BLACK WOMEN are the least likely to be among the top earners in the UK in comparison to any other racial or gender group, a new report has revealed.

Research from The Inclusion Initiative (TII) from the London School of Economics (LSE) analysed participant’s pay over 17 years to analyse where different genders and ethnic groups ranked in terms of their salary.

The research looked at whether they were in the top 1%, 10% or 20% of earners.

The data revealed that women across the board experience substantial disparity in terms of their pay, hours and representation in top jobs.

However, it also found that black women in particular had the lowest probability of becoming top earners no matter where they lived in the UK.

The research also found that 1.3% of UK-born white men were in the top 1% of earners.

Only 0.2% of UK-born white women fell into this group, and less than 0.1% of UK-born black women were in this category.

The largest disparities were discovered between black and white women in banking, finance and insurance.

Speaking on LSE’s findings, Grace Lordan, Associate Professor of Behavioural Science and Director of TII, said: “It is striking that men are consistently the top earners, regardless of race.

“This is true both if we consider UK born workers, or those that move to the UK from other countries. What is even more striking is that black women – regardless of whether they are from the UK or elsewhere – have the lowest probabilities of being top earners.

“A critic of our work will point to more women working part-time or choosing to stay at home with children. However, we draw the same conclusions if we document statistics related to full time, full year workers only. UK-born black women are the most underrepresented in the top percentile of incomes, as compared to all other women and men.”

Researchers analysed data from the Quarterly Labour Forces Survey from January 2003 to September 2020.

It is the main survey of individual economic activity in the UK that provides the official measure of the national unemployment rate.

In comparison to white women, at the early stages of their career black women are equally likely to be in the top 1% bracket of earnings.

However, around ten to 15 years later, black women in the mid-career stage are more likely to face gaps in their earnings.

Dame Minouche Shafik, Director of LSE, said: “One of the most striking things for me about working in the financial sector for many years is that it draws on a very narrow talent pool of people from very similar backgrounds.  This reduces innovation and risks groupthink.  

“The analysis from The Inclusion Initiative at LSE powerfully demonstrates the lack of diversity in terms of ethnicity and race and how this gets translated into sizeable pay gaps.  It also highlights the pressing need to give more voice and opportunities specifically to black women, as the group who are the furthest behind in earnings.

“I am glad that the researchers will now extend this analysis to move from describing the problem, to highlighting solutions in collaboration with black professional women currently working in the City of London.”