The Challenge of Ethnic Wealth inequalities
Background
Wealth is deeply unequal in the UK and getting more so; recent analysis also suggests this increase is particularly stark for younger generations. Within that inequality, the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey indicates a large ethnic wealth inequality.
Household wealth holdings by ethnicity vary enormously, from a low of £34,000 where the head of the household identifies as Black African, to £314,000 for households where the head is White British. However, explanations for the wealth gap have struggled to identify why some groups have been able to build wealth while others not.
This project, led by Dr Eleni Karagiannaki of the London School of Economics’ Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, was undertaken in partnership with the Equality Trust. It aims to build a better understanding of how different ethnic groups have been able to build wealth while others have not and how this ethnic wealth inequality may have changed over time.
Summary
The project has two components:
The first involves analysis of large household survey data and the second is undertaken in partnership with the Equality Trust and involves primary data collection from people (Storytellers) from five different ethnic groups using Community Reporting research methodology with the aim to add the voices of real people into the analysis.
Secondly, as part of this, Storytellers were asked to draw from their personal perspectives and experience to provide their understanding about what wealth means, the barriers racialised communities face in building wealth and their suggestions of what can enable them to do so.
By gathering 24 unique experiences, we are able to explore stories for patterns, trends and anomalies. In this report, the quotes from the stories shared by the Storytellers are presented by their thematic commonalities. As the stories demonstrate, there is no single human experience within and across ethnicities, and as such our solutions to wealth inequalities must be as varied and nuanced as the people’s lives and experiences are. The recommendations resulting from these stories cover a variety of ways to make access to wealth and the tools to build wealth more equal.
A recurring theme that emerged from our discussions with the Community Reporters is the intricate network of disadvantages and structural inequalities that continue to affect many individuals from racialised communities.
While first-generation immigrants, particularly refugees, encounter the most significant challenges, individuals from racialised communities born in the UK also report ongoing inequalities in wealth-building opportunities, often shaped by discrimination in both the labour and credit markets.
Several challenges reported by the Storytellers along with the recommendations arising are relevant for boosting the wealth-building potential of disadvantaged people in general. However, some specifically target at tackling the unique barriers faced by racialised communities in their efforts to build wealth.
Download and Watch
As well as the paper (downloadable below), we created a soundscape of curated sections from the stories gathered by Community Reporters. You can listen to individual stories from the project on this playlist.
Credits and Acknowledgements
This work is part of a project which was funded by The British Academy’s Innovation Fellowship Scheme 2023-24 (Fellowship number IF2324\240028), and we are very grateful for their support. The Fellowship was led by Dr Eleni Karagiannaki and has been undertaken in partnership with the Equality Trust. We are very grateful to all participants of the project who shared their stories who helped shaped this research.
We would also like to thank the Community Reporters and recognise them as co-researchers. Without their voluntary participation, this would not have been possible. They shaped the research process and provided very helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.
The Community Reporters and Storytellers were recruited on a voluntary basis, but were offered thank you vouchers to recognise their time, effort and expertise as well as expenses to remove any barriers to participation.
