Dentistry and medicine top for ethnic diversity

DENTISTRY is the second most ethnically diverse occupation in England and Wales, with medicine in fourth place.

Figures from the Policy Exchange show that just over half of dentists are from an ethnic minority, including 20 per cent Indian and just over 10 per cent “white other”. Amongst doctors, just under 44 per cent are from a minority group, including almost 13 per cent Indian and 5.3 per cent Pakistani.

This compares with the least diverse occupations of farming and environment professionals, with only 1.4 per cent of farmers coming from minority groups. The police was fourth on the list with 94.2 per cent of workers white British.

The average across all occupations was just under 20 per cent from minority ethnic groups.

The most ethnically diverse job was taxi drivers/chauffeurs with 53.8 per cent of workers from an ethnic minority. Packers/bottlers/canners/fillers were in third place with 55 per cent while food/drink/tobacco process operatives rounded out the top five with 53 per cent.

The report noted that: “Diversity tends to be either found in low skilled jobs that are easily accessible to those with less social capital linking them to the economic mainstream or highly skilled professions that command prestige.”

The results were taken from the 2015 Labour Force Survey for all job classifications in England and Wales. They are in line with data from the General Dental Council that shows dentistry also performs well in terms of gender equality. At the end of 2015 amongst registered UK dentists, there was almost a 50/50 split between men (53 per cent) and women (47 per cent).

Dental care professionals, however, are still overwhelmingly female with just nine per cent of registered DCPs male. Among dental nurses, Policy Exchange figures show almost 17 per cent are from an ethnic minority group.

Read the full report here