SURVEY RESULTS


Publishing is overwhelmingly white and middle class, but it wants to change. Tom Holman reveals the results of the decibel/Bookseller survey into cultural diversity in the industry


ethnicity in the UKHOW PUBLISHING COMPARES


Room for improvement W


hat is already widely suspected about publishing has proven true: the industry remains an overwhelmingly white profession. That is the clear conclusion of The


How does cultural diversity in publishing compare to the population as a whole? Census data collated by the Office of National Statistics in 2001 put the number of UK minority ethnic residents at 4.6 million people,or 7.9% of the total population of 58.8 million people. Of those who defined themselves as minority ethnic, about half described themselves as Asian or Asian British, and a quarter as Black or Black British. The number of people from ethnic groups other than white had risen by 53% over the past 10 years. Two factors explain why employment in publishing is less culturally


diverse than the decibel survey at face value suggests and less diverse than the population as a whole. Firstly, minority ethnic groups are more likely to respond to a survey about cultural diversity than white workers, thereby distorting the proportions. This would mean that the figure of 13% is an over-generous estimate of the level of diversity in the industry. Secondly, the census data shows that the proportion of minority ethnic


workers in publishing is far greater in London, where the vast majority of UK publishers are based. Nearly half of the country’s minority ethnic communities are based in the capital, where they account for 29% of the total number of residents. But of the respondents to the decibel survey who work in Greater London, only 14% were from minority ethnic communities. If the workforce of London publishers was representative of the population of the capital, the number of Black and Asian publishers would more than double.


4 IN FULL COLOUR


Bookseller and decibel survey into cultural diversity, the first undertaken across the whole industry. It is also the conclusion of the majority of respondents to the


survey. In response to key questions about levels of cultural diver- sity in businesses, respondents feel there is scant evidence that it exists. Only 8% believe the industry to be culturally diverse, while close to half, 47%, say it is not. About a third think there is moder- ate diversity. Publishing is, it seems, aware of the stark uniformity of


its workforce. Many respondents feel levels of diversity to be slightly higher within their own company than in the trade as a whole, but only 16% agree that their company is culturally diverse. A significant number, 35%, feel their company is not culturally diverse. Of the 523 respondents to the survey 87%, or 456, are white.


Asian, Black, Chinese and other ethnic groups combine to make up the remaining 13%. This proportion of minority ethnic employees may seem more than representative of the UK population as a whole. But given that the majority of respondents—77%—are based in London, where minority ethnic communities make up almost 30% of the total population, there is nothing for the industry to feel complacent about (see box: Ethnicity in the UK: how pub- lishing compares).


12 MARCH 2004


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