Milkround reveals ethnicity is main cause of job discrimination towards students and graduates

Eight in 10 students and graduates have faced discrimination in the workplace.

A new poll among users of graduate recruitment website Milkround Online has revealed ethnic discrimination is a major issue affecting earning students and graduates in their new jobs.

Milkround surveyed 100 users, half male and half female, whether they felt they had been discriminated in the workplace. An astonishing 81 percent claimed they had faced discrimination with 49 percent claiming their ethnicity was at the centre of the prejudice. The second highest form of discrimination towards respondents was age (13 percent) with disability, gender, religion and sexual orientation issues evenly covering the remainder.

One respondent stated: ìUsually when applying for jobs, you get discriminated when they see your name is not an English name or if you are not a British citizen,î and another claimed: ìface colour is more important than your degreeî. Complaints also came from those who considered regional UK accents to be adversely affecting their employment opportunities.



When asked what the best way to tackle discrimination in the workplace would be, nearly half (42 percent) suggested individuals should take a greater interest in how their colleagues are treated, followed by better education about discrimination with 20 percent of votes. A total of 16 percent said company policy should enforce equality and 12 percent called for new government legislation. Just 10 percent thought existing government legislation is enough to tackle discrimination problems.

The survey also suggests students and graduates have little knowledge about any history of discrimination in the workplace with 57 percent stating they donít know if it is getting better or worse, 18 percent claiming it is improving and 24 percent viewing it as declining.

Richard Chapman of Diversity Milkround, Milkroundís sister site aimed at breaking down barriers in the graduate workplace, said: ìEthnic prejudice is clearly still a worrying problem in the corporate world. With globalisation and increasing cross-cultural networking it is important for employers to encourage and respect ethnic minority and foreign candidates in order to further promote their company in the international market.î