Black, Asian, Mixed and Other ethnic minority groups made up almost 15% of England’s population (at time of the 2011 census) but only 12% of the people who started an apprenticeship in England (in 2018/19). This disparity is likely to have increased, as the proportion of the population which is from minority ethnic groups has grown substantially since 2011.
The rate of ethnic minority participation in apprenticeships has changed very little over the past decade. There has been little change in the proportion of apprenticeship starts by ethnic minority people over the past decade. In 2010/11 Black, Asian, Mixed and Other minority ethnic groups made up 9% of apprenticeship starts in England, by 2018/19 this had increased to 12%.
Over this period, the largest ethnic minority increase has been for Asian people (from 4.2% to 5.4% of all starts in this period) and people of Mixed ethnicity (from 1.7% to 2.8%). There has been no significant increase in the proportion of Black people starting an apprenticeship (3.2% in 2010/11 and 3.4% in 2018/19).