Young black people in the UK have the worst job prospects in generations

LONDON -- Young black people have the worst career prospects in generations, according to the biggest ever review into race equality in Britain.

The review -- published on Thursday by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) -- also revealed that these prospects have got much worse over the past five years.

According to the review, there has been a 49 percent rise over the past five years in the number of 16- to 24-year-olds from ethnic minority communities who were long-term unemployed, while unemployment among young white people fell by 2 percent.

The review revealed that black African and black Caribbean men faced "systemic barriers" when attempting to enter top UK universities, including discriminatory entry processes, low numbers of ethnic minority staff and role models, and discriminatory awarding of qualifications.

Only six percent of black school leavers attended one of the 24 leading UK universities, compared with 11 percent of white school leavers.

The pay gap between black and white workers in the UK remains at its widest at degree level, with degree-educated black workers earning more than 23 percent less than their white counterparts, according to the review. This is unchanged from a study by the Trades Union Congress reported in February.

Black people who leave school with A-levels typically get paid 14.3 percent less than their white peers, while black people leaving school with GCSEs get paid 11.4 percent less than their white counterparts. Additionally, people from ethnic minorities are twice as likely to live in poverty compared to white people in Britain.

Recent figures suggest that a similar race pay gap exists among full- and part-time workers in the U.S.. In 2015, black workers earned 75 per cent as much as their white peers. And, hourly wages for black men were $15, while white men earned $21 per hour.

David Isaac -- chair of the EHRC -- said that the review underlines the extent of "entrenched race inequality and unfairness" in British society.

“If you are Black or an ethnic minority in modern Britain, it can often still feel like you’re living in a different world, never mind being part of a one nation society," Isaac said in a statement emailed to Mashable.

Isaac said that the government needs to put in place a "comprehensive and coherent" race strategy in order to tackle these pressing issues and to prevent communities from "being cut even further adrift from equality of opportunity."