The UK business landscape has suffered considerable obstacles over the past few years. Sadly, experts say there are no immediate signs of this abating, with over half a million businesses fighting for survival.
Diversity and meaningful inclusion are crucial for recovery. In fact, research shows that ethnically diverse companies have a 39% increased likelihood of financial outperformance, evidencing the talent marginalised communities offer.
To highlight the progress needed to be made with diversity in UK leadership, analyses of the data* set out to identify the distribution of ethnic groups across different job roles.
Ethnic group |
Occupation |
||||||||
Managers, directors and senior officials |
Professional occupations |
Associate professional and technical occupations |
Administrative and secretarial occupations |
Skilled trades occupations |
Caring, leisure and other service occupations |
Sales and customer service occupations |
Process, plant and machine operatives |
Elementary occupations |
|
White: English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British |
77.60% |
69.93% |
77.35% |
79.17% |
80.90% |
74.55% |
74.22% |
68.54% |
66.14% |
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller, Roma or Other White |
7.60% |
8.40% |
7.24% |
6.01% |
8.84% |
6.85% |
5.81% |
13.03% |
14.73% |
Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh |
7.93% |
11.49% |
6.77% |
7.58% |
4.90% |
7.02% |
11.65% |
10.48% |
8.55% |
Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African |
2.14% |
4.37% |
3.40% |
3.13% |
1.75% |
7.11% |
3.51% |
3.69% |
5.15% |
Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups |
1.78% |
2.34% |
2.70% |
1.93% |
1.43% |
2.11% |
2.33% |
1.44% |
2.20% |
Other ethnic group |
1.70% |
2.02% |
1.49% |
1.32% |
1.52% |
1.75% |
1.98% |
2.25% |
2.71% |
White: Irish |
1.25% |
1.46% |
1.04% |
0.86% |
0.67% |
0.62% |
0.49% |
0.56% |
0.51% |
When we break things down by job role, we can see that elementary occupations are the most diverse, with around a third coming from ethnic minorities. These jobs typically require a lower skill level and may not need formal educational qualifications.
This is followed by process, plant and machine operatives (31.46%) and professional occupations (30.07%).
On the other hand, skilled trades occupations are the least diverse, with under a fifth (19.1%) coming from ethnic minorities, followed by administrative and secretarial occupations (20.83%).
Generally, the data shows the disparities in the UK workforce, suggesting systemic barriers to entry in higher-status and higher-paying roles. On the other hand, the greater diversity seen in sales and customer service occupations and elementary occupations shows the socio-economic factors and educational barriers faced.
Professional occupations buck the trend somewhat by showing higher diversity levels (30.07%), indicating progress in making these roles more accessible to a broader range of individuals.
Findings in detail
- In 2020, 6% of SME employers were led by minority ethnic groups, a rate largely unchanged since 2015. Indian-origin business owners are the most common among them, primarily leading micro-businesses. Black Africans have the lowest representation among minority ethnic group-led SMEs.
- Minority ethnic group-led businesses are most often found in the information and communication sector (9%), followed by accommodation and food services (7%). The lowest representation is in primary sectors (0%) and education (1%).
- Ethnic minority businesses are mostly in England, where they make up 6% of SMEs, compared to just 2% in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. London has the highest concentration of ethnic minority businesses (16%) due to its large ethnic minority population.
- A 2020 survey showed that 58% of aspiring Indian entrepreneurs and 42% of aspiring Asian and other ethnic minority entrepreneurs abandoned their business ideas due to difficulties in securing finance. A quarter of Black entrepreneurs reported closing their businesses due to financial challenges.
- More than half (53%) of aspiring and established Black entrepreneurs said they experienced racism or discrimination, with 84% identifying racism as a barrier to their entrepreneurial efforts.
