Socioeconomic circumstances

This chapter uses data produced by the Evidence for National Equality Survey (EVENS) to focus on two inter-related domains of ethnic inequalities in socioeconomic circumstances: general socioeconomic status and socioeconomic status under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. It describes ethnic inequalities in a range of socioeconomic measures: education, occupation, tenure and financial situation before the COVID-19 outbreak. It then focuses on how people’s financial situations have changed during the course of the pandemic, whether people have been receiving income-related benefits, whether they have experienced income change and to what extent they worry about their finances. The findings demonstrate that even though many ethnic groups show an advantage in terms of educational level, they still experience much more hardship compared to the White British population. Moreover, existing financial difficulties experienced by ethnic minorities have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic – almost all ethnic groups report more financial struggle compared to the pre-pandemic rates. Altogether, the findings point to persistent ethnic inequalities in experiencing hardship.