ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies and analyzes some of the implications of economic change, changing labour markets and developments in employment practice in the 1980s for conventional recommendations in the field of equal opportunities. It argues that these recommendations do not take adequate account of the reality of much day to day recruitment practice and that they are often out of touch with the trends in management strategies and the labour market in the 1980s. The chapter draws on the results of recently completed research in order to illustrate some of the processes involved. It aims to build upon historical sources of evidence with a view to documenting the impact of changes in employment practice on the position and opportunities of ethnic minorities within the labour forces of six major British companies. The chapter explores and explains the processes responsible for changes in the occupational distribution of ethnic minority employees.
