Islam Times - Black community unemployment rate well over 40%

Islam Times - 19 year old Shane is like many young people. Energetic and ambitious with lots of drive. A best young achiever at the European Social Fund, he’s just completed an apprenticeship in business at IT.

But like many young people in Britain he can’t find work. And because he’s young, British and BLACK the odds are heavily stacked against him.

A disproportionate 55-percent of black men aged 16-24 are unemployed. It’s a figure that has doubled in just three years, and is twice as high as the figure for young WHITE men.

For two years Shane has been working with Clarissa in Action Acton a grassroots youth employment service in West London.

It’s not just a problem from black men either. It is across the board. Unemployment in the black community is five and a half times higher than the national average. Some have questioned whether the government is doing enough to tackle the disparity.

Recession is not an easy for anyone. 530 people lose their job every day in Britain. The unemployment rate is now well over 8 percent. But for the black community it’s well over 40%. It’s a dramatic disproportion. A stark statistics that reminds us that in Britain today, racial divides still exist in society.