Britain long way from being land of opportunity for all: report

Poor white boys in Britain do worse in schools, but black and Asian Muslim young people, girls especially, do worse for jobs, new research revealed Wednesday.

"Achievements at school not being translated into labor market success is a broken social mobility promise," said former MP Alan Milburn, who is chair of the Social Mobility Commission, in a response to the research.

The commission's study reveals young people from black and Asian Muslims communities are more likely to be unemployed and face social immobility later in life than working class white boys despite doing better at school.

The report, which uncovers stark differences in the educational and labor market outcomes of different groups in society by ethnicity and gender, prompted the commission to call for renewed efforts to uphold the British social mobility promise that working hard should be rewarded.

The "Ethnicity, Gender and Social Mobility" report was commissioned by the Social Mobility Commission with research carried out by academics.

It examines student's trajectories as they progress through the early years, primary and secondary, through to sixth form and university. It also looks at how attainment at school translates into the labor market.

The report supports recent findings that poor white boys perform badly throughout the education system and are the worst performers at primary and secondary school.

It also finds that black children, despite starting school on par with peers in other ethnic groups, are most likely to fail maths GCSE, have the lowest outcomes in science, maths and technology A levels, and are the least likely ethnic group to achieve a good degree at university.

Black boys face high levels of school exclusion and overall do substantially worse than their female peers.

But it is disadvantaged young people from white British backgrounds who are the least likely to access higher education, with only 1 in 10 of the poorest attending university, compared to 3 in 10 for black Caribbean children, 5 in 10 for Bangladeshis and nearly 7 in 10 amongst lowest income Chinese students.

"It is striking that many of the groups that are doing best at school or improving their results the most are losing out when it comes to jobs and opportunities later in life," Milburn said.

Britain is a long way from having a level playing field of opportunity for all, regardless of gender, ethnicity or background, he said.

"Action is needed across the education system and labour market to better understand barriers to success. Renewed action is needed by government, educators and employers to dismantle them," he added. Endit