UK Muslims likely to be unemployed

MUSLIMS are more likely than other religious minorities to be unemployed and live in poor housing in the most deprived parts of England, according to research published today.

Half of English Muslims over the age of 25 are not involved in the formal labour market and a third live in the most deprived areas of the country, according to the study commissioned by the government.
Muslims are also particularly vulnerable to long-term illness and experience poor levels of education, researchers from universities of Derby, Warwick, Birmingham and Oxford said.

"Taking the Muslim population as a whole, they face some of the most acute conditions of multiple deprivation," the report said.

The government office in charge of local government and communities commissioned the academics to review data on the Hindu, Sikh and Muslim communities.

The report said members of the Muslim, Sikh and Hindu communities were likely to remain concentrated in the same areas because families want to stay close together and may prefer to live near to their places of worship.

A government spokeswoman said the academics had reviewed a variety of data, including information from the 2001 national census.

The government will use the study in its work to encourage equal opportunities for members of all religious communities, the spokeswoman said.

Sir Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of Muslim Council of Britain, said the research showed poverty and other deep-seated problems that have contributed to the marginalisation and disaffection felt among many young Muslims.