Ethnic minority graduates from lower socio-economic backgrounds are 45% less likely to be offered an entry-level professional role than more advantaged white applicants.

These findings come from a new report from researchers at UCL, which found that UK graduates from low socio-economic backgrounds (SEBs) are 32% less likely to receive a job offer than those from more privileged backgrounds. Asian applicants from low SEBs were 29% less likely to receive an offer than white applicants.

UCL and researchers from Oxford Brookes University looked at diversity characteristics including SEB (basing advantage on whether the main earning parent of the applicant worked in a professional occupation), gender and ethnicity as well as university ranking, subject choice, region of origin, office location, access to professional networks, work experience and the type of role chosen.

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Using these parameters they compared the likelihood of being recruited for these candidates with similar candidates.

Even when accounting these factors, many low SEB candidates faced “large unexplained disadvantages”, the research found. Low SEB candidates were 18% less likely to receive a job offer than “like for like” candidates from a professional background, for example. For black candidates, this rose to 33%.

The researchers concluded that these “job offer gaps” are 50% down to lower SEB candidates not passing the initial online application sift and psychometric testing, and the other half down to failing the face-to-face recruitment process. For black candidates, they were more likely not to pass the initial online stage.

Professor Lindsey Macmillan, director of UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society and author of the report, said this was the first research to show such candidates being overlooked at the application stage, which leads to under-representation in many industries.

“Promoting diversity in the workplace is hugely beneficial to the UK economy, as previous research shows that countries that are more inclusive are more productive. Professional occupations also offer more job security together with better salary prospects,” she said.

“While previous work has shown that working class and ethnic minority young people are underrepresented in these occupations, it has not been clear to date whether this is because they are not applying to these roles, or if they are applying but just not being recruited.”

Co-author Dr Claire Tyler, added that many of the employers in the sample had proactive social mobility strategies or were ranked in the Social Mobility Employer Index, yet low SEB candidates still faced barriers.

She said: “These barriers may be even larger for employers who are at the beginning of their social mobility journey.

“Employers who can access untapped talent pools to attract, hire and retain the best UK talent will be better prepared for skills shortages, longer term declining birth rates and the forecast growth in professional jobs over the coming decade.”

Graduates from lower SEBs were not the only ones to be affected – recruitment for apprenticeship or school-leaver roles was also biased towards more privileged applicants.

Low SEB applicants were 17% less likely to be recruited than their wealthier counterparts, and Black and Asian applicants were 43% and 35% less likely respectively, despite being over-represented in applications.

White applicants from low SEBs were 20% less likely to be recruited than their more privileged white peers, it found.

The research did reveal that internships were a popular vehicle to build a more diverse talent pipeline. Black applicants were 20% more likely to have been recruiters to an internship while at university than their white or Asian peers. However, internship applicants were more likely to be from advantaged backgrounds, from London or southern England, or to have attended a Russell Group university.

Privately educated applicants were twice as prominent in applications for internships than state school applicants, and were offered internships at a similar rate. This means state-educated applicants are just as likely to be offered an internship, but less likely to apply so miss out.

Across all early careers routes, women were under-represented, despite the fact that those who do apply are more likely to receive offers than men, even taking into account their background and ethnicity.

The researchers urged universities to better support disadvantaged students to enter the jobs market, encouraging them to apply early to graduate schemes and seek out more guidance on internships.

Dr Emily Tanner, programme head at the Nuffield Foundation said: “This important research shows that closing education attainment gaps is not enough to improve social mobility.

“By identifying where in the recruitment process disparities occur for different groups of young people, this novel research is an important first step for designing more equitable approaches.”

 

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