UK blacks feel prejudice more than migrants

Black and Asian people in the UK who are second and third generation immigrants generally feel more discriminated against than recent European migrants, two surveys show.

People born in Britain to migrant parents are more likely to feel discriminated against than migrants who are new to the UK, research suggests.

Evidence from two 2018 surveys points to ethnicity being at the root of any perceived discrimination rather than a person's status as a migrant.

Among immigrants, more than 70 percent say Britain is welcoming and 90 percent believe migrants can make it if they work hard. But more non-European Union migrants feel they face prejudice than those from Europe.

The University of Oxford's Migration Observatory briefing, Migrants and Discrimination in the UK, is based on data accrued in the European Social Survey and the UK longevity household study (40,000 households) in 2018.

Amongst predominantly white migrants from the EU, only eight percent say they feel they are discriminated against in Britain, while those from outside the EU are more than twice as likely to say they were part of a group that is discriminated against, at 19 percent.

For second generation migrants, born in Britain, the sense of being discriminated against increases to 30 percent.

Dr Marina Fernandez-Reino, researcher at the Migration Observatory and author of the briefing, described the reasons behind the perceived hostility as "complex".

"Some UK-born minorities actually have worse outcomes than migrants, such as higher unemployment," she said.

"Research also suggests that children of migrants, who were born and raised here, have higher expectations and so are more sensitive to inequalities or unequal treatment they encounter.

"By contrast, people who migrated here may compare their experience to life in their country of origin and feel that they have benefited from moving - even if they still face some disadvantages."