Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Acknowledged
Insufficient up-to-date data on income and employment for Muslims and religious groups.
Conclusion
There remains a lack of up-to-date data on income and employment related to Muslims and other religious groups. Current data based on ethnicity only offers a partial insight into current trends. It is disappointing that this data gap has not been addressed since our predecessor’s report in 2016, which highlighted that a lack of such data hinders policy efficacy in addressing inequality. (Conclusion, Paragraph 85)
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the lack of up-to-date data, states the Labour Force Survey (LFS) collects relevant information, but sample sizes are limited. They also highlight the census data and ONS research into under-represented groups.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
41. We welcome the Committee’s attention to people who have experienced discrimination due to a combination of protected characteristics and share the view that this is unacceptable. 48. The Labour Force Survey (LFS), conducted by the ONS, collects relevant information across all categories. Labour market status is derived for all people within the survey based on whether people meet the international definition of employment, or unemployment or are outside of the labour force. 49. Each quarter, the Office for National Statistics publishes information from the LFS on labour market status by sex and ethnicity - A09: Labour market status by ethnic group. While religion is collected in England, Wales and Scotland, the ONS has never included religion as part of the regular LFS outputs. The sample size available for many of the religious groups, differentiated in the dataset, would mean that statistics would have high sampling variability, and therefore volatility over time. This would allow for an overall picture of comparison between different religions by sex, but it would only establish broad trends in changes when looked at over a long time span rather than reliable pictures of movements from period to period or comparisons across groups within a specific, short period. 50. Given the different collection of earnings data and the relative prevalence of different religions within the dataset, it is unlikely that earnings statistics from the quarterly LFS datasets would provide a reliable picture of earnings across different religious groups. However, an amalgamation of samples, from the first and fifth interviews, and boost cases, may mean that more meaningful statistics could be derived from the annual version of the survey, the Annual Population Survey. Again, this is likely to be limited to a broad overview of trends over a long span of time, rather than reliable comparison metrics from period to period or of differences in groups for a specific time period. 51. Information on religion is only expected to be available from Transformed Labour Force Survey on an annual basis. Therefore, at this stage it is not expected that the move would have a significant impact on the granularity of statistics that would be appropriate to produce, or the inferences that could be taken from those breakdowns. 52. In March 2023, the ONS produced census analysis on Religion by housing, health, employment, and education, England and Wales: Census 2021, which includes breakdowns of those who identified as Muslim by employment activity status and occupation, by age and sex. The Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021 analysis highlighted the younger population profile of the Muslim group compared to the overall population of England and Wales (which could be a relevant factor in their employment status outcomes). 53. The ONS’ Census 2021 publications provide multivariate analysis rather than intersectional analysis of how multiple characteristics in combination, such as religious affiliation and sex, may impact other life circumstances including income and employment. This census data is granular enough to support intersectional insights into employment outcomes. 54. To better understand the feasibility of providing religion data between censuses, the ONS has reviewed other sources of data on religion as part of their work on the Future of Population and Migration statistics and have established that other survey and administrative sources are limited. 55. In keeping with the recommendations of the Inclusive Data Taskforce, the Centre for Equalities and Inclusion in the ONS has undertaken a programme of lived experience qualitative research into the experiences of specific groups who may be at greater risk of under-representation in their current statistics or whose presence in their statistics cannot be clearly identified. This has served both to improve the visibility of issues important to these groups and as a means to identify ways to improve their statistics moving forward.