The representation of people from ethnic minority groups differs greatly across employment in the industries. Across the Cogent sector, approximately 6% of the workforce are non-white compared to 7% in the UK workforce. It is difficult to get an accurate picture of the workforce by ethnicity as data are unavailable therefore assumptions are made based upon the reported figures for workforce reported as white.

In the sector industries the following statistics are available:

• chemical – 6% employees are non-white
• nuclear - 4% of employees are non-white
• oil and gas - 4% of employees are non-white
• petroleum – 16.4% of forecourt employees are non-white; 2% of refining and manufacture workforce are non-white
• polymer – 0.4% employer in sign making are non-white, across the remainder of the industry 4% are non-white

Source: Cogent Sector Skill Needs Assessment 2006