Well, we have always known there have been barriers to young people of colour from our communities when it comes to securing employment. However, now, the latest figures from Govt statistics clearly show that there is a significant gap in young men and women from Pakistani, Bangladeshi and some other South Asian backgrounds not entering employment in comparison to other ethnic groups. Statistics also clearly show that both South Asian young men and women are disadvantaged in the labour market.

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With the support of Connected Futures and BASE X we now wish to seize this opportunity using our reach in South Asian communities to provide an opportunity for our youth and communities to have a frank, open debate about what we feel are the issues that need to be addressed in order to help our young people get into employment.

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We have already started this work and some of the barriers have included: Systemic racism, cultural reasons, lack of local support, lack of faith in fairness, no clear pathways and routes to employment etc. SAGES wishes to address these issues from within our communities and then work to provide the tailored services that we feel we need to support our young people into employment utilising our own community led organisations where necessary. You can organise your own debates or join wider debates too.