Trade behind UK and London on diversity, PA survey finds

The Publishers Association has released the findings from 2019’s UK Publishing Industry Diversity & Inclusion Survey, revealing the industry is punching below UK and London demographics in terms of ethnic diversity, with just 13% of the thousands who participated identifying as black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME). Meanwhile, the proportion of respondents that went to private school is three times the national average.

The report is the most comprehensive data set published on the composition of the trade’s UK workforce, collecting data from almost twice the number of employees as last year (12,702 compared to 6,432). The increase in participation makes like-for-like comparison with previous years difficult, the PA said, but it claimed it does make for "the truest representation of the industry to date".

Who are the people who work in UK publishing based on this largest-ever sample? Over half of the survey‚Äôs respondents work for organisations whose HQs are based in London (55.7%) and are themselves white (85.8%), British (83.9%), female (68.6%), aged 25‚Äì44 (63.9%), not disabled (91.2%), not religious (60.8%) and degree-educated (83.8%— twice that of the UK population, with almost a third (31.2%) holding a postgraduate degree).

Almost one in 12 of respondents went to Oxford or Cambridge (8.2%), and nearly one in five attended an independent or fee-paying school (18.8%)—almost three times as many as the UK as a whole. While available statistics for other industries are patchy, the BBC‚Äôs BAME representation is 14.8%, disabled people make up 10.4% of its staff, and 16.5% went to fee-paying schools across its workforce (31st March 2018, from the BBC‚Äôs Equality Information Report 2017/2018).

There is some encouraging news. Meeting the PA’s five-year target, which aimed for at least 50% of leadership and executive roles to be occupied by women in 2022, the proportion of women in such roles has climbed from 49% in 2017 to 55% in 2019. Meanwhile, 10.3% of respondents identified as LGB+, more than five times the figure for the UK population (2%).

The proportion of respondents who identified as white is close to UK-wide stats. However, 85.8% is high when contrasted with the demographics for the capital (59.8%), where most publishing houses are based. The proportion of BAME respondents (13%) is higher than last year (11.6%), but does not yet meet the PA’s 2022 target of 15% either. Of that 13%, 2.8% identified as mixed heritage (UK: 2.2%), 6.4% as Asian (7.5%) and 2.6% as black (3.3%). The Other category accounted for 1.1%, and 1.2% of respondents picked Prefer Not to Say.

As for where respondents come from, there is a clear skew towards London and the South- East. Most respondents grew up in England (76.5%), with more than a quarter (26.1%) growing up in the South-East of England; 13.9% in the East of England; and 11.2% in London. Responses were significantly lower from elsewhere, with the North-East of England showing the lowest representation of all the English regions (1.2%). Surprisingly, considering a third of the national workforce will be over 50 by 2020, just 8.1% of respondents were over 55. Only one respondent was under 18.

Publishers are willing to change: many are changing the way they hire, train staff and work. In pursuit of bolstering numbers of BAME staff, publishers are hiring specialist recruiters, implementing blind recruitment and running unconscious bias training for hiring managers, and turning to channels such as Creative Access to take on more BAME interns. Publishers are also enabling staff to work more flexibly and changing where they work, with two of the “Big Five” opening in Manchester.

Stephen Lotinga, PA c.e.o., said it was encouraging to see "a growing culture of sharing workforce information for the benefit of the industry as a whole" and he was "particularly encouraged" by the new Publishing Assistant apprenticeship,"an additional route into the industry with a great deal of potential". The first of 16 apprentices in the scheme it facilitates, delivered by LDN Apprenticeships, started work in September. "While the survey shows positive areas, it also highlights those we need to improve in order to make publishing as inclusive as possible and ensure the industry attracts and retains diverse talent," Lotinga said.