Racial Inequality on YTS: Careers Service or Disservice?

Abstract

This paper explores the processes of racial inequality in access to YTS by examining the operation of the Careers Service. Information was gathered from Service files on nearly 3,000 young people in nine different multi‐ethnic locations in the North, Midlands and South of England. Further data gathered were on careers officers’ assessments of 896 young people, and tape recorded interviews were carried out with 88 careers staff on their dealings with employers. The survey reveals a complexity within the processes of racial inequality which operate in the labour market, in which the actions of careers officers, employers and young people themselves all play a part.