This paper investigates the extent to which ethnic minorities face discrimination in the British labour market. It uses data from ‘Labour Force Survey’ and ‘British Social Attitudes’ surveys, from 1983 to 2014. Several kinds of discrimination are assessed – including the chance of finding paid work, and wage-rates for employees. This paper considers how far Britain’s labour force is ‘meritocratic’ (i.e.unprejudiced).This paper considers the possibility suggested by Charteris-Black(2006) that Conservative governments may have increased racial prejudice; empirical evidence from 1979 to 1997, and from 2010 to 2015, are used to assess this question
