The Bank of England has a Diversity Problem

A nine-strong committee looks pretty similar: eight white men and a white woman. This is the body that guides Britain’s economy and that is supposed to represent the diverse community the UK now represents.

Their monthly votes on interest rates ultimately determine how far our money goes.

Yet they don’t look anything like the people whose lives they have so much influence over, why is that? Its because the Bank of England has a Diversity Problem

The UK population is made up of different ethnicities. 87% of people are white, and 13% belong to a Black, Asian, Mixed or another ethnic group, and Women make up half of the UK population. Astoundingly 0% of the Monetary Policy Committee belong to Black, Asian, Mixed, or other ethnic groups, and women make up one-ninth of the committee. Shocking!

Mark Carney's current governor is in fact, the 120th in a continuous line of white men to have headed the Bank.

It’s plainly obvious the Bank has a diversity problem. But this is not an isolated issue as many other organisations in Britain have this very same problem.

Unfair

The Bank’s search for a new governor kicked off earlier this week and many are hoping that this could herald the start of a new era with a black governor at the helm for the first time in its history. However, Wendy Carlin, a professor of economics at University College London, says the problem is not with the Bank of England, but the economics profession itself.

More troubling were the committee findings into the proportion of BAME employees at the organisation, with an increase of just 3 percent between 2015 (15 percent) and 2018 (18 percent), and no increase between 2017 and 2018.

Just 5 percent of employees working at the senior management level came from a BAME background in 2018. This is not a coincidence.

Ethnic minority employees are leaving the Bank of England in disproportionate numbers and feel less comfortable with the organisation’s culture, according to internal research.

Statistics already show that BAME workers in the UK are a third more likely to be underemployed — report and probably less likely to study economics, let alone get a job in the sector. TUC says the study highlights a waste of black, Asian, and minority ethnic talent and urges more effort to tackle discrimination at work

The former business secretary Sajid Javid had called on businesses to do more to support the careers of black and minority ethnic (BME) workers and commissioned Ruby McGregor-Smith, the chief executive of the facilities management company Mitie, to undertake an independent review of BAME progression at work. The review is due to report by the end of this year.

“How you word a job will define someone’s right to apply. If you’re not getting the right kind of applicants then describe the job differently and see what happens.”

Christian’s can help

If the Church put more effort into actively encouraging its members to work in professions that would benefit greatly from a strong moral compass, and then support them in those roles, just think what benefit to our country there might be.

Facts about The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is made up of nine members — the Governor, the three Deputy Governors for Monetary Policy, Financial Stability and Markets and Banking, our Chief Economist, and four external members appointed directly by the Chancellor.

External members are appointed to make sure that the MPC benefits from thinking and expertise from outside of the Bank of England. A representative from HM Treasury also sits with the MPC at its meetings. The Treasury representative can discuss policy issues but is not allowed to vote. They are there to make sure that the MPC is fully briefed on fiscal policy developments and other aspects of the Government’s economic policies, and that the Chancellor is kept fully informed about monetary policy.

Each member of the MPC has expertise in the field of economics and monetary policy. Members do not represent individual groups or areas — they are independent.

MPC members serve fixed terms, after which they may be either replaced or reappointed.

The PAC has called on the bank to provide a report setting out the additional steps it will take to ensure it meets its diversity targets by June 2019.

Godinterest’s Manifesto of Ethics

To promote freedom of religion — Violations of religious freedom are increasing globally in scale, depth, and blatancy. Carried out by both government and non-state actors, they range from the mundane to the extreme (e.g. genocide).

To promote freedom of expression and internet freedom — Freedom of expression is an essential part of a properly functioning democracy and a free society. People should be free to express themselves both online and offline. But in many parts of the world freedom of expression is under threat.

To be an inclusive social network — We aim to share multiple voices and perspectives. We prohibit and will remove Offensive material that has been reported to contain (e.g., Pornographic material, hate speech, encouraging violence against others, etc)

To respect one’s right to remain anonymous — Our users place their trust in us to keep them safe, and, in some cases, anonymous. We view safeguarding that trust and protecting our users’ private information as vital to what we do.

Related posts:

In this report the topic that will be discussed are the personal background of the persons portfolio, what different instrument that the portfolio contains, why these different instruments have been…

Today I gave a talk about Container, Docker & Kubernetes Basics at the Global Azure Bootcamp Rosenheim.. “Global Azure Bootcamp” is published by Nico Meisenzahl in 01001101.

A new book released by former Secretary of Defense John Esper reveals that Trump wanted to bomb Mexico. And he wanted to do it in a way that made it look like another country did it. You might recall…