Introduction

In Chapter Four, we saw that significant changes were occurring in the experiences of minority ethnic groups in the education system. The pattern of upward mobility revealed in that chapter runs counter to many taken-for-granted assumptions, including those surrounding the supposed persistence of ‘educational underachievement’ (see Mason, 2000, pp 62-78). This is not to deny, of course, that significant inequalities persist. They relate to two key themes of this book: the increasingly differentiated experiences of Britain's minority ethnic citizens and the persistence of disadvantage relative to the ‘white’ population.

It is arguable that labour market position and employment status are central issues in understanding differences in the experiences of Britain's minority ethnic groups. This is because the resources that derive from employment are keys to accessing a range of other desired goods and services. The extent to which this is so is illustrated by the analyses of both health and housing presented in Chapters Six and Seven of this volume. It is no surprise then, to find that members of minority ethnic groups identify labour market success as key aspects of their life strategies. In this context, Modood's analysis in Chapter Four emphasised the extent to which the apparent drive by young minority ethnic people to acquire qualifications is a response to the labour market experiences of their parents and their own perceptions of the patterning of opportunities open to them. In this regard, education can be seen, in some respects, as representing an investment in labour market futures. As we shall see, the patterning of that investment is, to some degree, reflected in the labour market experience of different groups. Yet at the same time, it is clear that the returns on that investment are not equivalent for all groups. There is, as we shall see, evidence of a continuing ethnic penalty that operates notwithstanding substantial occupational mobility among members of at least some groups. This penalty relates not only to the kinds of jobs that can be accessed. It also has implications for financial returns to employment in the form of incomes.

This last point is crucial because, as we shall see, employment patterns interact with other aspects of individual and family strategies, shaping significant differences between the household incomes of different groups.