EMPLOYMENT EQUITY AND MINORITY LEGISLATION IN THE UK LEGISLATION AFTER 2 DECADES - A REVIEW

Examines employment equity legislation, initially introduced in the UK during the 1970s, along with separate legislation covering sex, race, religion and disability, together with separate enforcement bodies, a nd separate geographical arrangements in Britain and in Northern irela nd Notes the role of European Community Law which takes precedence ove r UK law and increasingly dictates legislation changes. Claims that th e period since the 1970s has witnessed growing levels of unemployment, along with a focus on de-regulation of labour markets. Most British e mpirical work focuses on explaining earnings differentials using the s tandard Mincer human capital model with comparative neglect of employm ent equality issues. The fundamental question is to what extent has em ployment equity legislation been successful in removing labour market discrimination against minority groups. Uses a cross-section of data f rom the 1994 labour force survey to attempt to explain differences in employability across various groups and to analyse the degree of occup ational segregation across these same groups which remain after nearly 20 years of experience of employment equity legislation. Reviews the legislation and then estimates first, legit equations to explain emplo yability and second, ordered probit equations to explain occupational attainment, in each case decomposing the results in order to estimate the proportion of the differential which may be explained by ''discrim ination''.