It recommended the establishment of a number of Policy Action Teams to review different aspects of national policy bearing on the revival of the poorest neighbourhoods. The Policy Action Team on Jobs was one of these. The Policy Action Team found that opportunities in the labour market were unequal. Rates of employment and unemployment varied widely from area to area, with high concentrations of joblessness in some wards.
Employment rates are much lower than the average among people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Rates of unemployment are much higher. There is no single cause of this inequality. Underlying it are long-running trends towards greater income and labour market inequality. Lack of a job is the most acute manifestation of this, with long-run impacts on the life chances of children. The very dynamism of the economy acts to create new pockets of deprivation as long-established industries give way to new ones, in new locations, demanding new skills.