Ethnic minority members who don't feel British are less likely to progress in their career, research shows

Members of ethnic minorities who don't feel British are less likely to move up the career ladder, new research says.

Ivelina Hristova, of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) , analyzed survey data on almost 45,000 people between 2011 and 2018.

The data recorded if participants felt a sense of belonging to Britain, to England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, or to an ethnic minority group. It also recorded changes in their job type.

Ms Hristova told the European Sociological Association conference in Manchester, UK, 22 August, that a sense of belonging to Britain was not linked to an improvement in participants' careers.

However, not having a sense of belonging to Britain was linked to lower chances for career progression for migrant-origin groups, compared to those who chose English Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish identity. They were up to 60% less likely to have moved to a better job.

She said that the penalty for not feeling British might exist because people from ethnic minorities could have faced unconscious bias or discrimination at the work place, and could have been passed over for promotion.

Ms Hristova adjusted the data to ensure that she compared people of similar educational level and socio-economic background in order to study the effects of British identity on careers in isolation.

She used the ONS Standard Occupational Classification, which lists nine broad occupational categories in a hierarchy, to see if people had moved up to a better job over the five-quarter period of their participation in the survey.