Failure to tackle deep-rooted race inequality will exacerbate divisions in British society unless urgent government action is taken, the new chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission David Isaac warned Thursday.
The commission has published the biggest ever review into race equality in Britain covering education, employment, housing, pay and living standards, health, criminal justice and participation.
It reveals that while for some has become fairer over the past five years, for others progress has stalled and for some, in particular young black people, life on many fronts has got worse.
Black people in Britain are much more likely to be victims of crime and be treated more harshly in the criminal justice system.
Black people are more than twice more likely than whites to be murdered in England and Wales, and three times more likely to be prosecuted and sentenced than white people, says the study.
Isaac said the report reveals a "very worrying combination" of a post-Brexit rise in hate crime and long-term systemic unfairness and race inequality.
He said: "The report underlines just how entrenched race inequality and unfairness still is in our society. We must redouble our efforts to tackle race inequality urgently or risk the divisions in our society growing and racial tensions increasing."
Isaac has called for a comprehensive new race strategy from the government, the development of stretching new targets to reduce race inequality including in criminal justice, education and employment, as well as better research and reporting to monitor progress.
Despite improving educational attainment, ethnic minority people are still being held back in the job market.
Black, Asian and ethnic minority workers with degrees are two and a half times more likely to be unemployed than white workers with degrees. Black workers with degrees are paid 23.1 percent less on average than white workers with degrees, the report shows.
Conversely, the study found Chinese students and Indian communities are progressing well in many areas of life.
