IANS

London, Oct 18: You may be British, but you may not get called for a job interview if you don't have a name that sounds White, a newspaper reported Sunday quoting government research.

A government sting operation targeting hundreds of employers across Britain uncovered widespread racial discrimination against workers with African and Asian names, the Observer newspaper reported.

Researchers sent nearly 3,000 job applications using names from three different communities - Nazia Mahmood, Mariam Namagembe and Alison Taylor - with similar British education, experience and qualifications.

They found that an applicant who appeared to be white would send nine applications before receiving a positive response of either an invitation to an interview or an encouraging telephone call.

But ethnic minority candidates with the same qualifications and experience had to send 16 applications before receiving a similar response.

The newspaper said the results have prompted Britain's Employment Minister Jim Knight to consider barring companies that have been found to have discriminated against employees from applying for government contracts.

"We suspected there was a problem. This uncovers the shocking scale of it," he said.

"Candidates with an Asian or African name face real discrimination and this has exposed the fact that companies are missing out on real talent," the minister added.