Environment and Planning A 2013, volume 45, pages 1358 – 1371 doi:10.1068/a45454 Ethnic and religious penalties in a changing British labour market from 2002 to 2010: the case of unemployment Nabil Khattab Department of Sociology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel, and School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TY, England; e-mail: nabil.khattab@bristol.ac.uk Ron Johnston ¶ School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1SS, England; e-mail: R.Johnston@bristol.ac.uk Received 24 May 2012; in revised form 23 August 2012 Abstract. Most analyses of ethnic penalties in the UK labour market focus on one source of minority-group disadvantage only: colour racism, based on people’s self- identified ethnicity. Some authors have argued that operating alongside those penalties, and in general exacerbating them, are further disadvantages reflecting cultural racism: in the UK it is argued that particular religious groups suffer these additional penalties— especially Muslims. A number of studies have confirmed the presence of these two types of disadvantage, but almost all of them have used cross-sectional data only and so were unable to test directly whether the penalties are more severe at times of economic recession and growing cultural tensions—such as those experienced in the UK after 9/11 and 7/7. This paper provides clear evidence of both the anticipated dual penalties and their increase at the end of the decade, using a very large annual cross-sectional survey for the years 2002 to 2010. Keywords: unemployment, ethnic penalies, religious penalites The existence of ethnic penalties in the British labour market has been well established (eg, Heath and Li, 2008; Li and Heath, 2008; Phung, 2011). There is strong evidence that members of some, though not all, ethnic minority groups suffer from disadvantages compared with the host society, whether these are measured by levels of unemployment (Department for Work and Pensions, 2008, pages 4–8), wage gaps (Longhi and Platt, 2008; Longhi et al, 2012; Metcalf, 2009), or the ability to obtain jobs commensurate with the individual’s educational achievements (Johnston et al, 2010; Khattab, 2009). Two aspects of these disadvantages are relatively underresearched, however: the importance of cultural as well as racial disadvantage; and the relative extent of that disadvantage in periods of recession. Both are addressed in this paper. Ethnic and religious penalties in the British labour market The standard British statistical classification of ethnic groups is based on self-identification (as in recent censuses) according to either colour (eg, Black Caribbean, Black Africans) or country of origin (eg, Bangladesh, India, or Pakistan). This classification takes no account of the cultural distinctiveness of various groups within such categories, notably that relating to religion. Some ethnic groups are homogeneous with regard to religion but others— such as Indians, a group that encompasses substantial numbers of Hindus, Muslims, and ¶ Corresponding author.