Flexible contracts and ethnic economic inequalities across gender during the UK’s COVID-19 recession

Abstract Was it their disproportionate presence in flexible employment or in shut-down occupations that made some ethnic minority groups vulnerable to adverse labour market outcomes during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) recession? Using the COVID-19 recession in the UK as a case study, we employ weighted linear probability models with 2021 data from the Evidence for Equality National Survey to look at changes in economic indicators across ethnic groups and gender. We report heterogeneity in flexible employment rates within the non-White group and between the non-White and the White British group. By using a conditional decomposition method, we conclude that those ethnic minority groups who were disproportionately on flexible contracts experienced worse economic effects than the White British group.