A recently published study claims that job applicants with African or Asian names are being discriminated against by employers.

In the study - which was commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions - researchers sent thousands of fake CVs to companies across the country.

Three different identities were created for the CVs. All three had similar experience and qualifications, but each was given a name that reflected a different ethnic background - Nazia Mahmood, Mariam Namagembe and Alison Tayler were the names used.

The researchers found that, while the applicant with the British-sounding name had to send out an average of nine CVs before being offered an interview, the other two candidates had to send out 16 before achieving a similar result.

In total, 987 vacancies were applied for between November 2008 and May 2009. A broad range of different job types were included in the study, including accountancy, IT, care work and sales, and the cities involved were Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, London and Manchester.

The report concluded that there could be no other plausible reason for the discrepancy other than discrimination based on race.

Jim Knight, employment minister, commented: “This research clearly shows that some employers are discriminating when it comes to choosing staff. This has no place in a modern society and racial discrimination cannot be allowed to continue.

“We introduced laws to stop discrimination at work and strengthened them in 2000. We also introduced new diversity and equality requirements in DWP contracts with suppliers.

“Employees can use the Race Relations Act to take employers to a tribunal if they are being treated unfairly and they will also get support and advice from the European Human Rights Commission to do so.

“We are determined to stop this scourge on society - the Equality Bill will strengthen our hand and we are already preparing to publish specific plans for dealing with discrimination in the workplace later this year.”

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