Throughout the UK, people from BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) groups are much more likely to be in poverty (with an income of less than 60 per cent of the median household income) than white British people. Nearly three-quarters of 7-year-old Pakistani and Bangladeshi children and just over half of those black children of the same age are living in poverty. About one in four white 7-year-olds are classed as living in poverty.

About one in four black Caribbean and Bangladeshi households do not have a family member in employment. This figure is slightly less for black African and Pakistani households. Of white British households, roughly 15 per cent do not have a family member in employment.

In 2011, according to the Office for National Statistics, 56 per cent of black males aged 16-24 in the UK were unemployed – more than double the proportion of white males in the same age group.. Between 2008 and 2011 the unemployment rate for black people aged 16-24 increased at almost twice the rate of white people in the same age group.

According to the Trust for London and the New Policy Institute, more than one third of Pakistani and Bangladeshi employees in the capital are paid below the London Living Wage (£8.30 per hour): a proportion which is over twice as high as white British employees. irr.org.uk