationals from the then 15 EU countries, a large
increase in Eastern Europeans, a moderate rise
in the numbers of Asians and a large increase in
the African population (a rise by 15 per cent for
North Africans and by 39 per cent for sub-Saharan
Africans).
1.2 Current Immigration Policy
The framework legislation of 1945 is still the le-
gal basis for immigration policy, even though the
conditions of entry and residence for foreigners
have undergone several modifications, sometimes
becoming stricter, sometimes more lenient. Today
the regulatory framework is complex, defined not
only by French legislation but also by international
texts. The Treaty of Amsterdam has established
the European Community’s authority in terms of
immigration and asylum. However, pending coordi-
nation of policies at the European level, questions
of immigration and asylum have remained largely
a national issue.
In spite of two major programmes to regularise the
legal status of immigrants in 1981 and 1997-98,
the struggle against undocumented or ‘illegal’ im-
migration still remains a political priority.
1.3 Immigration and Integration Law:
towards Selective Immigration?
The law of 26 November 2003 on immigration,
nationality and foreign residents in France was
primarily designed to reduce illegal immigration.
The aim of the 24 July 2006 law on immigration
and integration was to manage both the quantita-
tive and qualitative aspects of migration, so that
France could move ‘from being subjected to im-
migration to choosing its immigrants’ – a so-called
‘selective immigration’.
The law now restricts family reunification, the main
source of the immigration that the country was
‘subjected to’, and also monitors mixed marriages
more closely. Obtaining a ‘salaried’ residence per-
mit now depends on having an employment con-
tract and prior possession of a long-term visa.
In order to move to a ‘selective immigration’, provi-
sion is made for the selection of workers, and ‘lists
38
of critical sectors in which employers may call on
foreign labour’ have been instituted. In addition,
a (renewable) card of ‘skills and talents’ valid for
three years has been introduced to facilitate the
immigration of those ‘whose talent represents
an asset to the development and influence of
France’.
France has reaffirmed its commitment to integra-
tion into the French society by requesting each
newly-arrived foreigner to sign a Reception and
Integration Contract (CAI)4.
1.4 The Origin of the Fight against
Discrimination in France
Before examining anti-discrimination measures, we
need to establish whether this is a modern devel-
opment in the struggle against social inequality and
racial discrimination, or if it is situated in the con-
text of the ‘republican model’ for the integration of
migrants. In effect, the fight against discrimination
is based on the following premises: the ‘visibility’
of populations who are descendants of immigrants
-‘issued from immigration’ in the French terminol-
ogy; the observation that unfavourable treatment
due to national origin happens, in spite of formal
commitments to equality; and the necessity of not
putting the responsibility for this on the victim, but
4
Reception and Integration Contract (CAI) offers newly
arrived immigrants in France civic and language training
courses if the migrant undertakes to respect the values of
the Republic and to attend the courses offered (France
Diplomatie 2005).
on the system. The system is the combination of
decision-makers and processes, public institutions,
companies and their day-to-day operations, laws
and judicial and criminal processes. This system
has proven itself incapable of guaranteeing impar-
tiality towards its users, even though that is one
of its most fundamental principles.
Anti-discrimination policy has not replaced integra-
tion policy, nor is that its goal.
1.5 Transposing EU Directives into
French Law
European Directives 2000/43 on race and 2000/78
on employment were brought in France in the law
of 16 November 2001 (number 2001–1066) which
modifies article 122–45 of the Labour Code. The
law introduces the concepts of both direct and
indirect discrimination and the readjustment of
the Burden of the proof between the victim and
the company. The application of the labour direc-
tive goes further than required, by introducing the
concept of ‘real or imagined membership in an
ethnic group, a nation, or a race’ into the criminal
code - discrimination is thus a criminal offence in
France. It should be noted that by using the ter-
minology ‘real or imagined membership’, French
legislation protects itself against the accusation
that it has recognised the existence of the concept
of ‘race’.
However, the shared responsibility for proof can
only apply to civil jurisdiction (trials for discrimina-
tion based on article 122-45 cited above), not to
39
criminal jurisdiction, where the presumption of in-
nocence is the rule and where the judicial process
(and not the participants) must establish the facts
and also the intentional guilt of the accused.
Victims of discrimination (or those who believe
themselves to be so) may, however, go before
either a criminal or civil court. Until recently, the
judicial practice in France was that most cases of
discrimination were tried in criminal courts. This re-
sulted in an insignificant number of convictions be-
cause of failure to prove intention, which, it should
be remembered, is often genuinely absent.
However, the Conseil des Prud’hommes (industrial
tribunal) would be a much more powerful instru-
ment. There are many people, even within com-
panies, who would welcome more effective judicial
action that would eliminate the sense of impunity
that surrounds discriminatory practices in hiring.
2. Discrimination
We define discrimination as any treatment, based
on criteria such as ethnicity or religious affiliation
that are not relevant to the matter under consid-
eration, which distinguishes or excludes particular
individuals. Consistent statistical data, testimony
from a large number of studies, and reports from
experts are unanimous in their affirmation of the
existence and seriousness of discrimination in
employment. The rates of unemployment among
different populations appear to be very similar
between non-EU foreigners, immigrants, and natu-
ralised French citizens: 2 to 3 times higher than
those of native-born French citizens and foreigners
from the EU.
The 1999 Employment Survey by INSEE showed
differences in the general rates of unemployment
based on the level of education and socio-profes-
sional categories: the higher the level of educa-
tion, the greater the difference in unemployment
rates.
Another revealing source is the Echantillon Démo-
graphique Permanent (Continuous Demographic
Sample) which Cédiey (2002) used to illustrate in
addition to the rate of unemployment, the compara-
tive levels of disadvantage in employment , ac-
cording to gender, level of education and parental
origin, associated with three categories: ‘native-
born French parent’, ‘North African origin’ and the
sub-division ‘Algerian origin’ (see Figure 1).
Figure 1 Employment rate for holders of a degree in
higher education. Source: Cédiey, E., 2002
40
He concluded that, among university graduates,
the level of employment in management positions
or liberal professions is 46 per cent for the sons
of native-born French citizens, 25 per cent for the
sons of North African parents, and barely 11 per
cent for the sons of Algerian parents.
In 2007, the International Labour office (ILO)
published the results of a survey, carried out in
conjunction with DARES (Direction de l’Animation
de la Recherche, des Etudes et des Statistiques)
using testing to examine discrimination in employ-
ment. The aim was to deepen the understanding of
discrimination in the labour market, so as to assist
the government and its social partners in imple-
menting effective solutions. Each job offer tested
received two applications: first from two young
French women and then two young French men
aged between 20 and 25. Each candidate had been
educated in France to a similar level and had similar
work experience. Their overall appearance, pres-
entation and levels of expression were also similar.
However, one of the two candidates had name typi-
cal of a family of long-standing Metropolitan French
origin and the other’s evoked an African origin. The
results showed that the employers clearly discrimi-
nated against candidates from an ethnic minority
(sub-Saharan African or North African origin). Some
2,440 tests were carried out. Only 11 per cent of
employers respected equal opportunities during
the whole recruitment process, either by offering
the applicants a trial period or a job, or by refus-
ing both candidates after having met them. When
employers chose between the two candidates,
4 times out of 5, they favoured the non-minority
candidate. All candidates of minority origin faced
strong discrimination, whether they were male or
female and of North African or sub-Saharan African
origin. The most serious differences in treatment
affected men and women of sub-Saharan origin
who were rejected in 4 cases out of 5 for the met-
ropolitan French candidate. In the cases of those
of North African origin, the non-minority candidate
was chosen 3 times out of 4 among the men and
2 times out of 3 among the women.
Yet despite substantial proof of the existence and
seriousness of discrimination in employment from
numerous studies, there is still a major recurring
problem: How do we count the victims? The fact
that it is forbidden in France to keep public sta-
tistics on ‘race’, ‘origin’, ‘ethnicity’, ‘nationality of
parents or forebears’ makes it difficult to evaluate
the number of victims. But this does not make
it impossible to begin to tackle discrimination.
Nonetheless, judicial action on discrimination has
had modest results.
3. Components of the System
3.1 The Position of Companies
There is a very widespread problem of discrimina-
tion in companies, especially in the service sector
and sales. Resistance appears along the whole
chain of hierarchy, where discrimination, when it is
recognised, is justified by three arguments: ‘client
risk’, ‘personnel risk’ and ‘image risk’.
Three types of measures may be suggested as
effective to counter discrimination, provided that
company management is committed to them:
41
1 – raising awareness and training company
personnel.
This has to be implemented at all levels of the
company hierarchy, starting at the top to give it
more weight, carrying through all the sensitive
management positions, and spreading across the
base for real ‘diversity management’.
2 – reform of hiring procedures.
In an advanced economy, even if ethical consid-
erations based on the principle of equality are set
aside, recruiting has to be carried out according to
criteria of qualifications and motivation. An objec-
tive and rigorous procedure must aim to neutralise
all forms of discrimination and take into considera-
tion only those qualifications which correspond to
the needs of the company.
3 – pre-recruitment measures to link companies
and groups suffering discrimination.
Discrimination often begins with work placement
(internship), a transitional period between school
and the world of work. (The data is similar in show-
ing discrimination in the ‘dispositifs de formation
en alternance’ schemes, where periods of training
and work alternate. Young foreigners are under-
represented in these schemes which are likely to
lead to permanent employment (Viprey 2004). One
way to address this would be the introduction of
‘work placement contracts of confidence’ between
the company and the school, which would then
choose the placement students. Finally, companies
themselves could have a role to play in making
themselves and potential opportunities they offer
known to young people in disadvantaged suburbs.
Promotion of the company’s image could empha-
sise the themes of diversity and multiculturalism.
These changes are already happening. The first
independent and spontaneous private sector com-
mitment in the fight against discrimination was the
Charte de la Diversité (Diversity Charter)5.
3.2 The Position of the State
The equal opportunity law of 30 March 2006 re-
places the Action and Support Fund for Integration
and the Fight against Discrimination (FASILD)
with the National Agency for Social Cohesion and
Equal Opportunity (L’ACSE). Its mission includes
both countering discrimination and supporting
the integration of immigrant populations. The
Agency’s main purpose is to support those who
face difficulties in social or professional spheres.
Its aims are:
• the integration of immigrant populations and
the descendants of immigrants
• the fight against discrimination
• the fight against illiteracy.
HALDE, created by the law of 30 December 2004,
is the only independent administrative body entirely
devoted to the fight against discrimination. Its
5
Diversity Charter is a voluntary agreement drawn up
by the employers’ think tank, the Montaigne institute,
headed by Axa chairman Claude Bébéar, the author of a
government-backed report titled ‘Business reflecting the
colours of France’. It provides a framework to encourage
companies to reflect the different components of French
society and to make diversity and anti-discrimination a
development priority (Gaz de France 2007 and BBC
2005).
42
objectives are to identify discriminatory practices,
to combat them and to find concrete solutions to
the problems they pose (HALDE 2005). HALDE
responds to complaints, informs people of their
rights, and helps them uncover proof of discrimi-
nation. It may tackle any discriminatory practice
of which it becomes aware. It contacts public
authorities and cooperates with all those working
against discrimination.
3.3 Training for Public and Private
Sectors
In both content and form, the comments on recruit-
ment and training valid for companies also apply to
the public service. Particular attention must be paid
to the Service Public de l’Emploi (SPE), the public
employment agency which is also responsible for
carrying out anti-discrimination policies. In France
the main public services, which are part of the
SPE, are the Agence National Pour l’Emploi and its
local offices, the Missions Locales. There are also
many private agencies for temporary staff.
When a company does its own recruiting, the
existence of discrimination in the recruiting proc-
ess may be difficult to identify. However, when
an employment service is involved, the process
becomes more overt. Any public or private body
which acts as an intermediary may be a channel
for discriminatory practices and so contribute to
social inequality.
Specific training programmes have been imple-
mented by the SPE within the framework of the
EQUAL ESPERE project, while the temporary work
agencies ADECCO and ADIA have worked against
discrimination in the EQUAL LATITUDE project.
In addition to the public training programmes, it is
to be hoped that the state will invest in a real cam-
paign against discrimination, on a par with those
waged against road accidents or smoking.
3.4 Efforts to Influence Regional Bodies
The public service sector has chosen to concen-
trate on the local level in tackling discrimination.
The state can thus involve local authorities through
the local employment services (Missions Locales,
Maisons de l’Emploi, Plan Locaux d’Insertion
dans l’Emploi) and city employment agreements
(Contrats de Ville or Contrats Urbains de Cohésion
Sociale) which are ratified by the state. Indeed,
the most appropriate level at which to contact
public and private decision-makers is often at a
lower echelon than that of the departement. This
approach can be particularly effective in mobilising
small and medium-sized businesses and in win-
ning over influential public and private figures.
4. The Poitou-Charentes Region:
the Town of Châtellerault
4.1 Châtellerault’s Commitment to anti-
Discrimination
Châtellerault’s commitment does not arise either
from a particularly volatile situation in relation to
43
the integration of immigrants nor from flagrant
discrimination. The image that the region projects
is, in fact, more likely to mask any such problems,
as indicated in comments recorded by Viteau and
Willem in a recent study: ‘There are not enough
foreigners in the region for the problem to be
overwhelming’, and ‘we have a real tradition of in-
tegration’ (Viteau and Willem 2005). The exemplary
nature of the wide-reaching and energetic anti-
discrimination campaign being waged in the region
can be attributed to the mobilisation since 2001
of public services, local and regional authorities,
neighbourhood associations, training and socio-
professional integration organisations and, finally,
a core group of companies in the area involved
in two anti-discrimination projects: ESPERE and
ACCEES Europe.
4.2 The Impact of Unemployment in
Poitou-Charentes
According to the 1999 census, unemployment is
greater among foreigners and immigrants than in
the total working population of Poitou-Charentes.
More than 23 per cent of foreign men and almost
32 per cent of foreign women in the labour market
are unemployed. Among the immigrant population,
approximately 21 per cent of immigrant men and
29 per cent of immigrant women are unemployed.
However, for the total working population of the
region, the rate of unemployment stands at 10 per
cent for men and at
 where 42 per cent of foreigners living in ZUS areas
and able to work are unemployed, compared to
35 per cent in France as a whole. These are the
numbers which show that, in the region generally,
there is much to be done.

4.3 Unemployed People who Have Never

Worked’ by Nationality

By definition, people who have never worked will

be, for the most part, young people.

Figure 2 Unemployment in the Poitou – Charentes

region. Source: INSEE/FASILD, 2003

16 per cent for women (see Figure 2). Once again,

it is Africans as a whole who are most likely to find
themselves without work.

However, there is an important gap between Afri-

can men, 29 per cent of whom are unemployed,
and African women, for whom the rate reaches
48 per cent. The highest male unemployment
rate is among Algerian nationals, with 1 in 3 of
the active population out of work, whereas the
women most affected are Tunisian, 3 out of 5 be-
ing unemployed.
Although the proportion of foreigners in the region
living in a ZUS (Zone Urbaine Sensible-urban area
with special problems) area is lower than in the rest
of continental France, they are much more subject
to unemployment. In the Poitou-Charentes region,
Figure 3 Unemployed people who have never worked.
Source: INSEE, 1999
Analysing this category by nationality is a useful
tool for approaching the difficulties, linked to the
question of ethnic origin, of getting a first job. Al-
though in overall terms, unemployed people who
have never worked represent a small proportion
of the total economically active population, it is

44
important to underline the disparities between dif-
ferent nationalities:
• the rate of young, native-born French people
who have never worked stands at about 0.5
per cent
• for young people who have acquired French
nationality, it stands at 1.1 per cent
• for nationals of third party countries, the rate
is almost 8 times higher (4.3 per cent) than
the average
• in the latter group, young Algerians and
Tunisians who have never worked are the
most over-represented, at 6 per cent of
the former and 6.3 per cent of the latter (see
Figure 3).
Hence, the conclusion is that the nationality of
young people in the region has a great influence
on their chances of finding work, thus raising ques-
tions about the principle of equal treatment. It is
much more difficult for a young person of foreign
origin to find employment in the Poitou-Charentes
region than it is for other young people.
4.4 Job Insecurity
In general, immigrants are more likely to be in
temporary employment than workers as a whole,
and women are more likely than men (20 per cent)
to suffer from job insecurity:
• 30 per cent of female immigrants compared
to 18 per cent of the total female regional
working population
45
• 20 per cent of male immigrants compared to
16 per cent for the total male regional work-
ing population.
Job insecurity makes any attempt in getting social
advancement or career progression extremely
difficult for immigrants, especially for immigrant
women, of who 1 in 3 does not have secure em-
ployment. All of which raises questions about the
existence of discrimination, intentional or uninten-
tional, against people of foreign origin.
4.5 Châtellerault and its Immigrants
7 per cent of the Châtellerault total population are
of foreign origins. The immigrant population totals
1,405 people, which is 4.1 per cent of the total
population of the town. 2.6 per cent of these 1,405
people do not have French nationality. 3 per cent
of the Châtellerault population are Harkis6 and
their descendants, which acquired French nation-
ality in 1962. This population’s main countries of
origin are Algeria, followed to a lesser extent by
Portugal, Morocco and Spain. In 1999, its propor-
tional distribution was: North Africa, 44 per cent,
the European Union, 29 per cent, Asians, 12 per
cent and, finally, sub-Saharan Africa, 8 per cent.
The immigrant and ‘of immigrant origin’ population
reside mainly in two districts which are classified as
ZUS: the Plaine d’Ozon and the Renardières. The
unemployment rate for the working population in
Châtellerault stands at 30 per cent for immigrants,
6
Harki is the generic term for Muslim Algerians serving
as auxiliaries with the French Army, during the Algerian
War of Independence from 1954 to 1962.
compared to 18 per cent for the town’s population
as a whole.
4.6 The anti-Discrimination Project
PIC EQUAL ACCEES Europe: ‘Act in
Châtellerault against Exclusion and for
Socio-professional Equality’
The ACCEES Europe project which has financed
this book is part of the European Community
programme EQUAL, whose objective is to fight
discrimination and inequality in employment in Eu-
rope. Its objective is to generate a higher level of
awareness and to create synergy among all those
participating in the socio-economic activity of the
Châtellerault area labour market. Its main activity is
promoting equal opportunities in the labour market
by educating and training participants and stimulat-
ing a network of economic partnerships.
SUNERGEIA, a training organisation in Chatel-
lerault, leads a group of Development Partners
who are responsible for the project. They include
the AFPA, the MJC Les Renardières (community
centre) and three companies: ADECCO, Batisol
Plus, and SNECMA Services. The PIC EQUAL
ACCEES began its work in 2005 with a systematic
action programme covering four main areas:
• Training social and professional organisations
in Châtellerault
• Provision of information and assistance to
victims of discrimination
46
• Developing awareness of employers on
how to prevent discrimination and promote
diversity
• Promoting the active participation and em-
powerment of populations subject to dis-
crimination.
Through information provision and awareness-
building, ACCEES has sought to bring the focus
of recruitment procedures back to the skills nec-
essary for any particular job and emphasise that
the fight against discrimination in the workplace
is not a question of ‘being nice’, but is in the best
interests of the company, even more so now, as
Europe’s population ages.
5. Conclusion
Discrimination is a highly complex phenomenon
that runs in tandem with racism, though it is not
synonymous with it. Some of its effects can be
measured through differences in levels of un-
employment. The path upon which France has
embarked in countering discrimination is not one
in which maximum coercion is equated with maxi-
mum efficiency. France’s object is to profoundly
change people’s awareness. It is based initially
on the belief that ‘indifference to difference has
a detrimental effect on those who are victims of
their differences’ (Fauroux 2005). A change in the
republican model, through which difference is ap-
proached, would reveal and would make visible
inequalities which have hitherto not been taken into
account and which have often been denied.
Discrimination and guilt are systemic, diffuse and
widespread in society. The goal is, therefore, to
identify those procedures which facilitate discrimi-
nation in order to eliminate them. It is as unhelpful
and simplistic to make employers feel guilty as it is
to deny the existence of discrimination. Companies
47
cannot be the only structures that bear legal re-
sponsibility for the crime of discrimination, and the
state cannot simply respond with repressive legal
and administrative measures, especially consider-
ing the role and responsibilities of the public sector
in colluding with work-related discrimination.
Chapter 3
Introduction.....................................................................................................47

1. Immigration and the Labour Market..........................................................47

1.1 Ethnic Minorities in Germany..................................................................47
1.2 Ethnic Minority Women and Men in the State of Bremen......................49
1.3 Integrating Ethnic Minorities in the State of Bremen..............................50

2. EQUAL in Bremen and Bremerhaven.......................................................50

2.1 First Funding Phase 2002 – 2005...........................................................51
2.2 Second Funding Phase 2005 – 2007......................................................51
2.2.1 EQUAL Network ‘Diversity in the Workplace’.......................................52
2.2.2 EQUAL Network ‘Employment and Qualification for
Ethnic Minorities’............................................................................................53

3. EQUAL Bremen & Bremerhaven: Mainstreaming.....................................54

48
Germany
EQUAL Bremen & Bremerhaven: Diversity Management in
Employment Promotion
Introduction
‘Equal Bremen & Bremenhaven’ is an innovative
approach focused on labour market policy. Five
networks have been instituted on ‘Employment
and Qualification of Ethnic Minorities’ and ‘Diversity
in the Workplace’, through which the Senator for
Labour, Women, Health, Youth and Social Affairs
(SAFGJS) for Bremen and Bremenhaven7 wants
to achieve a better integration of Ethnic Minorities
in labour market actions.
In the context of these unprecedented EQUAL
networks, this report describes the background
to the minority ethnic presence in Germany and
in the Bremen and Bremenhaven labour market
in particular. It sets out how the political concept
of minority ethnic integration, laid down by the
Bremen Senate, has shaped the implementation
of the EQUAL networks in Bremen and Bremen-
haven. In the first funding period, three regional
development partnerships were brought into be-
ing. Their results are described below. The two
networks set up in the second EQUAL funding
period are described in more detail.
7
The State of Bremen (Freie Hansestadt Bremen)
consists of the cities of Bremen and Bremenhaven. The
state of Bremen is the smallest state among the sixteen
states of the Federal Republic of Germany and one of
the three ‘City-States’ (others: Berlin and Hamburg).
Bremenhaven was established in the 18th century by the
Bremen Senate and trade companies due to the need
in another harbour close to the sea.
49
1. Immigration and the Labour
Market
1.1 Ethnic Minorities in Germany
Although Germany has not viewed itself as a
country of immigration for a long time, it has be-
come the second most important such nation in
the OECD after the United States (OECD 2005,
p.14). Nearly 13 per cent of its population was born
outside Germany, of whom two-thirds have lived
in Germany for more than 10 years.
That Germany is in fact a country of immigration
is demonstrated by the recruitment of ‘guest work-
ers’, based on the idea that unskilled workers from
poor rural areas throughout Europe would work for
several years in Germany and then return home.
Some did so, but many, as is well known, settled
and managed to bring in their families. The aim
was to use the workers as a temporary solution
to the lack of manpower.
Later, larger immigration flows followed with the
‘resettlers’ – repatriates of German descent from
Eastern Europe (mainly Russia, Poland and Ro-
mania) – and refugees. In 2003, Turkish nationals
formed the largest minority ethnic group, with ca.
1.2 million persons out of a total 5.8 million non-
German population in Germany. Asylum seekers
and refugees currently account for 1.1 million
persons. Around 1.5 million of the nearly 6 million
minority ethnic population who are not German citi-
zens are second generation (OECD 2005). In 2003
more than 2 million repatriates, Spätaussiedler,
mostly from Russia, Poland and Romania, were
living in the Federal Republic. Despite all this, Ger-
many has long viewed immigration as a temporary
phenomenon. However, the new Immigration Act of
2005 now formally acknowledges that integration
is the Government’s responsibility.
Minority ethnic individuals work in all sectors of
the labour market in Germany. However, when
compared with the rest of Europe, there is a great
discrepancy between the level of vocational and
academic qualifications among ethnic minorities
and non-minority individuals. This can be at-
tributed partly to the low percentage of minority
ethnic individuals in apprenticeships and partly to
the fact that overseas qualifications are often not
recognised in Germany.
In recent years, Germany has suffered high
unemployment. Thus, official statistics indicate
an average unemployment rate in 2005 of 25.2
per cent for non-Germans and 12 per cent for
Germans. Minority ethnic women, in particular,
have a considerably lower rate of participation in
the labour market. At just under 41 per cent, this
group’s rate is 15.8 percentage points lower than
the rate for German women.
The vocational integration of the so-called second
and third generations who were born in Germany
is especially disappointing. Whereas the percent-
age of non-German pupils in schools of general
education has fallen to 9.9 per cent of all pupils
in 2005, the percentage in vocational schools is
only 6.9 per cent of all pupils. The percentage of
non-German trainees in companies is even lower,
50
at 4.6 per cent. And in the public service sector
the percentage of non-Germans is far below the
average, at 1.8 per cent.
In the future, Germany will be confronted with two
issues in which the systematic integration of minor-
ity ethnic communities could make a substantial
contribution; demographic developments and an
imbalance in labour market supply and demand.
In Germany, the low birth rate and higher life ex-
pectancy are leading to an increase in the elderly
population and a simultaneous reduction in the
working population. The controlled immigration and
sustained integration of ethnic minorities is being
discussed as central to helping solve this major
structural problem. The demand for a workforce is
particularly relevant to more highly qualified and
specialised fields of employment. However, exist-
ing qualification levels among Germany’s minority
ethnic population are not high enough to meet this
need. 63 per cent of minority ethnic individuals in
Germany have poor formal qualifications; 33 per
cent are vocationally qualified and only 4 per cent
have further education or university qualifications
(Bommes and Kolb 2005, p. 8).
Nevertheless, the German National Plan of Action
for Employment makes no connection between
national labour market policy and immigration. The
use of immigration as a strategy in labour market
policy is the exception; it is not seen as integral.
But national, educational and labour market politi-
cal strategies will have to confront this disjunction
in the future.
1.2 Ethnic Minority Women and Men in
the State of Bremen
In 2005, non-German residents in the state of
Bremen accounted for 12.7 per cent of its popula-
tion (the national average is 8.8 per cent). It is a
level that has increased only slightly over the past
five years. Note that these figures refer to those
who do not have German citizenship. But recent
evidence published by the Federal Statistical Office
of Germany (2005), indicates that the percentage
of individuals from a minority ethnic background
is considerably higher.
While 8.8 per cent of the population of the Federal
Republic are non-Germans, the Federal Statistical
Office calculates that minority ethnic population is
just fewer than 20 per cent of the overall popu-
lation. In the state of Bremen, given its heavy
immigration in the 1960s, one can assume, by
analogy with the national figures that just under
28 per cent of its residents come from a minority
ethnic background.
In general, the participation of non-Germans in the
labour market in the state of Bremen is well below
the rate that might be expected. While they are
12.7 per cent of the Bremen’s population, this falls
to 6.1 per cent of the working population. Similarly
with unemployment rates, the annual average
unemployment rate for the year 2005 was 16.8
per cent, whereas the unemployment rate for non-
Germans reached 34 per cent. In other words, the
risk of minority ethnic individuals in Bremen and
Bremenhaven to become unemployed is double
that for the population as a whole. Under the new
51
Act for the long-term unemployed (Grundsicherung
für Arbeitssuchende/SGB II – social welfare for
job-seekers/SGB II) groups that formerly either
received unemployment benefits or social welfare
are now being reached in one system. In relation
to the residential population in the state of Bremen,
there is an SGB II-quota8 of 13.9 per cent (Sena-
tor for Labour, Women, Health, Youth and Social
Affairs 2006). If the distribution of SGB II (social
benefit) recipients of working age is analysed by
nationality, then more than one-quarter (26.6 per
cent) of them would be non-Germans. This per-
centage is twice as high as that of non-Germans
in the overall population. In the context of active
labour market policy, approximately 5,000 ‘work
opportunities’ (in-jobs) were set up in 2005 in
Bremen, of which around 12 per cent were filled
by non-Germans. Although while this rate does
more or less correspond with the percentage of
non-Germans in the total population of Bremen,
there is still quite clear discrimination of ethnic
minorities in regional active labour market policy
because the percentage of non-Germans among
long-term unemployed people in Bremen and
Bremenhaven is much higher than the percentage
of non-Germans in the total population of Bremen
and Bremenhaven.
8
The SGB II-quota is calculated from the total number
of persons in communities in need, multiplied by 100
and divided by the residential population. Up to and
including August 2006, the residential population as of
31 December 2004 was used for the calculation and as
of 31 December 2005 for the population from September
2006.
1.3 Integrating Ethnic Minorities in the
State of Bremen
The Bremen state government first adopted an
integration strategy in 2000, which saw the in-
tegration of ethnic minorities as a governmental
and societal responsibility. It incorporates all
departments under the leadership of the Senator
for Labour, Women, Health, Youth and Social Af-
fairs together with the Senator for Internal Affairs,
Culture and Sports, the Senator for Education and
Science and the Senator for Finances and the
Senate Chancellery.
The aim is to provide ethnic minorities with an
equal opportunity to participate in the economic,
social and cultural life of the State of Bremen.
The strategy distinguishes between various levels
of action:
• The necessary requirements for minority eth-
nic participation in employment and in wider
social, community and cultural life are to be
created or improved.
• In developing employment opportunities, the
aim is to improve conditions in the regional
employment promotion scheme so as to boost
the integration of minority ethnic persons in
working life. ‘Equal Bremen and Bremen-
haven’ is a crucial labour market political
instrument.
• In addition, suitable measures are to be
developed in response to specific disadvan-
tages, especially those suffered by asylum
seekers and refugees.
52
• Intercultural integration projects aim to pro-
mote sustained contacts and exchanges
between minority ethnic communities and
the host society.
• Democratic participation in social institutions
and beyond is to be encouraged, as are
legal measures to promote socio-political
participation.
2. EQUAL in Bremen and
Bremenhaven
That the Bremen and Bremenhaven EQUAL
networks are anchored in the state government’s
integration strategy for ethnic minorities is unique
among EQUAL networks projects in Germany.
The goal of this wide-ranging regional network is
to improve systematically the access of minority
ethnic communities to work and training, through
both individual and corporate measures.
Employment and integration of the target group are
to be further developed. The objectives of ‘Equal
Bremen & Bremenhaven’ are both complex and
ambitious, as they amount to no less than the
opening up of rigid structures and procedures that,
to date, have scarcely considered either the needs
or the potentials of minority ethnic individuals.
The budget of the five Bremen and Bremenhaven
EQUAL networks runs to a total of € 25.9 million
including an ESF funding allocation of €11.3 mil-
lion spread throughout the entire funding period.
More than 60 regional individual projects are being
implemented.
The coordination of this is the responsibility of the • Consulting for business start-up
EQUAL Management at the Senator for Labour,
One of the central and innovative emphases was
Women, Health, Youth and Social Affairs in the
on empowering minority ethnic individuals. This
state of Bremen (SAFGJS). Its tasks include:
was seen as instrumental to integration, as well
as the expression of a specific, professional and
• coordination and steering of the entire net-
educational commitment within the organisations.
work
Such empowerment also reinforced the fact of,
• handling the fiscal and financial processes and belief in, the individual competence of minor-
ity ethnic women and men as well as helping to
• organising the mainstreaming of good EQUAL
create suitable conditions, locally and regionally,
practice through opening up access to those
to foster their potential for self-help.
bodies empowered to make labour market de-
cisions at the political and strategic levels.
Diversity management and the manifestation of
diversity in practice were strategic aims of the
EQUAL networks. Many sub-projects took on
2.1 First Funding Phase 2002-2005
board the innovative EQUAL framework by incor-
porating its approach to intercultural competences
Between 2002 and 2005, measures aimed at
and, in doing so, put it to the test. In practice, the
improving vocational qualifications and access
three EQUAL networks found that such imple-
to employment were carried out under EQUAL
mentation processes were more complex than
auspices which involved 3,322 participants in
initially assumed. The process revealed discernible
three EQUAL networks. Due to the special efforts
benefits to decision-makers, along with a certain
made to reach minority ethnic women, they made
pressure for accountability. Linking the empow-
up 58.8 per cent of participants. The largest group
erment approach to the further development of
of participants by far (40.4 per cent) were from
diversity strategies was a clear asset, buttressed
non-EU states, followed by those with repatriate
by intercultural and diversity management training
status (34.2 per cent).
for the participating enterprises.

EQUAL activities focused on the following areas:

• Vocational orientation, consulting and ad-
vice
• Training and vocational preparation
• Employment projects with specific training
offers
2.2 Second Funding Phase 2005-2007
The two EQUAL networks, ‘Diversity in the Work-
place’ and ‘Employment and Qualifications for
Ethnic Minorities’, continued to strengthen the
development process in Bremen and Bremen-
haven. In the current funding phase, these two new

53
networks are building on the strategic objectives
of EQUAL in Bremen and Bremenhaven.
2.2.1 EQUAL Network ‘Diversity in the
Workplace’
This network incorporates both aspects of the la-
bour market (supply and demand). It concentrates
not only on the further development of vocational
training for diversity and integration but also on
the opening up of public and private companies
to diversity – diversity management – and on
empowerment.
Objective 1: Diversity for vocational, educational
and consultative institutions
Strategies for the development of vocational
training, further education and the improvement
of advice and consultancy services are to be
implemented, in order to enhance the capacity
for integration of ethnic minorities. Diversity man-
agement in vocational training is a goal of those
sub-projects, tied into the Chamber of Crafts and
Trade, to be achieved through awareness training
and education.
The EQUAL network is also paving the way for
new developments, oriented to diversity, within
Bremen’s business start-up consultancy service.
Specific services are to be developed and consul-
tations offered to minority ethnic individuals within
an expanded B.E.G.I.N. programme (Bremen
business start up initiative). But while such meas-
ures may be stipulated by the authorities, they
54
still have to be put into action by people. Hence,
measures to increase the intercultural and diversity
competences of trainers, educators and advisers
are also needed.
Objective 2: Intercultural opening up of private and
public companies
Systematically winning over employers to improv-
ing the integration of ethnic minorities within the
labour market is one of the most important goals
of ‘Equal Bremen & Bremenhaven’. To open up
companies to intercultural issues and firm up
company procedures for the employment of mi-
nority ethnic workers requires, first, the education
and sensitisation of corporate decision-makers,
for example within the framework of training pro-
grammes aimed at promoting diversity as a human
resource for the company. This will facilitate sen-
sitivity to and acceptance of diverse cultures and
lifestyles within the workforce and allow company
executives to pursue diversity management as a
corporate goal.
The goal of increasing or securing the employ-
ment of minority ethnic individuals in businesses
has been pursued particularly effectively by those
sub-projects aimed at young people, through
training and educational programmes. Thus, for
example, one project is seeking to increase the
rate of minority ethnic participation in the police
force. Other projects in the EQUAL network of-
fer certified training for the unskilled and partially
skilled, in order to equip the participant for fields
of work where demands for qualifications are in-
creasing. This will give minority ethnic individuals
better chances in a labour market that is becoming
ever more specialised. But parallel to this runs the
need to sensitise human resources executives to
the benefits of diversity management – otherwise,
the extra qualifications are of little benefit. This
is an objective that runs through nearly all the
sub-projects in the EQUAL network. The target
groups here are the company proprietors (mainly in
manufacturing) and the personnel directors. Thus,
public companies and their social partners have
the chance to act as multipliers for the introduc-
tion of diversity management, paving the way for
private enterprises to follow.
Objective 3: Reinforcing personal empowerment
and the achievement of skills
‘Diversity in the Workplace’ also pursues the goals
of personal empowerment and betterment of skills
among minority ethnic individuals. Participants are
systematically supported in expanding their profes-
sional qualifications as well as their ‘soft skills’,
such as language mastery. Several sub-projects
attempt, through counselling and professional
training, to increase the chances for minority ethnic
young people to gain apprenticeships or voca-
tional training. The measures extend from making
information available to young people and their
families to aiding preparation for examinations to
the entry-level qualification for unskilled workers.
This also applies to older people. There is, too,
a focus on professional or sector-related further
education for those in employment, in order to
enhance job security or support career advance-
ment. Several sub-projects offer modular training
courses which are tailored to business practice, as
55
well as retraining or refresher course, which offer
certified qualifications.
2.2.2 EQUAL Network ‘Employment and
Qualifications for Ethnic Minorities’
This EQUAL network promotes the integration
of ethnic minorities in the regional labour market
and is a catalyst for the development of regional
employment opportunities for ethnic minorities. Its
focal point is the nursing and health-care industry,
whose clientele is itself becoming increasingly
diversified. A mutual learning process takes place
between the companies, the organisations promot-
ing diversity in employment, and the minority ethnic
individuals who participate.
Objective 1: Furthering the employment of minor-
ity ethnic individuals and their integration in the
labour market
New ways of opening up employment aimed at
this target group focus on business start-up advice
and consultation. They include the development of
new training courses, for example, in language and
culture, the adaptation of curricula, supplemented
by the use of e-learning in combination with
classroom instruction. These measures also entail
improving the pathways to achieving qualifications,
training or employment and providing support.
Internships are a component of several projects,
as are coaching or consultation following the com-
mencement of training or employment. Increasing
the participation in the labour market of minority
ethnic women is also an equal opportunity objec-
tive. This goal is to be achieved through meshing
political measures concerning the labour market
with neighbourhood work; for example, women
who have no access to the working world may
be reached through local organisations near their
homes. Such an approach would be a precondition
for bringing women who are under-represented
into schemes aimed at vocational qualifications
and gainful employment.
Objective 2: Diversity in sectors with a high de-
mand for labour
Healthcare and nursing is a growing industry in
which there is reasonable access to employment
for ethnic minorities. Moreover, increasing numbers
of this industry’s clients are from minority ethnic
and different cultural and religious backgrounds.
Activities aimed at increasing diversity in this sec-
tor include information events, expert congresses
and roundtable discussions, as well as support for
network formation. Diversity training for human re-
sources directors and corporate managers is also
important. Opening up companies to the increased
recruitment of ethnic minorities is achieved through
measures that sensitise the healthcare industry to
the intercultural dimension and also prepare it to
provide intercultural services.
Objective 3: Improvement in qualifications and
skills of minority ethnic women and men
Raising the qualification levels and increasing the
skills of individuals is necessary for improving the
access of the group as a whole in the labour mar-
ket. Empowerment is particularly important to rein-
56
force these approaches and enlarge an individual’s
options. It is a means of enabling the target group
to take their (job-related) futures into their own
hands. The development of communication skills
and conflict training are part of this, as are courses
in German, in technical language and in English.
Individual strategies for professional integration
may be developed through support for concrete
work experience, company visits and internships.
A further objective is to adapt prior relevant pro-
fessional qualifications and expertise; if previous
qualifications and experience are validated, often
only an additional qualification is needed to enable
minority ethnic individuals to continue the careers
they initially were trained for.
3. EQUAL Bremen and
Bremenhaven: Mainstreaming
The innovations tested and developed by the five
EQUAL networks (three in the first funding period
and two in the second) need to be transferred into
mainstream practice. And their application has to
be demanded by publicly funded institutions and
systems. It is a two-way process. ‘Equal Bremen
& Bremenhaven’ is therefore attempting to shift
public discourse on labour market policy towards
the necessity of, and benefits from, implementing
diversity management and equal employment
policies.
As already noted, ‘Equal Bremen & Bremenhaven’
is rooted in the state strategy for integration, where
its goals and content are explicitly laid down. Thus,
it is an integral building-block of state policy, regu-
larly monitored in a bi-annual report. Its networks
are coordinated and controlled via the central
director’s office, EQUAL Management, which is
incorporated in the state administration. One of
its essential duties is to effect both the horizontal
sharing of experience, across the network, and
the vertical mainstreaming of the lessons learnt
into institutions of active regional labour market
policy. From the start, there has been intensive
communication and coordination between EQUAL
Management and the ESF (European Social
Fund) department of the state government. As
the EQUAL programme is a particularly innovative
57
strand of ESF funding, these tight-knit working re-
lations helped actively in the transfer of experience
and results. That diversity management focused
on ethnic minorities is part of regional ESF fund-
ing for 2007-2013 is a tangible and extremely
important mainstream outcome. It is a testimony
to the way that the EQUAL network was structured
and its incorporation of strategic partners, includ-
ing decision-makers at the levels of the regional
labour market and integration policy, as well as
federal government bodies and social partners
and networks aimed at integration.
Chapter 4
Introduction.....................................................................................................57

1. Minority Situation.......................................................................................58
1.1 Ethnic Structure.......................................................................................58
1.2 Socio-economic Disparities between Lithuanians and
National Minorities..........................................................................................59
1.3 Educational Attainment Rates..................................................................60
1.4 Knowledge of Lithuanian.........................................................................60

2. Roma Integration Policies and their Impact..............................................61

2.1 Public Attitudes towards Roma................................................................62
2.2 Involvement in the Labour Market...........................................................62

3. Individual Employment Models..................................................................64

4. Conclusion.................................................................................................68

Tables and Figures.........................................................................................69

58
Lithuania
Challenges to the Employment of Roma in Lithuania
By Dr Tadas Leončikas
Centre of Ethnic Studies of the Institute for Social Research, Vilnius
Introduction
This chapter analyses specific forms of exclusion
in a country which otherwise maintains an image
of a successfully integrating its national minorities
into its social and economic fabric. But specific
groups such as the Roma suffer extreme margin-
alisation and almost complete exclusion from the
labour market.
The sheer extent of the problems related to Roma
integration may have actually hindered a clear
focus for debating and identifying policy priorities.
Although, for example, there has been a range of
positive initiatives in the area of Roma education
since the mid-1990s, the overall marginalisation
of the Roma has nonetheless increased over the
last decade. State integration policies for national
minorities focus mostly on the cultural dimension,
on educational provision and support for minority
organisations. Social and labour market policies
still fail to acknowledge or address ethnicity as a
relevant factor. Against such a background, the
specific problems of the Roma in Lithuania largely
fall outside existing policy frameworks and there
are no mechanisms available to address such
problems.
This chapter is written from within the framework
of the EQUAL project The Creation and Testing of
Support Mechanisms of Integration of Roma Peo-
ple into the Labour Market and draws attention to
the fact that employment is crucial to social integra-
tion. Whereas the Roma are widely perceived as
unwilling to take jobs, it is the structural obstacles
to employment that are examined here. A survey
59
of crucial indicators about the Roma community,
including its age structure, levels of educational
attainment and knowledge of languages demon-
strates that these factors are actually extremely
relevant to employment prospects. They need to
be taken into account when designing integration
policies. In particular, examples of individual Roma
employment patterns cited here focus attention
on the often neglected fact that the wider society
constrains Roma social advancement within a
limited number of exotic occupations.
Of all national minorities, Roma have the highest
rates of unemployment, illiteracy, and poverty.
While the country’s economy is growing and gen-
eral living conditions are improving, a closer look
at the data will show that the marginalisation of the
Roma is actually increasing. Although numerically
small, the Roma are least affected by state policies
which are not adjusted to their specific situation.
So far, there has been no breakthrough in Roma
employment rates. Possible reasons for their long-
term exclusion from the labour market include
the failure, based on the lack of experience, to
design socially oriented, group-sensitive policies.
Current needs include accredited vocational train-
ing, sources of income for the younger generation
that provide an alternative to crime, and involving
employers in dialogue and employment develop-
ment programmes.
The individual case histories of Roma employment
and self-employment cited below reveal that the
areas in which the Roma can achieve success
are extremely narrow niche occupations, such as
music or fortune telling. Factors affecting the Roma
take-up of employment, such as the lack of realistic
opportunities where they live, the men’s working
abroad and low organisational infrastructure are
all too often overlooked. Policy intervention is vital
if there is to be any breakthrough in employment
prospects for the Roma.
1. Minority Situation9
It is generally acknowledged that national minori-
ties (at least those that have been in the country for
a considerable amount of time) are relatively well
integrated into Lithuania’s economic and social fab-
ric. However, in the case of the Roma, their social
deprivation is outstanding and marginalisation is
multiple. Roma experience the most hostility from
the majority society and are negatively portrayed
in media. Many of the problems that afflict the
Roma community are of a long-term nature. So
far, the policies applied though essentially positive,
have been limited in nature and have not brought
about any breakthrough. If we are to better under-
stand the challenging context for policies aimed
at encouraging Roma integration (particularly in
the labour market), it is necessary to review the
general minority situation.
1.1 Ethnic Structure
Minorities account for 15.6 per cent, or 544,000
9
This section draws partly on Ex-Post Evaluation (and
Dissemination of Findings) of European Union Support
to National Minorities in Lithuania (2004), on which the
author was a consultant.
60
people10 of Lithuania’s nearly 3.5 million popula-
tion. The most sizeable national minorities are the
Poles and the Russians, accounting for 6.7 and
6.3 per cent of the population respectively. Other
national minorities account for around 2 per cent
of the population, the most numerous of whom
are Belarusians and Ukrainians. In addition, since
historical times, Lithuania has been home to Jew-
ish, Tatar, Karaite, Roma and some other, presently
smaller, communities.
In 2001, 2,571 persons declared themselves to
be Roma/Gypsies; however, the census may not
have reached all Roma; the actual number could
be higher, at around 3,000. Roma live throughout
the country, but the largest and most impoverished
group of settlements (population approximately
670) is located in the outskirts of Vilnius, near
Kirtimai. There are some Roma who, for various
reasons, do not have official papers and who
therefore experience difficulties to obtain full citi-
zenship rights. However, the vast majority of Roma
have citizenship, and their employment problems
are not caused by the lack of formal rights.
For a variety of historical reasons, national mi-
norities in Lithuania tend to be geographically
concentrated in certain areas. Depending on the
social milieu in which Roma live, they differ in
their second language use (the first is their native
10
This number refers to those who declared ethnicity
other than Lithuanian in the 2001 census. Figures are
calculated from data published in Statistics Lithuania
(2002). 32,900 persons (0.94 percent of population)
who did not declare any ethnicity are not included. The
declaration of ethnicity was optional.
Romany). Though many have some knowledge of
a few languages, there are differences: in certain
areas, Lithuanian prevails, in other areas, Rus-
sian. The language factor may well impact on their
integration and employability.
Roma have a distinctive age structure (see Figure
1): 46 per cent are younger than 20, whereas
nationwide this age group is only 27 per cent
of the population. Given the youthfulness of its
population, education and employment are cru-
cially important for the development of the Roma
community.
1.2 Socio-economic Disparities between
Lithuanians and National Minorities
While minorities are relatively well integrated, there
are disparities in the labour market representation
between Lithuanians and national minorities. A
comparison of unemployment levels in 2001, 2002,
and 2003 reveals that unemployment amongst
national minorities is significantly higher than the
61
national average (Beresnevičiūtė 2005)11. While
data on income levels broken down by national
minority group is not available, it is reasonable to
assume that these disparities extend to income
levels.
Caution should be exercised over making simplistic
and speculative assertions about disparities in the
labour market between the Lithuanian majority and
national minorities. There are complex, multifac-
eted factors in play, such as structural economic
factors (the restructuring of traditional industries);
regional differences; differences in age structure
and educational attainment. There may, of course,
11
For example: in 2002, when unemployment stood at
12.8 per cent amongst Lithuanians, the level amongst the
Russian and Polish minorities respectively was 20.3 per
cent and 17.8 per cent. Unemployment amongst other
minorities (e.g. Belarusians, Ukrainians etc.) was also
higher than average, at 17.4 per cent. Statistical sources
are: the 2001 Census and the 2002 and 2003 Population
Employment Surveys, all carried out by the Lithuanian
Department of Statistics. Ethnicity has not been regis-
tered in the unemployment statistics since 2003.
be other factors that hinder participation in the
labour market for some minorities – the language
barrier is an obvious constraint. In the case of the
Roma, discrimination is especially acute, although
other factors need to be kept in mind.
Structural factors, such as a locality’s predominant
language or its unemployment levels will certainly
have an impact on Roma economic prospects;
nevertheless, given the small numbers of Roma,
targeted policies would have a realistic chance of
bringing about change.
1.3 Educational Attainment Rates
Educational attainment rates are an important in-
dicator since there is typically a strong correlation
between educational attainment rates and labour
market outcomes. There is a certain variation
between ethnic groups, but the figures confirm
that the Roma minority is the worst performing in
respect of educational attainment, as it is on many
other indicators. Only 59 out of every 1,000 Roma
achieve further or higher education levels (see
Table 1). Similarly, illiteracy and the proportion of
Roma who fail to complete basic schooling are
much higher than for other national minorities.
Education was the area in which most NGO and
governmental projects aimed at Roma were car-
ried out in the 1990s. And in recent years, the
numbers of Roma children enrolled in school
have, comparatively, increased. However, there
is still no certainty with regard to Roma fluency
in Lithuanian.
62
1.4 Knowledge of Lithuanian
A high proportion of some national minority popu-
lations have a poor knowledge of Lithuanian (see
Table 2). The Roma may not appear outstand-
ing in this context; nonetheless, a more detailed
statistical analysis reveals an alarming trend.
The Roma minority population demonstrates a
‘reverse’ distribution in terms of those knowing the
Lithuanian language when the data is examined by
age structure. The proportion of those who know
Lithuanian is significantly higher amongst the older
generation, whereas more than 30 per cent those
aged 20-39 claimed not to know the language.
This regression may well be an additional factor
that hinders Roma entering the labour market,
as well as hindering their ability to participate in
education and vocational training. This is particu-
larly worrying given that the data on other national
minorities, such as the Poles and the Russians,
clearly demonstrates that, the younger the age
profile, the more widespread the knowledge of the
language. This clearly suggests that language is
much less of an obstacle for young people than
for the older generation (aged over 50). The age
distribution concerning language skills emerged
as one of the most clear indicators of a decrease
among Roma in social contacts outside their im-
mediate social environment; in other words, that
their social isolation, post-independence (after
1990) was intensifying.
However, the situation may have changed since
2001 as there have been a range of government-
supported language-training initiatives since then.
It should also be pointed out that there has always
been a difference between Roma in countryside
regions of Lithuania who were relatively fluent in
Lithuanian, and those concentrated in Vilnius and
Vilnius region who were less familiar with it.
The lack of proficiency in Lithuanian should, how-
ever, not be overstated as an obstacle to labour
market participation, since many jobs do not re-
quire much Lithuanian (Ex Post 2004). However,
the lack of linguistic skills, combined with illiteracy,
will often severely impede Roma in accessing and
receiving public services or effectively exercising
their rights.
2. Roma Integration Policies and
their Impact
While the Roma community is numerically small
(estimated 3,000), the problems faced by it remain
considerable. This fact was recognised by the
Lithuanian government, which implemented the
Roma Integration Programme, 2000-2004. The
programme focused on the multiple disadvantages
63
faced by the Roma, but problems still persist in
the sectors of employment, housing, education,
healthcare and public services. The types of depri-
vation that affect the Roma minority are inextricably
linked to poverty. In case of the largest settlement
near Vilnius in Kirtimai, the Roma community also
suffers from crime-related problems – particularly
the sale of illegal drugs.
As a result of various ground-breaking initiatives
and policy measures from the 1990s onwards,
Roma representatives began voicing their con-
cerns. One highly practical issue identified was
the need for driving lessons for young Roma since
many were driving without an official licence12. But
the major issues they identified included the need
for accredited vocational training for young people
that would lead to real employment opportunities,
the need to find young people alternative sources
12
The courses for obtaining driving licenses took place
in 2006 and were financed through EU structural funds
and the EQUAL programme.
of employment to crime and the need to provide
Lithuanian language teaching. The Roma are also
concerned about reparations for holocaust victims
and would welcome official political recognition of
their national day – 8 April (Ex Post 2004).
Across Lithuania, there is a small number of NGOs
working for the benefit of the Roma community
such as the Lithuanian Children’s Fund. There are
also Roma NGOs staffed by Roma themselves
such as the Gypsy Bonfire, which has several
branches across Lithuania, Nevo Drom and oth-
ers. No noteworthy changes have been achieved
in the development of Roma representation and
organisational capacities. Although around 20
Roma organisations have been founded over the
past 15 years, most are no longer active. Only
four NGOs took advantage of an opportunity to
participate in a programme allowing tax-payers
to donate 2 per cent of their income tax to the
non-profit sector.
2.1 Public Attitudes towards Roma
Gaining support for Roma integration policies is
severely compromised by public attitudes that
are largely negative. The public at large view the
Roma through media eyes that tend to focus on
the ghettoised Roma settlement in Kirtimai and
emphasise news about crime and drug-dealing.
This alarming image was further reinforced in the
media when the Vilnius municipality demolished
some buildings in the Roma settlement as a part
of its anti-drug-trade campaign in December 2004.
Over the past 15 years, the image of the Roma
64
has deteriorated the most in comparison to other
ethnic groups (see Table 3).
Prior to the demolition of the buildings, in autumn
2004, the Vilnius municipality made some 50 jobs
available to the Roma. The fact that no one was
willing to get involved was a disappointment to
some Vilnius residents who had previously sym-
pathised with the Roma. Superficially, it seemed
to justify the belief that ‘they do not want to work’.
However, survey evidence collected here contra-
dicts the prevailing stereotype that the Roma are
unwilling to work. So the question remains, why
the usual avenues to employment do not work for
the Roma and how can accessible jobs be found
or created for them.
2.2 Involvement in the Labour Market
No recent statistics exist on Roma participation in
the labour market since data on employment and
unemployment is collected without any indication
of ethnic background. However, we can assume
that the highest Roma unemployment rates are to
be found among the Kirtimai Roma, in the settle-
ment near Vilnius. According to a 2001 survey of
the Roma in Kirtimai and its surroundings, about
50 per cent of men and 70 per cent of women
described themselves as unemployed; only 7 per
cent indicated that they had a profession [i.e. had
received some professional training] (Institute of
Social and Labour Research for DNMLA, 2001).
Those who worked irregularly included 25 per
cent of men, who said they worked in a market,
and 16.5 per cent who carried on individual busi-
65
nesses. About 40 per cent mentioned the lack of
employment opportunities. Only a small percent-
age of those surveyed (5 per cent of men and one
woman) stated that they had a regular source of
income. Since the majority of respondents had no
regular job, their income came from casual earn-
ings or social grants or benefits. The situation of
the Kirtimai Roma settlement is unlikely to have
changed within recent years. Almost every other
Roma family expressed a willingness to take any
job, if only there was a chance of one.
As far as measures to improve Roma employment
prospects are concerned, barriers such as the lack
of education and skills, and lack of the work ethic
and motivation need to be considered. Because
of their long-term exclusion from adequate em-
ployment and the wider society, the existence, in
certain cases, of illegal sources of income must
also be taken into account. The induction of Roma
into the labour market needs very special support,
without which even their undertaking specialised
training is not effective in improving their situation.
Vilnius Labour Exchange reported (September
2006) that from 2003-2006, 151 Roma individuals
were given various kinds of training, yet only four
were employed as a result13. Also important is the
lack of any real need for unqualified labour. Hence,
both the supply of a Roma workforce and the de-
mand for it have to be stimulated. But the Roma
population in Lithuania is small and scattered, so
it is difficult to argue that it could be turned into a
13
This data was obtained by the Centre of Ethnic Stud-
ies of the Institute for Social Research from the Vilnius
Labour Exchange by request on 20 September 2006.
66
labour pool for a large-scale economy as has been
the case in other east central European countries
with large Roma populations (UNDP 2005).
One of the most important initiatives to address
Roma employment was launched after Lithuania’s
EU accession. It was supported by the EQUAL
programme . The project aims to test the support
mechanisms for Roma integration into the labour
market; it is also aimed at Roma integration into
the networks of social cooperation by employing
specially trained Roma representatives. However,
the EQUAL programme14 supports experimental
initiatives designed to find new, innovative solu-
tions and so is not part of regular social policy.
Thus, the EQUAL project does not replace the
need for a Roma integration policy and does not
exempt the government from responsibility and
long-term obligations.
3. Individual Employment Models
Below are some individual case studies of Roma
employment, together with commentary on what
can be discovered about the models represented
by them. We selected individuals who are consid-
ered a success both by other Roma and by the
mainstream society. All, however, differ in the type
14
The Department of National Minorities, the Vilnius City
Municipality, the Ukmergė Region Municipality, the Roma
Community Centre, the Lithuanian Roma Community
Čigonų laužas and the Social Workers Training Centre
under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour are the
partners in the project, which is managed by the NGO
Lithuanian Children’s Fund.
67
of social contacts and the extent of social networks
they rely on in the pursuit of their goals.
Case 1: Working on One’s Own
Milda, 59, is a fortune-teller from Ukmergė who has
her own premises and is probably the only Roma
fortune-teller who has formalised her business.
She registered her enterprise nine years ago. The
specific self-employed status that Milda has is,
according to Lithuanian law, that of an ‘individual
enterprise’. Her field of business is ‘services and
recreational activities’. As a matter of course, she
keeps all her documentation in order: receipts, tax
declarations and health insurance.
Milda has been a fortune-teller since her youth,
but she is now a self-confident professional. The
best proof of success is her nearly ten years of
steady work. Milda emphasises her efforts and
respect for the clients. She also believes that in
some situations she should not charge a fee but
simply help a person.
Milda is well aware of society’s disrespect towards
Roma, of negative stereotyping and about the dif-
ficulties Roma have in getting education or finding
jobs. For herself, however, she has always striven
forward. Although educated up to grade five only,
Milda reads books and has learned a number
languages – apart from Romany and Lithuanian,
she knows Russian and Polish and can understand
Byelorussian and Ukrainian.
(based on Zimblienė D. „Mokesčių inspekcija gauna
ir būrėjos ataskaitas“ in Lietuvos rytas/Vartai, 06 02
2006, p.8).
68
Case 2: Work within the Community
Kazimieras, 59, has been on the staff of the Roma
Community Centre (RCC) in Kirtimai almost since
it was opened in 2000. A rare example of a Roma
person with a university education, he is respected
and valued for his literacy and administrative
know-how. It is typical to see him surrounded by
others, for whom he may be composing a docu-
ment on the computer or doing some other work.
No less important is his fluency in spoken and
written Lithuanian, also a rarity among the Kirtimai
community.
Kazimieras’ wife is Lithuanian, but became in-
volved in activities for the Roma community.
While Kazimieras is largely concerned with his
duties working for the population of the Kirtimai
settlement, his wife is involved in an organisation
which carries out projects for other segments of the
Roma community. Kazimieras’ informal knowledge
and his contacts with Roma in other towns are
by all means a good support for his wife’s work.
Kazimieras’ two daughters, now in their twenties,
have worked respectively as a hairdresser and a
sales-person, until they left a year ago in search of
better wages abroad; now both are in Italy.
When considering the prospects for Roma employ-
ment, Kazimieras notes that the small trading and
other opportunities to earn in the market place
have been shrinking recently, and that jobs for
unskilled and poor settlement dwellers are not
easy to find. Kazimieras is always ready to try to
convince the sometimes distrustful and hesitant
people from the settlement that it is worth making
the effort. But it is distressing that his efforts and
assistance are often not enough to win trust and
fairness from employers.
(based on interview with Kazimieras, February 2006).
Case 3: Working beyond the Community
Over the last few years Sare Roma has become
a familiar band for many more people than just
devoted lovers of Romany music. Istvan, 26, is
the central singer and the moving spirit of the
band, which currently numbers twenty: twelve
people perform on the stage, and eight assist in
the background.
As their career evolved, Sare Roma has played
at concerts, private parties and festivals. One of
the turning points in winning wider publicity was
its involvement in social projects. Sare Roma was
invited by the artistic community to perform at Viln-
ius Centre; it joined in performances that were not
just entertainment but that also carried a message
of crossing cultural boundaries. Over the last four
or so years, the band has gained confidence and
popularity; its CD and an international tour were
scheduled for 2006-2007.
As we talked, I discovered how Istvan and his
group rely on their strong family background.
Istvan speaks about the good atmosphere, the
mutual respect for each other, especially for the
elders, and the support within his large family.
Indeed, other relatives of his are noted for these
qualities. Istvan believes that it is not possible
to separate economic success from such moral
qualities. Others often turn to him to ask about job
69
opportunities. In relation to the general prospects
for Roma employment, Istvan sincerely believes
that his co-ethnics do wish to work. He believes
that the drug trade in Kirtimai settlement is a main
source of survival, into which people have slid or
were manipulated because other means of suste-
nance were not accessible for the Roma.
(based on interview with Istvan, February 2006).
In all these examples, the family’s importance
stands out: either in providing a supportive back-
ground for Milda and Istvan, or helping to share
the initiatives for work in the community and daily
life (Kazimieras and his wife). However, although
families and broader informal networks generate
support, they cannot help their members secure
entrance into mainstream society or, for our pur-
poses here, the labour market).
In informal networks, successful Roma may well
act as intermediaries for others but, once again,
the connections are limited to those within the
community. It is not always possible to pass on
know-how or an entrée into mainstream society
to other Roma because of the general public’s
reluctance to accept Roma.
Most families, as became apparent from other in-
terviews not sampled here, have relatives working
abroad. The destination countries are the same as
those for most Lithuanians – Great Britain predomi-
nates. Labour emigration is important for a number
of reasons; it can, for example, be cited in public
debate to counteract the popular stereotype that
Roma are not willing to work.
But emigration, especially of men, may actually
be changing labour preferences and opportunities
for the rest of community. The ‘male-drain’ affects
family life and family structure. Although child-care
may still be shared by women in an extended
family, the men, when absent, cannot create and
share job contacts, experience and opportunities
with the growing generation. In other words, men
do not become role models who could be followed
to achieve a social breakthrough in Lithuania. It
was difficult for us to find a young person as an
example for our case studies: the young are either
unemployed or have gone to work abroad.
Even attempts at social entrepreneurship lack
sufficient structural support. There are neither gov-
ernmental schemes available to provide resources
nor a non-governmental infrastructure capable
of supporting Roma initiatives where they exist.
Needless to say, future employment programmes
would gain some solidity if they could find a way
of tapping in to what Roma themselves are willing
to implement.
4. Conclusion
The age structure of the population, combined
with its deep-seated exclusion, clearly dictate that
for a mainly youthful Roma population education
and entry into the labour market are the key areas
that policy must address. The regressive trend
in knowledge of Lithuanian among younger age
groups could well signify a deepening marginali-
sation that needs considerable time if it is to be
reversed.
70
Given that Roma representation and organisational
capacities remain at low levels, Roma employment
is essentially a matter of seeking individual op-
portunities – and those opportunities, in the case
of most Roma, are very limited. Rare examples of
successful Roma have been achieved through self-
employment essentially supported by intra-commu-
nal ties. Excluded from wider social networks, the
Roma are kept on the margins of society. Roma,
it seems, can only achieve success through the
semi-exotic, niche specialism with which they are
stereotypically associated – fortune telling, Roma
music, etc. It is yet another marginalisation. The
mainstream society fails showing that other paths
to social advancement for Roma are also available
and can be effective
Yet Roma constitute a relatively small group of
population, and the government should be capa-
ble, in terms of both finances and administration, of
developing policies that would make far-reaching
changes in Roma life. The Roma cannot overcome
their exclusion on their own. In terms of employ-
ment, it is clear that any measures undertaken
have to be accessible to and welcomed by Roma
themselves, have to involve employers, and be
supported by policy programmes.
Figure 1 Age structure of Roma and Lithuanian society average, based on 2001 census data
Source: Human Rights Monitoring Institute, March 2005

71
Table 1 Educational attainment rates according to 2001 census (number per 1,000 inhabitants aged 10 & over)

Source: Statistics Lithuania, 2002

(unable to read
Primary School

primary School

tended school)
Literature (but

Not indicated
Not finished

have not at-

Secondary
Education

Education

or write)
Illiterate
Further

School
Higher

Basic
Country average 126 193 272 150 208 38 4.6 3.4 4.7
Roma 41 18 223 149 310 184 39 31 4
Roma (in absolute
79 35 427 286 594 352 75 60
numbers)

Note: The definition of Higher Education is post-18 university-level education; the definition for Further Education
is post-16 non-university level education including adult education.

Table 2 Proportion of population that do not know Lithuanian, 200115

Ethnicity %
Total 7.8
Lithuanians 3.0
Poles 31.0
Russians 27.8
Belarusians 42.2
Ukrainians 35.9
Jews 28.5
Latvians 10.9
Tatars 25.0
Roma 37.8
Germans 17.8
Armenians 32.6
Others 34.9

Source: Statistics Lithuania, 2002, Ex Post Evaluation, 2004

Note: Data based on self-assessment. Percentages include only those who explicitly indicated their mother
tongue was not Lithuanian and either did not know or did not mention that they knew Lithuanian. This number is
divided by the total number of the corresponding ethnic group population.

15
It should be emphasised that there are inherent methodological difficulties with regard to statistics that rely on
selfevaluation. Researchers tend to be sceptical about the accuracy of self-evaluation of linguistic capacity firstly
because the process is subjective, and secondly because respondents may have personal reasons for declaring
their command of or, conversely, lack of knowledge of a particular language. By implication, there is uncertainty
with regard to the reliability of the figures.

72
Table 3 Increase of social distance towards selected groups in Lithuanian society

1990 1999 2005 2006 2007

People of other race 20 – 36 – –
Jews 18 21 31 25 18
Muslims 34 31 51 58 59
Roma/Gypsies 59 62 70 75 68

(Representative survey data; percentage of those not willing to have given groups as their neigh-
bours)

Sources: European Value Survey 1990, 1999; the Institute of Civil Society 2005; The Centre of Ethnic
Studies of the Institute for Social Research, 2006-2007

73
Chapter 5
Introduction.....................................................................................................73

1. General Context.........................................................................................73
1.1 Trends and Extent of Immigration...........................................................73
1.2 Employment Conditions...........................................................................74
1.3 Immigration Policy Highlights...................................................................74
1.4 Perception of Migration among the Spanish Population.........................75

2. Demographic Trends..................................................................................75
2.1 National/Ethnic Composition of Foreign Residents.................................75
2.1.1 Composition of Latin American Population..........................................77
2.2 Regional Distribution of the Immigrant Population..................................77
2.3 Settlement Patterns.................................................................................77
2.4 Age and Gender Structures.....................................................................78
2.5 Population Projections.............................................................................78

3. Socio-economic Situation..........................................................................78
3.1 Poverty/Discrimination and Immigrants...................................................78

4. Immigration and Remittances....................................................................78

5. Diversity in Spanish Businesses...............................................................79

5.1 Caja Madrid..............................................................................................79
5.2 Grupo Vips...............................................................................................79
5.3 DIA...........................................................................................................80
5.4 Small Companies.....................................................................................81

6. Conclusion.................................................................................................82

74
Spain
Spain Becomes Diverse: Main Trends of its Rapid Immigration
Process
Introduction
This chapter is organised in two main parts. The
first part gives a general picture of immigration
in Spain, focusing on several areas of analysis
(demography, labour market, policy issues, socio-
economic situation, etc.) and emphasising the
main social and economic changes brought by
immigration. The second part presents valuable
and innovative case studies that convey, qualita-
tively, experiences of diversity management in the
increasingly ethnically diverse context of Spanish
companies.
When dealing with ethnic diversity in Spain, it
is necessary to take into account the fact that
immigration is a very recent phenomenon; thus,
ethnic diversity, as an analytical concept, has
not yet permeated Spanish society. This implies,
of course, that immigration is crucial to diversity
and, second, the fact that the array of processes
generated by immigration are in constant motion.
This country profile, then, is a picture of what is
currently going on in Spain. The consolidation of
current trends will make the issue of ethnic diver-
sity gain momentum and significance.
Diversity management is gradually becoming an
element in Spanish human resources policies.
Attention is already paid to gender and disability;
now ethnic diversity is part of the most innovative
policies. But despite this, the glass ceiling (as far
as gender is concerned) remains intact, the mini-
mum quotas established by law for people with
disabilities are rarely met and, for the purposes
of this study, the employment of immigrants is a
75
real cultural challenge to organisations that is just
starting to make itself felt.
Mestizaje (from mestizo) is understood here as a
business process specifically marked by its plural-
ity, its mixing of cultures and experiences. Mestiza
companies might express this internally in their
business culture, immigrant human resources, in-
ternational divisions, knowledge management, and
globalisation of capital structure and production
chains; and externally through clients, suppliers,
environments, policies or transnational norms or
policies. While there is no single or strict definition
of a mestiza company, its mestizaje is likely to be
greater the more global the company. Although this
mixing of national origins and cultures, like any
process of change, carries a certain risk, it is also
a source of opportunity and enrichment.
1. General Context
1.1 Trends and Extent of Immigration
The arrival of a substantial inflow of immigrants
over the last few years has completely changed
the picture of migration in Spain. In fact, Spain has
changed from a country of emigration to one of
immigration so that the number of foreigners cur-
rently living in the country amounts to more than
3.5 million, which is equivalent to 8.4 per cent of
the total population. Furthermore, the extraordinary
growth rate of this inflow becomes obvious when
we look at the numbers of immigrants living in
Spain in 1996 – some 542,000, who made up 1.36
per cent of the population.

Figure 1 Evolution of the Foreign Population Living in
Spain, 1996-2005
Source: Municipal Census, 1996-2005
1.2 Employment Conditions
Along with the higher numbers of foreigners liv-
ing in Spain, the numbers of those registered
with Social Security has rocketed over the last
few years, from 335,000 in 1999, to more than
1,803,323 in April 2006. This is the consequence
of the regularisation process detailed in the fol-
lowing section.
As far as employment patterns are concerned,
immigrants mainly work in the construction sector
(around 20 per cent), followed by the tourist sector,
domestic work (especially women), and agricul-
ture. Although most immigrants work for others,
analysts have recently detected that an increas-
ing percentage of those in the labour market are
self-employed. Only three out of ten immigrants
76
were employed in highly skilled jobs in 2004 (10
per cent less than 12 years ago); they were also
substantially more likely than Spanish nationals to
work in a temporary capacity.
1.3 Immigration Policy Highlights
On 30 December 2004, the government passed
the New Regulation of Aliens Law (Reglamento
de la Nueva Ley de Extranjería), after reaching
a consensus with employers’ organisations, trade
unions, the autonomous regions and the federa-
tion of municipalities. This new law established a
regularisation process for migrant workers, as long
as both immigrants and employers met certain
conditions.
The process of regularising migrant workers be-
gan in February 2005 and lasted till 7 May. The
number of applications amounted to 691,655, of
which 573,270 (85 per cent) were accepted, of
which 550,136 (80 per cent) resulted in Social
Security registration.
The regularisation process has benefited immi-
grants of diverse nationalities; it was aimed at fight-
ing the large black economy in Spain, fuelled by
the substantial inflow of undocumented migrants in
recent years. There are two circumstances which
have made this regularisation process different
from previous ones: first of all, the large number
of irregular immigrants affected, second, the fact
that the application for legalisation had to be made
by employers, entailing a formal commitment to
employ the irregular migrant worker.
Before this latest legislation, the main landmarks
in immigration policy were the basic laws, from
2000 onwards, and the foundation of the Forum
for the Social Integration of Immigrants, a public
body accountable to the Ministry of Labour and
Social Affairs whose main responsibility is to offer
information and advice services on immigration-
related issues to the different institutions of the
Spanish executive.
1.4 Perception of Migration among the
Spanish Population
Table 1: Some Perceptions about Immigration in Spain
Source: CIS (Centro de Investigaciones Sociologicas) Barometer, 2001-2004
2. Demographic Trends
2.1 National/Ethnic Composition of
Foreign Residents
Today the foreign population in Spain amounts to
more than 3.5 million which is equivalent to 8.4
per cent of the total population of the country.
77
Traditionally, immigration was not seen as of major
concern to the Spanish population. Nevertheless,
this has been gradually shifting over the last few
years and immigration is currently perceived as a
crucial issue. As the CIS Barometer (May 2006)
pointed out, immigration was ranked second
among problems affecting Spanish society (46 per
cent of respondents), just below unemployment
(49 per cent), but ahead of insecurity and crime
(28 per cent), housing (27 per cent) or terrorism
(20 per cent).
Latin Americans are the largest group of foreign
residents, accounting for 1,432,000 persons (38.8
per cent of the total foreign population in 2005),
followed closely by Europeans, that account for
almost 1,336,041 persons (36.2 per cent of the
total foreign population). African residents amount
to 705,000 people which is 19.1 per cent of the
total foreign population.
If we look at single nationalities, Moroccans are
most numerous (505,373), slightly above Ec-
uadorians (491,797) and far above Colombians
(268,931). It is worth mentioning that the last two
groups have grown very rapidly during the last
four years.
In 2001-2005, Latin-American immigration in-
creased enormously, so that its share of the total
foreign population has risen about nine percent-
age points.

Table 2: Foreign Residents According to Nationality

Source: Municipal Census, 2001-2005

78
2.1.1 Composition of Latin American
Population
Latin Americans form not only the largest immi-
grant group, but also a highly heterogeneous one.
Immigrants from Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina and
Bolivia are the most numerous, accounting for the
70.5 per cent of the Latin American presence in
Spain in 2005.
In the period 2001-2005, the compound annual
growth rates of immigration from the largest na-
tional groups (Ecuador, Colombia and Argentina)
have differed widely. Argentineans have exhibited
the highest compound growth rates in immigration
(almost by 50 per cent annually).
Figure 2: Distribution of Latin American Immigrant
Population in Spain.
Source: Municipal Census, 2005
79
2.2 Regional Distribution of the
Immigrant Population
The distribution of the immigrant population var-
ies considerably between the Spanish regions. In
2005, Catalonia had the largest number immigrant
population (21.4 per cent of the total), followed
closely by Madrid (20.9 per cent), Valencia (15.6
per cent) and Andalusia (11.3 per cent), account-
ing for 69.2 per cent of the Spanish immigrant
population.
While Catalonia receives relatively more im-
migrants from Africa and the rest of the world,
especially from Asian countries, such as India,
Nepal, Philippines or Pakistan, Madrid has more
immigrants from Latin America, especially Ecuador
and Peru. The tourist destinations of Balearic Is-
lands and Canary Islands, host relatively more EU
nationals (retirees); the latter also, for geographi-
cal reasons, has had immigrants from Mauritania
(34.8 per cent of the total immigrant population)
and from Sierra Leone (25.4 per cent of the total
immigrant population) who have entered Spain il-
legally and under extremely dangerous conditions
during recent years.
2.3 Settlement Patterns
More than 45 per cent of immigrants from non-EU
countries intend to remain in Spain for the foresee-
able future. Quite a liberal approach to immigration
by the Socialist government of Spain let a lot of im-
migrants legalise their status as soon as they arrive
in the country. The table below shows that most of
the immigrants have a legal status in Spain.
Table 3: Foreigners according to Residence Permit, 2004 2.5 Population Projections
Type of permit Number Percentage
Initial 258 320 19,8 If short and medium-term trends are sustained,
First Renewal 390 269 29,9
population projections for 2010 indicate that
the foreign population will climb above 6 million
Second Renewal 230 444 17,7
(Tezanos and Tezanos 2003). This implies a
Permanent 378 528 29,7
substantial increase from the 3,691,547 million
Others 38 480 2,9 in 2005, who make up 8.4 per cent of the total
Total 1 305 041 100 population.
Source: Statistical Yearbook on Alien Status, 2004
3. Socio-economic Situation
2.4 Age and Gender Structures 3.1 Poverty, Discrimination and
Immigrants
The foreign population is a young one, mainly in
the age range 20 to 39 years, which can be seen The immigrant population suffers social exclusion,
as a counterbalance to the ageing of the Spanish which may be manifested in several ways.
population. That this is a young population implies
that it will also have a higher birth-rate than the First, unemployment hits immigrants harder. Of-
Spanish population. ficial figures show that unemployment rates are
higher for immigrants than for the population as
Figure 3: Age Structure of Spain’s Foreign Population, 2005
a whole. Second, along with higher unemploy-
ment rates, immigrants are more vulnerable to
job insecurity, wage discrimination and housing
difficulties.

4. Immigration and Remittances

Remittances are one of the most important side-

effects of immigration, mainly because of the
positive impact they have on the economies of the
countries from which immigrants come. Focusing
on the Spanish case, it is clear that the increase in
immigration during the last decade has resulted in
Source: Municipal Census, 2005. a) higher remittance outflows to immigrants’ home

80
countries and b) an acceleration of these outflows’
annual growth rates.
In 2004, the main destination countries of remit-
tances were16 Ecuador (22.5 per cent), Colombia
(21.3 per cent), Morocco (6.2 per cent) and Ro-
mania (5.6 per cent).
5. Diversity in Spanish
Businesses
The company case studies documented below
are all based on direct contact with the company
involved (primary research), and on occasions
include additional documentary work (secondary
research). While these studies do not represent all
Spanish companies or cover the whole panorama
of diversity management, they do indicate experi-
ences of diversity management in the increasingly
‘mestizo’ context of Spanish companies that are
of interest.
5.1 Caja Madrid
Caja Madrid is one of the biggest banks in Spain.
It differs from strictly commercial banks in that, as
a ‘Savings and Loans’ enterprise, it is a public-
private company assigning considerable financial
resources to its social programmes.
Given the rise in the number of immigrants in the
Regional Community of Madrid (encompassing
16
Percentages in brackets represent the percentage of
each destination country over the total amount of remit-
tance outflows
81
both the city and the larger province), in 2000 Caja
Madrid launched a project to employ immigrants to
deal with its increasing number of foreign clients.
Caja Madrid sought out people with commercial
and office experience who had been in Spain for 3
or 4 years. Since most had no work permits, Caja
Madrid regularised their legal situation and placed
them on a training programme. The results were
excellent; the immigrant workers were ‘very well
appreciated’ by the bank’s foreign clients.
Based on this first experience, Caja Madrid
launched a second programme in 2003, based on
agreements with the Moroccan Employment Office
and universities, to employ people directly from
Morocco. The offer was one-year contracts giving
participants the right to take a master’s degree at
the Francisco de Vitoria University, with special
vocational and professional monitoring. Fifteen
people were selected, of whom 13 were finally
employed. The outcomes were excellent and the
participants adapted exceptionally well.
The results of these experiences were dissemi-
nated by the Human Resources Department to
‘make them visible’ throughout the organisation.
For the first time, the 2005 Caja Madrid Company
Report includes job diversity as a performance
indicator (‘diversity and opportunity’).
5.2 Grupo Vips
The Grupo Vips is one of the largest in the Span-
ish hotel and catering sector, with restaurants
and convenience stores in almost every large or
medium-sized Spanish city.
Whereas in 1999, 9 per cent of its employees were
foreign, by the end of 2002, the figure had risen
to 40 per cent and, by late 2004 a majority of its
workers were immigrants. Its Human Resources
Department told us that ‘immigration is a reality
without which Spain can’t live’, underlining the
fact that the company employs 6,000 immigrants
from over 80 countries, with Colombians being
the largest group.
According to the company, Spanish people today
do not want to work in this sector due to socio-
cultural changes and their better quality of life.
According to the company’s Head of the Human
Resources, Miguel Ángel García: ‘At this point,
immigration becomes strategic and necessary’.
In order to ensure the proper legal integration
of immigrants, Grupo Vips hires people in their
countries of origin, organising the documentation
necessary for them to come to Spain legally. It
offers them permanent contracts ensuring stability
of employment and job security.
5.3 DIA
DIA (Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación,
S.A.) is a chain of small supermarkets with outlets
in several Spanish cities.
In 2005, immigrant workers of some 50 nationali-
ties made up 10 per cent of its staff, working in the
warehouses and stores. While the warehouse is
a more mechanised, closed environment, working
in the stores offers more challenges in terms of
relations with the public.
82
The workers were mainly hired in Spain, having
lived in the country for some time, and were all
legal. DIA has no specific policy on employing im-
migrants, but concentrates more on the workers’
ability to do the job properly than on their countries
of origin. However, it does have a certain amount
of experience in recruiting foreigners in their
home countries. In 2001, it was permitted by the
Regional Community of Madrid to employ foreign
workers under a quota scheme – at the time, the
company needed 52 workers in different depart-
ments (fresh goods, fish, meat and bakery) and
had found it difficult to recruit Spanish workers.
In order to simplify matters, the company decided
to select workers from just one country, Colombia.
Two people from the Human Resources Depart-
ment travelled to Colombia, after liaising with the
Colombian National Employment Office. DIA finally
selected 24 new staff. The Spanish Consulate
in Bogotá issued the necessary visas and other
documents, and the workers arrived in Spain in
November 2003, where representatives of the
company met them at the airport.
The new recruits were put up in a hotel for a week
while they found permanent accommodation. Dur-
ing their first week at work, each one was met by
the Head of the Human Resources in their work
centre. All joined the company on permanent
contracts for a 40-hour week. Twenty-two of the
24 workers are still with the company, and one has
been promoted to the Head of the Bakery Depart-
ment supplying all Catalonia. DIA report that the
workers show a remarkable dedication to customer
service as well as an attitude for self-betterment.
From the corporate angle, DIA have realised that
its activities have repercussions on developing
countries where it does business and also acts as
a client or buyer. The company points out that in
the countries concerned, it generates employment,
provides training and fosters the creation of small
businesses in a franchise format. As a purchaser,
the company is analysing how best it should op-
erate, as a result of which it has launched a pilot
social audit project. This is a fraught task, given
that a social audit will confront the company with
the economic/social realities of developing coun-
tries. It ‘shows that although we can try to improve
small aspects, the democratic, social demographic
and economic evolution of the country is not in our
hands. There are numerous political aspects that
are beyond the scope of the private company.’
Regarding the concept of the ‘mestiza company’,
DIA sees today’s society as taking the first steps
in a process of integration, mobility and manage-
ment of people which is set to grow and become
increasingly characterised by ethnic diversity. Com-
panies planning to stay around in the future have
to assimilate all these factors. A company doesn’t
survive over time by ignoring social changes.
DIA declares itself to be a company with an open
culture, a necessary factor in a firm with an obvi-
ous international orientation such as it has. Open
culture is seen as a culture that is sufficiently flex-
ible to accept differences and makes the most of
any synergies arising from new and unexpected
interactions that may arise. This also implies that
mistakes can be and are made during any process
of integration: ‘learning from these mistakes is the
best way to learn how to manage differences’.
83
5.4 Small Companies
We visited six small companies in Madrid’s
working-class neighbourhood of Vallecas to obtain
information on their foreign employees. There were
two internet cafés, two bars, a hairdressing salon
and a fruit shop. Both internet cafés had been set
up by foreigners living in the neighbourhood; the
other small businesses were Spanish owned by
foreign staff. All had 1-2 foreign employees.
In every case (except for the internet cafés), the
reason for hiring foreign workers was the inability
to find Spanish staff. All agreed that their foreign
employees worked well and showed an interest
in their jobs. Those employed were young, mostly
Latin American men; there was also an Ecuadorian
woman, and one Iraqi and one Romanian man.
None of the companies had specifically decided
to hire immigrants. They all said that they made
no distinctions when hiring workers, as long as
they did their jobs properly. All six company own-
ers agreed that their recruits generally worked
well, helped to create a good atmosphere, made
the company a friendlier, more familiar place and
communicated easily with clients and customers.
All agreed that they would continue to consider
hiring other foreign workers.
All foreign workers interviewed (one for each com-
pany) said that they felt at home, appreciated and
did not suffer discrimination.
Only the owner of the hairdressing salon consid-
ered that he took specific action relating to foreign
workers, because of the policy of sending them
to hairdressing courses. But the lack of policy
concerning foreign workers is understandable in
the case of small and medium-sized companies,
which, at least in Spain, rarely have any kind of
human resources policies at all.
Most of the owners felt that they had ‘open’ com-
panies, in as much as they are willing to meet
people from different origins and to respect their
cultures; they are open to different experiences
and other possibilities.
6. Conclusion
Spain offers enormous scope for analysing the
dynamics of immigration, as not only is this a
relatively recent phenomenon, but it has also
developed at a great rate (for example, immigra-
tion in 2005 is four times what it was in 1996). In
this sense, it is an appropriate arena for studying
all the effects of migration, including the ways
in which the host population’s perceptions may
gradually change.
It also offers special scope for analysing Latin
American immigration to Europe, as well as an
opportunity to study the features and effects of a
very particular kind of immigration process: one
which entails the rejoining of two cultures, the
Latin American and the Spanish, strongly linked
culturally and linguistically but also a historically
divided for many years.
The most recent policy initiative in Spain, aimed at
managing the increase in immigration during the
84
last few years resulted in high numbers of social
security registrations. In fact, Spain has completed
what is probably one of the largest extraordinary
regularisation campaigns of irregular immigrants
to date.
Immigrants are more prone to social exclusion, to
housing difficulties, to job insecurity and to lower
wages, amongst other constraints. But they do
increasingly have access to social services, which
has been met with increasing discontent among
the poorest Spanish families.
All of the above implies that Spanish companies
will need to embrace a more mestizo character
in keeping with the wider social and economic
environment. The number of immigrants arriving
in Spain and the expansion of a growing number
of Spanish companies overseas is giving rise
to organisational cultures valuing greater ethnic
diversity. Any company, any organisation that em-
ploys people has always been a meeting point for
different cultures. During most of the last century,
the cultural environment in Spanish companies
was simple: most of the workers were men from
the different regions: Andalusia, Extremadura,
Catalonia, Galicia, etc. Today that environment is
more complex, with the entrance into the labour
market of women en masse, the participation of
groups such as the disabled, and, since 2000, a
growing diversity of ethnicities and nationalities. In
this lies the challenge of multicultural or ‘diversity’
management.
85
Chapter 6
Introduction.....................................................................................................85

1. Economic Activity and Inactivity................................................................85

2. Employment...............................................................................................87

3. Unemployment...........................................................................................88

4. Type of Work and Occupational Structure................................................89

5. Pay Rates..................................................................................................90

6. Self-employment and Minority Ethnic Businesses....................................91

7. Ethnic Penalties.........................................................................................91

7.1 Discrimination in the Workplace..............................................................93

8. Consequences of Low Minority Ethnic Communities’ Activity in the

Labour Market................................................................................................94

9. Future Trends.............................................................................................94

10. Good Practice..........................................................................................95

86
United Kingdom
Ethnic Diversity and Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in
the UK
Introduction
There are some 4.4 million Small and Medium-
sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Britain which account
for 99.9 per cent of all UK businesses. SMEs are
responsible for more than half (58 per cent) of all
UK employment and more than half (51.3 per cent)
of the UK’s estimated business turnover (Office for
National Statistics 2005, cited in Turnbull 2006).
Thus, it is not surprising that SMEs are considered
a major engine of economic growth and as particu-
larly significant for generating employment.
The population of the UK overall is undergoing
the same ageing trend as in most West European
countries and, correspondingly, its working-age
population is declining dramatically. There are
worrying projections that, by 2014, there will be
more people aged over 65 than under 16. And
this will happen in less than 10 years. That is the
general picture. But the age structure of minority
ethnic communities is developing differently. Their
share of the working-age population has been
increasing, reaching 3.26 million or 9.3 per cent
of the 35.2 million people of working age in 2004
(1.4 per cent higher than in spring 2001). This
rise is likely to continue (Commission for Racial
Equality 2006)17.
How well are UK SMEs responding to these demo-
graphic changes, and what support do they need?
These are the issues of concern to policymakers
17
Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has now
been replaced by the Equality and Human Rights
Commission. For more information, please see
www.equalityhumanrights.com.
87
and businesses alike – as well as to current and
potential employees. PRIAE’s Contribution of Eth-
nic Minority Employees to Small and Medium-sized
Enterprises (CEMESME) project was born out of
the fact that there is much for SMEs to gain by
capitalising on Britain’s multicultural society. There
are, however, considerable gaps in knowledge
and information on how SMEs, from both majority
ethnic groups and minority ethnic groups, perform
when ethnic diversity is factored in; and also how
they see minority ethnic employees’ contribution
to business performance.
1. Economic Activity and
Inactivity
In the past decade, the minority ethnic population
in the UK has grown from 3 million or 5.5 per cent
of the total to 4.6 million today, accounting for 8
per cent of the total population today. The main
cause of the recent growth has been the relatively
high fertility rates of the BME population (Patel
2003). Migration – both internal to the EU and
external – has also played a part in this. In 2004,
the median age for White people was 40 years,
compared to 27 years for non-White (Commission
for Racial Equality 2006). As noted earlier, the
minority ethnic population of working age is likely
to continue increasing.
But despite this, only 65.3 per cent of the minority
ethnic population of working-age were economi-
cally active in 2004. Among all groups, men are
more likely to be economically active than women.
The levels of economic activity also vary between
individual minority groups (see Figure 1).
As we can see from Figure 1, the economic activ-
ity rates of Indian and Black Caribbean males are
close to those of White males. Black Caribbean
women are the most economically active female
group, even compared to White women. Chinese,
Bangladeshi and Pakistani males have the lowest
economic activity rates among men from other
population groups. More than two-thirds of Paki-
stani and Bangladeshi women of working age are
not in the labour market (Commission for Racial
Equality 2006).

Figure 1 Percentage of working age economically active, Great Britain 2004

Source: Labour Force Survey, 2005 in Commission for Racial Equality, 200618

This graph was published in Employment and Ethnicity factfile, 2006 by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE).
18

CRE has now been replaced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. For more information, please see
www.equalityhumanrights.com.

88
2. Employment
According to the Office for National Statistics
(2004), in 2004 about 58.9 per cent of minority
ethnic people of working age were in employment,
compared to 74.6 per cent of the total working-
age population. But the employment rates vary
depending on which group is looked at. Figure 2
demonstrates that Bangladeshis (41.2 per cent)
and Pakistanis (45.8 per cent) had the lowest
employment rates, compared to White people.
At 68.5 per cent and 68 per cent, respectively,
Indians and Black Caribbean people had the high-
est employment rates compared to other minority
ethnic groups.

Figure 2 Percentage of working age in employment, Great Britain 2004

Source: Labour Force Survey, 2005 in Commission for Racial Equality, 200619

This graph was published in Employment and Ethnicity factfile, 2006 by the Commission for Racial equality (CRE).
19

CRE has now been replaced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. For more information, please see
www.equalityhumanrights.com.

89
In 2004, people from minority ethnic groups repre-
sented 7.3 per cent of all people in employment.
There are some differences in employment rates
according to age group. The highest employment
rate was in the 35-44 age group for all populations;
in this category 83.3 per cent of White people were
in employment, but only 69.8 percent of ethnic
minorities. Only 38.1 per cent of young adults
(16-24) from ethnic minorities were in employment
in 2004, compared to 63 per cent of White people
in the same category.
3. Unemployment
In 2004 the unemployment rates for ethnic minori-
ties were 2.28 per cent higher than for White peo-
ple (see Table 1). This is the general figure for all
minority ethnic populations but for some groups the
figure is even higher. Bangladeshis, Black Africans
and Pakistanis have the highest unemployment
rates. For instance, in 2004, the unemployment
rate among Bangladeshi men of working age was
15.7 per cent, for Black African men it was12.9 per

Table 1 Unemployment rates for people of working age, by ethnic group and sex, Great Britain 2004
Source: Labour Force Survey, Spring 2004 to Winter 2004/5, in Commission for Racial Equality, 200620

This table was published in Employment and Ethnicity factfile, 2006 by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE).
20

CRE has now been replaced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. For more information, please see
www.equalityhumanrights.com.

90
cent, whereas it was just 4.6 per cent for White
men of working age. The unemployment rates for
men and women are fairly similar but Pakistani
women of working age have an unemployment
rate (20.2 per cent) five times higher than that of
White women. The lowest unemployment rates
are among Indian and Chinese people.
4. Type of Work and Occupational
Structure
In 2004, over a third of black and minority ethnic
(BME) employees (35 per cent) worked in hotels,
distribution and transport, and communications.
But they were far less likely than White people to
work in manufacturing industries; only about 14 per
cent, compared to almost 25 per cent of the White
working population. The Bangladeshi population is
the most highly concentrated in hotels and cater-
ing, wholesale and retail, distribution and transport,
and communication, with almost 66 per cent of
those in employment confined to these sectors.
Almost half the Chinese (47 per cent) and Pakista-
nis (46 per cent) who were in work in 2004 were
also concentrated in these sectors. Around 25 per
cent of people from the Mixed group, Black African
group and Other backgrounds group worked in
private service industries (see Figure 3).

Figure 3 Percentage of each ethnic minority group working in each industry, Great Britain 2004
Source: Labour Force Survey, Spring 2004 to Winter 2004/5, 2005 in Commission for Racial Equality, 200621

This table was published in Employment and Ethnicity factfile, 2006 by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE).
21

CRE has now been replaced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. For more information, please see
www.equalityhumanrights.com.

91
Those ethnic minorities working in the public sector
tend to be concentrated in lower-grade jobs.
In general, men of all ethnic groups are more likely
than women to hold senior or managerial positions
or work in skilled trades; women are usually found
in administrative and secretarial jobs. Minority
ethnic men and women tend to be concentrated
in sales and customer service jobs. And the per-
centage of minority ethnic men in skilled trades
is much lower than for White men (11.7 per cent
compared with 20.2 per cent).
5. Pay Rates
Black and minority ethnic average earnings in
2004 were £7.50 per hour, compared with £8.00
for White workers (see Table 2). But the minority
ethnic group with the highest average pay rates
was the Indian (£8.41). The lowest pay rates were
among Pakistanis and Bangladeshis who earned
an average of £6.25 per hour. The earnings for
almost all groups have been increasing since
1998, but the rate of change has varied between
groups. For instance, in 2000, average pay for
Indian employees was £6.57 per hour which, by
2002, had only increased to £7.00. However, for
Black employees, it increased from £7.04 in 2000
to £7.41 in 2002.

Table 2 Average earnings per hour for employees aged 18 and over, by ethnic group, 1998-2004 (UK)
Source: Low Pay Commission, 2005 in Commission for Racial Equality, 200622

22
Table 2 Average earnings per hour for employees aged 18 and over, by ethnic group, 1998-2004 (UK)
Source: Low Pay Commission, 2005 in Commission for Racial Equality, 2006

92
6. Self-employment and Minority
Ethnic Businesses
There is evidence which suggests that minority
ethnic groups have high levels of self-employment
– spurred, in part, by potential or actual experi-
ence of discrimination in the paid employment
sector. Self-employment rates are especially high
amongst Asians.
There are about 250,000 ethnic minority busi-
nesses throughout the UK which contribute about
£13 billion a year to the British economy. Minority
ethnic individuals are believed to be responsible for
10 per cent of all business start-ups in the UK.
But it is more difficult for BME entrepreneurs to
open new businesses than it is for their White
counterparts. A study conducted in 2001 by the
Department of the Environment, Transport and
the Regions demonstrated that deprived, inner-
city areas are not really attractive locales for new
businesses, which are more likely to be set up out
of town or in peripheral areas with easy access
to major roads. Since minority ethnic communities
live mainly in highly urbanised areas, this eco-
nomic shift has acted disproportionately against
them (Dabinett et al 2001).
Most minority ethnic businesses share many of
the problems and have similar support needs to
all small enterprises, such as problems in raising
funds or a lack of core managerial competen-
cies. As black and minority ethnic businesses are
generally much smaller than those of their White
93
counterparts and tend to be located in inner cit-
ies, these types of problems are even more acute
for them.
But apart from the general problems common to
all, minority ethnic businesses also have distinctive
needs which require attention. Among these are
a lack of access to finance, language barriers, a
lack of confidence among business owners (and
potential owners), cultural issues that can affect
access to and delivery of business support, the
effects of bureaucracy and prejudice, succession
planning issues, and the effects of the decline of
some traditional markets (Ram and Smallbone
2001).
It is clear that minority ethnic businesses are an
important and significant part of the UK’s Small
Business sector but, at the same time, they do
face more barriers than their White counterparts.
Yet their success is of great importance to the
country’s economy. Therefore, there is an ur-
gent need for the government’s support to help
overcome the barriers such businesses face. But
their greatest challenge is to capitalise on the
talents of the increasing number of young minor-
ity ethnic entrepreneurs and so move from being
traditional family businesses to larger, mainstream
enterprises.
7. Ethnic Penalties
Some BME groups and individuals are doing
well in the labour market and in the education
system.
 • The percentage of black and minority ethnic
first year first degree students rose from 16.9
per cent of the total number of students in
2001/2 to 17.2 per cent in 2002/3
• In 2001/02 people from Chinese, Indian,
Black African and Asian Other backgrounds
were more likely to have a degree compared
to their White counterparts
• In 2002, 32 per cent of Black Caribbean and
44 per cent of Black African people were
working towards a qualification, compared
with just 18 per cent of White students.
• Three quarters of Indian young people are
in full-time education, twice the proportion of
White young people.
Source: Business in the Community, 2004
In 1997 about 25 per cent of people of working age
from black and minority ethnic communities went
on to further education and training after school,
compared with an overall average of 15 per cent.
The data showing the percentage of people receiv-
ing education and further training after school is
shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 People receiving further education and training in the UK, by ethnic group and age, spring 1997
Source: Labour Force Survey, spring 1997, cited in Commission for Racial Equality, 199823

23
This table was published in Education and Training in Britain factfile, 1998 by the Commission for Racial Equality
(CRE). CRE has now been replaced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. For more information, please
see www.equalityhumanrights.com.

94
As Figure 4 shows, White people have the low-
est propensity to take higher education or receive
further training after school.
However, despite the great progress made by
some members of minority ethnic communities in
education, a considerable layer of minority eth-
nic population is still being left behind. Very few
minority ethnic individuals, even those with excel-
lent academic qualifications, get to the top in the
workplace. Worryingly, minority ethnic graduates
experience more difficulties in finding employment
than the majority of the population (National Em-
ployment Panel 2005).
Although, today, the gap in the labour market
between employment rates for ethnic minority
populations and for the mainstream population
is narrowing, these rates are still lower for ethnic
minorities than for the majority population. This
is despite the fact that minority ethnic people in
general are more likely to be concentrated in the
poorest paid sectors and do work that majority
population is reluctant to take on. In addition,
self-employment rates among people from minority
ethnic groups are fairly high. So why is there this
continuing disparity?
The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), that
has now been replaced by the Equality and Hu-
man Rights Commission, cites statistical studies
demonstrating that people from non-White groups
do worse in employment or career progression and
earn less money than their White counterparts,
even after taking into account other factors such
as age, sex, qualifications, place of residence,
95
English language fluency, etc., that could affect
performance (Commission for Racial Equal-
ity 2006). What is termed the ‘ethnic penalty’ is
usually used to explain the various sources of
disadvantage affecting ethnic minorities that lead
to their underachievement in the labour market.
‘Ethnic penalty’ is a much broader concept than
that of discrimination but some authors emphasise
the importance of discrimination to explain the
persistence of ethnic penalties.
7.1 Discrimination in the Workplace
Discrimination takes many forms and has many
targets, including gender, age, disability and race,
and all negatively affect people’s participation in
the labour market. Racial discrimination, the focus
here, has shown itself to be persistent, deep-
rooted and continuing in the labour market.
Several types of evidence, such as that gained
from testing for discrimination, the outcomes of
employment tribunals, the personal testimonies of
minority ethnic individuals, public attitude surveys,
all show that racial discrimination still exists in the
UK. For instance, discrimination tests conducted
in 1996 by the Commission for Racial Equality,
showed that White job applicants were three times
more likely than Asian applicants, and almost five
times more likely than Black applicants, to be
asked to attend an interview.
It is true that the success rate for racial discrimina-
tion cases brought before employment tribunals
fell from 16 per cent in 1999/2000 to 3 per cent in
2004/5. But not all racial discrimination incidents
are reported and, even when they are, many of
them are settled before going to the tribunal.
These persisting patterns of discrimination and
harassment are of great concern and require
appropriate, targeted policy responses. Without
them, minority ethnic communities will continue
to be excluded and segregation in employment
can only intensify.
8. Consequences of Low Minority
Ethnic Communities’ Activity in
the Labour Market
This underachievement in the labour market and
concentration in the poorest paid sectors results
in poor housing, difficult living conditions and
general poverty.
More black and minority ethnic families live in
unfit housing than their White counterparts. Cur-
rently, overcrowding and the numbers living in poor
quality accommodation are greater, and residents’
satisfaction rates lower, among most black and
minority communities than the majority population.
However, there are significant variations between
communities (Home Office 2005). Moreover, ethnic
minorities’ homelessness rates are three times
higher than for others. And in four out of five local
authorities with significant concentrations of minor-
ity ethnic populations, levels of business activity
are lower than the national average (Cabinet Of-
fice 2003).
So what can be done to remove these inequalities
and ethnic penalties?
96
9. Future Trends
Both lower fertility rates and lower mortality rates
have contributed to the trend of an ageing popula-
tion. As already noted, there are projections that,
by 2014, there will be more over-65s than under
16s. According to the Lord Leitch’s Review of Skills
(2006), by 2020 adults aged 50-65 will account
for 60 per cent of the growth in the working-age
population – but most of these people will be either
retired or close to retirement. Moreover, the UK’s
skills base is weaker than in other developed coun-
tries. The UK lags behind Canada, the USA and
even some developing countries such as China
and India in the percentage of adults holding a
degree-level qualification (Leitch 2006).
It has also been estimated that, between 1999
and 2009, half of the growth in the working-age
population will have come from minority ethnic
groups (National Employment Panel 2005). This
growth is a consequence of the generally young
age profile and high birth rates of the ethnic mi-
nority population.
The ageing of the overall population, the increase
in the minority ethnic population, in combination
with its underachievement in the labour market, will
have serious implications for health, social services
and social security arrangements. It represents a
major – and as yet largely unexamined – challenge
for the government.
Unless radical changes are implemented, govern-
ment and business in particular will soon be confront-
ed with the need to cope with increased labour and
skills shortages. Small businesses will be especially
at risk; due to their limited resources and in the face
of growing globalised competition, they will find these
problems particularly difficult to solve.
Therefore, it is crucial for businesses and for the
government to capitalise on certain population
groups, including minority ethnic communities.
Developed nations, including the UK, can not
succeed as low cost economies; however, they
can rely on their capacity to innovate to drive
economic growth (Leitch 2006). As noted earlier,
more minority ethnic individuals go on to further
education and training after school compared to
White adults. Their skills and qualifications will be
vital for the country’s future economy. But they
need to be given the opportunity to develop those
skills further, to support the changing nature of
the economy. Employers, in their turn, must show
themselves capable of harnessing those workers’
skills and rewarding them properly. All businesses,
but especially SMEs, need to adapt, otherwise,
economic growth will be retarded and certain
population groups, including ethnic minorities, will
be left behind.
97
10. Good Practice
Good practice consists of those techniques which,
developed through practical experience and
research, enable an organisation to achieve its
desired results. Good practice is also something
that others can learn from.
The Policy Research Institute on Ageing and Eth-
nicity (PRIAE) has first-hand evidence to prove that
ethnic diversity can benefit companies, particularly
SMEs. This is through its primary research of 300
SMEs surveyed and the development of resources
to affect changes within the SME organisations in
practice: mentoring of managers by international
mature business students and the use of learning
materials on diversity.
In the words of Lord Herman Ouseley, Chairman
of PRIAE and former Executive Chairman of the
Commission for Racial Equality, ‘Companies are
often reluctant to engage with diversity, fearing it
will drive up resourcing costs and cause conflict
between employees. They refuse to consider that
benefits far outweigh costs. British business needs
diversity to perform, diversity to compete and di-
versity to survive and succeed.’
PRIAE’s CEMESME project conducts a Profes-
sional International Mentoring Programme. It
involves setting up a link between an experienced
minority ethnic postgraduate student as a ‘Mentor’
and a local SME aiming to develop its international
business activities. UK and overseas minority eth-
nic postgraduate business students, from diverse
professional backgrounds and based at Bradford
University School of Management, are taken on as
‘Mentors’ to assist a company’s exporting activities
for up to 4 months. The Mentors’ skills and experi-
ence are applied to specific issues, based on the
company’s needs, in the areas of international
marketing and human resource management. They
formulate ideas for senior management and exam-
ine their attitudes and approaches to workforce
diversity. On completion of the programme, the
company receives an individually tailored business
action plan and an assessment report with recom-
mendations for action. This is accompanied by an
improved understanding, on the company’s part,
of the business benefits in employing an ethnically
diverse workforce. This is what some managing di-
rectors had to say at the end of the programme:
‘We were looking for a way to identify new op-
portunities but did not have the resources to do
it. The PRIAE scheme enabled us to brief the
Mentors in a professional and commercial way.
Our expectations of the work to be produced were
actually quite low, how wrong could we be! The
work was professionally produced and enabled us
to make important decisions about our longer-term
strategic objectives, much sooner than we thought.
Would we do it again? I can’t wait for next year.’
Mick Karol, Managing Director at the Blueprint
Innovation Ltd. Commenting on Ms Wei Ren, Brad-
98
ford University School of Management (MA)
‘A postgraduate engineer with instrumental knowl-
edge who immediately understood my product
range and how to apply them. This meant that
we could concentrate on the market requirements
with confidence.’
John Slevin, Managing Director Hawker Electronics
Ltd commenting on Ms Natalia Gonzalez, Bradford
University School of Management (MA)
The programme was also beneficial to students:
‘I have been able to apply the tools and techniques
learnt during my MBA to the practical situations
involved during the PRIAE International Mentor-
ing Programme. I would highly recommend this
programme for future students.’
Mentor Student Mr Kamran Saeed on the Bradford
MBA working with VMI Blackburn Ltd.
When the Managing Director of VMI Blackburn
Limited, one of the companies which was involved
in the PRIAE Mentoring Project was asked about
the benefits of diversity, he said:
‘At VMI we believe it helps us retain and attract
best people. It also allows us to provide our
customers with the most innovative products and
services which, in turn, means that we have more
motivated staff. Those staff are the people who
deliver the service ultimately to our customers and
it helps us to retain them for a longer term.’
Lord Karan Bilimoria, the founder of ‘Cobra Beer’
believes that diversity in his company has been
key to the success of the business, now valued at
£100 million (Moules 2007). He says: ‘It is amaz-
ing, but diversity creates a buzz.’
99
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 Lithuanian Children’s Fund
Phone (+370 5) 262 8836, fax (+370 5) 262 7180
E-mail: info@lvf.lt
Head Office: Žygimantų g. 6, LT-01102 Vilnius, Lithuania
Post address: PO Box 2482, LT-09018 Vilnius-51, Lithuania