Affirmative Action Policies to Remedy Ethnic Minority Disadvantage in the Labour Market

18 Pages Posted: 18 Jan 2014

See all articles by Anthony Heath

Anthony Heath

University of Oxford - Department of Sociology

Date Written: January 2014

Abstract

Throughout Western Europe the children of immigrants continue to experience major ethnic penalties in the labour market in comparison with their peers from the majority group. Direct and indirect racial discrimination are undoubtedly part of the explanation for these penalties, but there are a range of other contributory factors too. Policy responses therefore need to be diverse in order to address the different barriers. The paper then reviews policies such as anti-discrimination measures, affirmative action policies specifying quotas, affirmative action policies specifying targets, and a legally-imposed duty to promote equality, Evidence of the effectiveness of the different sorts of policy is briefly summarized and the paper concludes with recommendations to stakeholders.

Keywords: Ethnic penalty, racial discrimination, antidiscrimination legislation, affirmative action, government procurement.

Suggested Citation

Heath, Anthony, Affirmative Action Policies to Remedy Ethnic Minority Disadvantage in the Labour Market (January 2014). Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Research Paper No. PP 2014/01, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2380669 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2380669

Anthony Heath (Contact Author)

University of Oxford - Department of Sociology ( email )

Suite 8
Littlegate House
Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 1PT
United Kingdom

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
250
Abstract Views
1,151
Rank
222,467
PlumX Metrics