Government promises to name racist employers

Racist employers are to be named as part of government measures aimed at ending all discrimination in the workplace within 10 years.

A report commissioned by Tony Blair also says schools should be forced to publish and act upon differences in exam results between white and black pupils. Other measures include the allocation of education funds to the worst-performing groups, individually tailored training schemes and guidelines to increase the number of ethnic-minority employees working in firms awarded £55bn of state contracts.

In the most ambitious attempt at reform since the first Race Relations Act nearly 40 years ago, the recommendations of the study will be implemented immediately and a government policy and a ministerial task force set up to check progress.

Ethnic Minorities and the Labour Market, by the Prime Minister's strategy unit, aims to tackle the huge variations in achievement between different racial groups. For the first time, it commits the Government to a specific goal that ethnic minorities "should face no disproportionate barriers" to the labour market by 2013.

Ethnic minorities make up 8 per cent of the population but will account for half of the growth in the working-age population in the next 10 years.

The report's lead author, Shamit Saggar, of Queen Mary and Westfield College, found that, after factors such as age, class, education and geography are stripped out, there is an "X-factor" that means non-white groups are more likely to get poorly-paid jobs or no job at all.

Bangladeshi men earn on average £129 a week less than white counterparts and black Afro-Caribbean men earn £107 less. Even Indian men, who normally earn higher wages, suffer because of their colour.

The new approach, instead of simply outlawing discrimination, aims to build "social capital" of ethnic groups through better exam results and training. It also calls for early intervention through constant monitoring of performance of schools and companies.

Lists of companies identified as "repeat offenders" in race discrimination employment tribunals will be published as an incentive to improve their behaviour. In schools, Ofsted will have a duty to publish "unexplained" differences in exam results for racial groups and instruct schools to implement action plans to tackle the problem. Mentoring schemes, much greater involvement of ethnic parents and homework clubs are all recommended.

Ms Roche said: "This report highlights the importance of economic integration to achieving social and civic integration. It clearly identifies that the experiences of different ethnic minority groups vary widely, differing by geography, by gender, by generation and by socio-economic circumstances. Government cannot apply the same 'one size fits all' policies across the board."