Study shows EU minorities face regular discrimination

Date: 12/12/02

By Martin Banks

ETHNIC minority groups are still suffering widespread discrimination in EU member states, according to a new study.

The annual report by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) finds that workplace discrimination against minorities is "rife" and a "cause for real concern".

It claims there has been a hardening of public attitudes towards asylum- seekers and migrants, who often find themselves branded "scapegoats" for unrelated problems.

The Vienna-based organisation found that people from ethnic groups are:

• concentrated in seasonal work, such as agriculture;
• receive lower wages and hold less secure jobs than the rest of the population;
• suffer much higher rates of unemployment, and;
• are less likely to win promotion.

EUMC director Beate Winkler called on member states to do more to tackle employment bias.

She said: "The skills and experience which minority groups can offer in the workplace is being lost because of discrimination and xenophobia."

The centre's chairman, Bob Purkiss, added: "Europe has some way to go before its labour markets become open and accessible to all. Exclusion from the labour market and discrimination in employment are rife. Barriers seem to prevail over openness and access."

The report found that migrants from non-EU countries have become large groups in the labour force. It highlights Moroccans and Algerians in France, people from Surinam and the Antilles in the Netherlands and those from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India in the UK.

Despite apparent integration, widespread ethnic and racial divisions persist in the EU's labour market.

"Migrants and minorities are still heavily concentrated in employment sectors with strong seasonal fluctuations while the majority population has a higher proportion of jobs in the high-income brackets and earns more money than migrants and minorities," says the study.

The 116-page report found that migrant groups typically suffer double the national rate of joblessness.

In countries with a large Muslim population, such as for Turks in Germany, this can be even higher.

"The high unemployment rates of migrants could in many countries be considered as indicators of discrimination," it claims.

The report, which was discussed by members of the European Parliament's citizens' freedoms and rights committee on Tuesday (10 December), says that language is one method of discrimination used against migrants.

"For example, reports from Denmark and Finland show that unnecessarily high standards requested for the command of the native language even for non-skilled work can be used as a reason for exclusion.

"It has also been observed that migrants are treated differently during the application procedure."

Complaints about alleged discrimination are also on the increase in several member states, including the Netherlands, Sweden and Belgium.

Winkler, however, points to examples of "good practice" in member states. "Many initiatives for better integration of migrants and minorities in the labour market and employment sector were presented in 2001," she said.

One such scheme is the "matching jobs" project in Sweden which focuses on finding jobs that correspond with the skills of ethnic minority applicants.

In Germany, measures were introduced to change the work permit for foreign citizens to improve workplace integration.

Ethnic minority groups are still suffering widespread discrimination in EU Member States, according to a new study by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia.