Double Losses!

History has proven we are not very kind to foreigners in general and to immigrants in particular, because of their differences (lifestyle, belief, color of skin,...)

It has been 'calculated ' that US-slaves , in the past, 'cost' three to four times less to their employers than 'normal' employees would earn for the same labor.

The gab is even bigger when a Nigerian-educated would come to work in a rich country then he could earn eight times more. This is what is called 'the great discrimination'.

So potential immigrants encounter huge loss of income, because they cannot enter rich countries. From a pure economical point of view, we can also say that the 'guest' countries encounter financial losses by not allowing talented foreigners to work in their countries.

So when we stop immigration it costs money not only for the immigrant but also for the guest country.

Lisa Luyckx

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/d5fe0a24-57a3-11dd-916c-000077b07658.html

Government strives for equality

Two initiatives are on the political agenda to push equal rights.

On the one hand we have a initiative from the Department of Trade and Industry. The legislation should be tidied up, because different groups have different rights. Not only race or gender discrimination should be looked at, but also age discrimination.

On the other hand we have one of Trevor Philips, chairman of the CRE (Commission of the Commission for Racial Equality), who must lead a government inquiry into inequality. This is an opportunity to broaden the equal right issue. Not only sex, age and race discrimination should be looked at, but also other disadvantaged groups such as disabled people, ethnic minorities and parents of young and disabled children who have the right to request flexible working. Also sick and disabled people should be rehabilitated.

Equal right campaigners argue that the government should compel private sector employers to carry out equal pay audits.

Lisa Luyckx

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b875f688-86d2-11d9-8075-00000e2511c8.html

Gap’s widening with white families

When we compare the full-employment job market of the late 1990s, with the weaker job market in the 2000s, we can see that the income gap between African-American families and white families is increasing.
In 1995, the median income of African-American families was 60.9% of that of white families.
By 2000, when the unemployment rate fell to 4.0%, the ratio improved to 63.5% , which is the highest level on record since 1947.
But by 2004, as the economy deteriorated , African-American families had a median income that was 62% of typical white families. If the unemployment rate hadn’t been further rising, the income ratio would have been 63.9%. Unless the labor market returns to the very favorable conditions of the latter 1990s, racial income gaps are likely to widen further.

Lisa Luyckx

http://www.epi.org/economic_snapshots/entry/webfeatures_snapshots_20060705/

Obama shows the ceiling for African-Americans has risen

Who would have thought America would one day have an African-American President? The fact that this still came as such a massive surprise and does indeed seem as an earth-shifting change to many of us shows racial equality is still not achieved in America. Although a black man just became president, many African-Americans are still earning a lot less than what’s expected. $30,000 is the median household income for African-Americans, while that of a white American stands at $50.000. Although many of the huge efforts made to aid young African-Americans in school have indeed paid off, many are still not interested in performing at ‘white’ levels and get dragged into gang-life and crime, thinking it’s cool to be dumb and tough. What Obama could accomplish is a certain mentality change, showing what one could achieve, of only he tried.

Dimitri Martens

Source: The Economist

Malaysian government abolishes race restrictions

In Malaysia, the government has favored indigenous groups for decades by means of setting a minimum amount of shares that have to be held by Malays or other indigenous groups, being 30% for most service-sector companies. Now, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak is planning to get rid of these quotas, which were imposed by his father in the 1970s. It appears that the economic crisis has forced Razak to take measures more quickly to try and counter the negative growth the country has been forecasted to experience with an expansion of the service-sector which still has a lot of potential.

Dimitri Martens

Source: The Economist

Ethnic minorities closing the gap

Studies have shown that, in the UK, ethnic minorities like Caribbeans, and especially the second generation, are well on their way to closing the earnings gap. Well educated second generation Indians and Caribbeans working the same jobs as British nationals are actually earning about just as much, and thus have, by far, overtaken their parents in only a few years time. One problem still remains, the fact that those ethnic minorities have still not closed the employment gap, with Pakistanis and Bangladeshis having over triple the amount of unemployment compared to white British nationals. One could say that there’s still a lot of work to be done.

Dimitri Martens

Source: The Economist

Immigrants have it harder finding a job due to their disadvantage in education

It is not easy for immigrant school leavers to find a job. That is why they have a bigger chance of ending up in long-term unemployment than natives. This may sound surprising but their ethnicity or social background is not the most important reason for these differences on the labour market. The disadvantage of immigrants in education and the large numbers who leave school without qualifications, those are the main reasons. Research showed that in Belgium, 14% of the natives doesn’t have a job one year after leaving school. However, with immigrants of Turkish or North African descent this rises to nearly 50%. When we look at immigrant school leavers’ first job, we see that they are less likely to get a fixed contract than natives. They have less autonomy and they often have to work in bad working conditions. To sum up, this research showed that it is mainly the school education that determines the chances of finding a job. Good news. However, ethnicity and social background have a very strong influence on the education which young people eventually reach.

Sanne Diependaele

http://www.demorgen.be

Don't bank on a caring, sharing recession

It is often said that recessions are a cultural blessing . People believe that recession will make us less materialistic and will make us look after each other. It won’t. In fact, recessions bring crime and racism. Recession hits black workers harder than whites. Between 1990 and 1992, the unemployment rate among black workers rose by a much higher percentage than among white workers. There are two reasons for this. First of all, black men are often less qualified than their white colleagues and most employers choose to lay off the less-skilled workers. Another reason is the fact that in times of recession, bosses have more freedom in picking who to fire and hire. And so come out the racist attitudes of these bosses. Discrimination is much easier in recession.

www.timesonline.co.uk

Sanne Diependaele

Flemish commuters not always welcome in Brussels

Bruno Valkeniers, the president of the Flemish political party Vlaams Belang, has lodged a complaint against a Walloon anti-Flemish Facebook group. The group was named “Bruxelles élargie, libérée et surtout francisée” and called the Flemish commuters names such as “vermin which takes over the labour market every morning to give their money to the enemy”. Shocked by the brutal language of some members concerning Flemish employees, Vlaams Belang hoped for the assistance of the centre for equal opportunities and opposition to racism, but the centre would not be qualified for this type of language matters. Unsatisfied with this answer, Valkeniers decided to fight this racial issue out in court.

Sien Eylenbosch

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