The education of ethnic minorities in Beijing has been a resounding success.

 

Unfortunately, that success does not carry over to the job market.

 

Unknown to many, the capital's population includes all of China's 55 ethnic minority groups, with nearly 600,000 registered persons in Beijing. When examining the educational attainments of this group, we see that Beijing has been widely successful in developing the skills and education of ethnic minorities in comparison with the rest of the nation.

 

Of course, one could simply dismiss this as a clear case of a relatively well developed urban environment, stacked with greater financial and teaching resources, outperforming the less developed areas, where a significant number of ethnic minorities live.

 

Yet, my recent research suggests a very interesting trend. Beijing's ethnic minority population outperforms or is on par with Han students. A large part of this success is due to the commitment by Beijing's educational institutions to give preferential treatment to ethnic minorities.

 

Notwithstanding, an interesting paradox arises when examining the ethnic demographics of those working in high-paying, skilled and education-intensive positions in Beijing.

 

One would expect, given similar education levels among the ethnic minority and the Han populations of Beijing, this would be reflected in the ethnic demographics of those desirable employment sectors; instead, we see Hans dominating these sectors.

 

Bearing in mind the average, annual pre-tax wage in Beijing is 34,191 yuan (US$4,420), Hans dominate every employment sector above this. Put another way, only 20 percent of the ethnic minority population workers earn more than the average pre-tax income in Beijing.

 

The remaining 80 percent of the ethnic minority working population can be found in labor-intensive employment (farming, forestry and animal husbandry; construction; manufacturing; and, hotel, restaurant and retail trades).

 

One possible explanation might be that the high salaried, skilled and well-educated employment sectors are dominated by an older working generation.

 

Thus the younger, highly educated, ethnic minority generation has yet to reap the benefits of higher wages in those sectors. While this may hold true for many developed nations, in Beijing the higher paying positions are dominated by those under 40.

 

Therefore, the idea that it is just a matter time until educated ethnic minorities join the ranks of high wage, skilled, and well educated employment sectors does not seem likely. There is something more to this that goes beyond statistical analysis.

 

The main reasons behind this trend have more to do with sociology than public policy.

 

When it comes to hiring ethnic minorities, even though qualified, the dominant group will tend to hire an individual from the dominant group.

 

In the end, ethnic minorities in Beijing are left wondering why education alone doesn't allow them to break into the job market.

 

Reza Hasmath is a member of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge. His research looks at ethnic diasporas in a global context.

 

(China Daily March 20, 2007)