A Research Project Funded by the European Social Fund and the University of Bolton
Background
Despite equal opportunities legislation, UK first destination statistics published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) show more unemployment among ethnic minorities. For example, statistics for 2000/2001 showed 11.4% of ethnic minority graduates as still seeking work six months after graduation compared with 6.5% of white graduates (HESA, 2002). Higher ethnic minority unemployment among graduates mirrors the situation for ethnic Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean people more generally, these groups experiencing greater unemployment and lower earnings than Whites.
Although the above problems might be a partial result of employer discrimination, previous US work suggests that ethnic minority perceptions of discrimination are also likely to contribute to these problems by influencing job-hunting behaviour. Our project sought to examine whether this is the case, and, if so how these problems might be overcome from both the perspective of the job-seeker and the employer.
The Project
The project started in January 2004 and ran until August 2006. The main researchers on the project were four members of the University of Bolton's Department of Psychology & Life Sciences: Professor Rob Ranyard, Dr. John Charlton, Ms. Susan Taylor and Ms. Audrey Peterson, who left the project towards its end and was replaced by Ms. Andrea Taylor. Dr. Claire Hewson, another member of staff at Bolton, and Ms. June Ogden, a careers advisor with extensive experience of working with unemployed young people from ethnic minorities, also joined the team towards the project's end.
The four initial members of the research team, Dr Charlton, Audrey Peterson, Susan Taylor, Prof Ranyard.
To obtain as broad a perspective as possible, data was collected from students leaving a large number of UK universities. A questionnaire methodology was used with data being collected using both paper-based and Internet-based questionnaires. In addition to demographic information, we collected information about perceptions of the difficulty of obtaining jobs, perceptions of jobs' characteristics, people's preferred jobs, and patterns of job-seeking behaviour both while in higher education and for up to six months after leaving. In addition to ethnicity considerations, gender differences within and between ethnic categories were also considered.
In the section below several documents can be downloaded detailing the project and its findings.
Outputs available for downloading
Below is a list of outputs that have been produced by the project so far. Each output can be downloaded by clicking on the relevant emboldened text. All outputs are in PDF format and therefore require the reader to have a copy of Adobe Acrobat installed on their computer.
A major aim of the project was to produce an Information and Advice Pack for ethnic minority students and graduates to counteract the negative effects of perceived discrimination on post-higher education job-seeking behaviour. This advice pack, Career Decisions and Job Hunting in the Real World: A Self-Help Guide for Ethnic Minority Students and Graduates, provides career and job seeking advice and information for students and graduates of all ethnic backgrounds. It is in the final stages of completion and those parts currently available for download are indicated below with a link to the PDF file.
Some parts of the guide include exercises that can be completed either off-line or on-line. The on-line exercises will be available shortly.
In addition to dissemination of findings through this web site, it is planned to disseminate the project's findings through academic journals. Details of papers accepted for publication will be placed on this site as they are published.