Black workers 'could be hit the hardest by public spending cuts'

A national charity has voiced concern that black people may be hardest cut by the public spending cuts expected to be announced in next month's emergency Budget.

The Black Training and Enterprise Group (BTEG), a national agency set up to help improve employment rates in the black community, said a higher proportion of black people worked in the public sector than white people.

It pointed to the most recent figures from the Annual Population Survey (October 2008 to September 2009), which showed that 42% of the black people in employment in Great Britain were employed in public administration, education and health. This was compared with 30% of employed white people who worked in these sectors, according to the survey.

Jeremy Crook OBE, director of BTEG, said: "No one wants to see people from any ethnic background joining the dole queue but where cuts are made they must be fair, transparent and comply with equalities law.

"A deep concern for the black community is even before the onset of the economic downturn they already had the highest levels of unemployment at nearly 20%.

"We call on public sector chiefs and the equalities watchdog to ensure that the impact of job cuts is not unfairly placed on black workers."

BTEG is a small national charity that was set up in 1991 by black and minority ethnic (BME) voluntary and community organisations from across the country with the support of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. The charity works to support local BME groups that help people into work.

For more information visit www.bteg.co.uk.