New report identifies barriers to entry and progression in the workplace for ethnic minorities

• In a tight labour market, important to ensure potential of all in workforce is fully realised
• 23% of respondents believe ethnic background poses barrier to progress in employment
• Report makes actionable and research-driven recommendations for employers

A new report – Fostering Ethnic Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace – sheds light on the specific challenges faced by ethnic minority individuals when accessing employment and advancing within Ireland’s labour market. The report, commissioned by Bank of Ireland and produced by Morgan McKinley, includes a range of recommendations to help overcome these barriers.

The report draws on the experiences of over 2,700 individuals from 10 ethnic minority groups, with additional input from advocacy groups, community organisations, and employers. The topics examined include employment challenges experienced by ethnic minority groups such as discrimination, cultural factors, and the recognition of qualifications.

Almost a quarter of the population in Ireland is comprised of people who are ethnically diverse, and one in five Irish residents were born outside Ireland. With an overall unemployment rate of 3.9% (February 2025), indicating a tight labour market, the report highlights practical steps employers can take to ensure that the potential of the working-age population from ethnic minority groups is fully realised. If taken, these steps should benefit the individual, their employer, and the economy and wider society.

The report makes a number of recommendations, including on:

• Company Culture – The report recommends the creation of an inclusive workplace culture through a range of leadership-driven initiatives including in respect of psychological safety, along with focus on existing colleagues through Employee Resource Groups.
• Recruitment and Career Development – The report recommends taking steps to broaden the candidate base for roles. This includes recognising international qualifications, revising hiring practices to eliminate bias, providing clearer guidance on employment permit process to help more employers navigate and utilise it effectively, and offering mentorship programs to support career progression for underrepresented groups.
• Training and Support – To drive fair hiring, the report recommends that mentorship programs be established and that unconscious bias training be undertaken, with a specific focus on training in this area for hiring managers. The facilitation and empowerment of employee resource groups to support diverse employees is also encouraged.
• Collaboration and Policy Alignment – Finally, the report recommends that organisations partner with membership, community and advocacy groups to align with Ireland’s national policies for workforce inclusion and economic growth

Matt Elliott, Chief People Officer, Bank of Ireland, said: “We need people of different backgrounds and experiences bringing their diverse talents and perspectives to the workplace and the economy. That’s why we decided to commission this research, which considers if the 17% of people from ethnic minority groups face any unique challenges or arbitrary blockers when accessing or progressing in employment. The report unfortunately finds that they do, and this is bad for all of us. For example, across all ethnic minority groups, close to a third of respondents indicated that they believed their ethnic background posed a barrier to accessing employment in Ireland.

“This wide-ranging piece of research has provided new data along with in-depth perspectives from individuals from ethnic minorities on their experiences around life and work in Ireland. Huge opportunity exists for us as employers to continue to improve our approach to building and maintaining a diverse workforce, which is especially important in a highly competitive labour market.

“Better understanding of the challenges ethnic minority groups face in accessing and progressing within the workforce is good for those individuals, but is also commercially important for companies like ours. Our ambition is to build a company that attracts the best talent in the market, from all backgrounds, and to reflect the diversity that is inherent in our more than four million customer base. We’re not alone in that ambition, which is one of the reasons why we have decided to make this research publicly available for any other company that would like to make use of it.”

Minister Alan Dillon, Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said: “Having an inclusive and diverse workforce is important for the competitiveness of Ireland’s economy. Employers in Ireland need access to a broad pool of skills and experiences to be able to thrive in the global economy. This research report provides valuable insights and recommendations for Irish employers seeking to grow and support a diverse workforce. A diverse labour market will be key to the Government’s goal to create 300,000 extra jobs by 2030 and will support the current priority of improving Ireland’s competitiveness and productivity.”

Conal Mac Coille, Chief Economist, Bank of Ireland said: “Ireland’s economic performance has beaten all expectations over the past five years. Employment is 2.8 million, up 17% since the outbreak of the Covid19 pandemic. Part of this success has reflected Ireland’s openness to immigration, crucial as a small European economy, to help alleviate labour shortages.

“Bottlenecks are now evident in the labour market. The unemployment rate fell to 3.9% in February 2025, its lowest level since the turn of the millennium. Competition for workers has clearly intensified. Looking forward, the ability of labour supply to respond to demand will be constrained. Participation at 66% is already back at 2007/2008 levels and for women rose to a record high of 61% in 2024.

“In the context of a tighter labour market, the most successful Irish companies will be those that can continue to attract talent and encourage labour productivity amongst the existing workforce. This will involve employers adapting to the transformation of the Irish labour force over the past decade, to help drive efficiency and cost discipline. It will also mean responding to a range of issues; discrimination and cultural differences, but also more prosaic problems relating to employment permits and training and addressing broader neuro inclusion and social mobility issues”.

The report highlights that barriers to maximising this available workforce from ethnic minority groups persist across a range of areas.

• Across all ethnic minority groups, 29% of respondents indicated that they believed their ethnic background posed a barrier to accessing employment in Ireland.
• More than half of Irish Traveller respondents (59%) and Black or Black Irish – African respondents (50%) believe their ethnicity is a barrier to employment access in Ireland.
• Those belonging to an ethnic minority who have a Postgraduate or Master’s degree expressed the highest levels of difficulties finding a job in Ireland commensurate with their qualifications, with 63% of these individuals reporting experiencing difficulties.

The main industry sectors in which people who have stated in the survey that they have come to Ireland to work are employed are Information Technology (22%), Financial Services (15%), Manufacturing (9%), Healthcare (5%) and Education (5%). Of this group, 32% required an employment permit.

Bank of Ireland and Morgan McKinley’s “Fostering Ethnic Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace” is available here.

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Notes to Editors:

This research, conducted by Morgan McKinley from February 2024 to September 2024, was commissioned by Bank of Ireland.

The research focused on (1) identifying any barriers that individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds may encounter in securing employment and advancing in their careers in Ireland and (2) providing advice to employers on how to foster ethnic diversity and inclusion within their workplaces.

In this study, ethnic minorities refer to all 10 ethnic groups that are not the majority White Irish, as classified by the CSO:

1. Any other White background
2. Arab
3. Asian or Asian Irish – any other Asian background
4. Asian or Asian Irish – Chinese
5. Asian or Asian Irish – Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi
6. Black or Black Irish – African
7. Black or Black Irish – any other Black background
8. Other including mixed background
9. Roma
10. White Irish Traveller

This research has not focused on the group of individuals who chose not to state their ethnicity in the various CSO issued surveys (“Not stated”), including the latest census.

In the quantitative phase of the research was conducted via an online survey ‘Fostering Ethnic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace.’ The survey collected responses from over 2,700 participants, representing a broad spectrum of minority ethnic groups.

Qualitative research comprised a series of one-on-one interviews with representatives from ethnic minority groups in Ireland, as well as other key stakeholders. The breakdown of these interviews is as follows:

• 104 interviews were conducted with representatives from Ireland’s 10 ethnic minority groups.
• 14 interviews were held with experts in talent acquisition, recruitment, and diversity, equity and inclusion (EDI).
• 12 interviews were conducted with advocacy groups, specialised organisations, and companies, forming the basis for the case studies featured in this report.