Ahmed, Vian and Pathmeswaran, Raju and Baldry, David and Worrall , Lisa and Abouen, Sabri
(2008)
An Investigation into the Barriers Facing Black and Minority Ethnics Within the UK Construction Industry.
Journal of Construction in Developing Countries , 13 (2).
pp. 83-99.
ISSN 1823-6499
Abstract
The UK construction industry is one of the largest employers, positioned as the country's top employer with over two million employees and projected
to continue growth as far as 2011. However, it is facing ongoing skills shortages in a number of professional areas and tends to lack an ethnic diversity of
workers compared to the White community of workers across the whole economy. The government’s Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force shows that for
any given level of qualification, a Black or ethnic minority person is less likely to be employed, than a similarly qualified White person. Current research into
issues surrounding ethnicity, from academia to employment is scarce, particularly in entry and process development within the construction industry. The aim
of this paper is to outline the findings from perceptional and experiential barriers of Black and Minority Ethnics (BMEs) students and employees, in order to
identify perceptional and actual barriers that lead to the under-representation of BMEs within the construction industry; and also to suggest how better
knowledge flow mechanisms could lead to a more balanced development, particularly in terms of ethnic diversification in the UK construction industry. The
aim was achieved by adopting qualitative and quantitative methods including questionnaire surveys of undergraduate students in a construction related
programme, employees working within the construction industry and interviews with company directors and human resource managers. The image of the
construction industry is found to be one of the major barriers for entry into the industry. Language and cultures form additional barriers for a range of ethnic
groupings. Support, in the form of recruitment events, training, mentoring, professional networking, as well as work placement and experience schemes, can
smooth entry, retention and progression within the construction industry
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[img]](http://eprints.usm.my/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png)
