Race relations laws should be extended to tackle the "serious problem" of low pay among black and Asian workers, the TUC urged today.
The call followed new research which showed that black and Asian male workers earned an average of £97 a week less than white men.
The pay gap was more "alarming" within different ethnic communities, with Pakistani and Bangladeshi men earning £150 a week less than white workers.
Black and Asian women earned £7 a week more than white women, but the TUC said this was because they were more likely to be in full-time jobs.
Pakistani and Bangladeshi women earned £34 less than white women, the report showed.
The TUC said a legal duty in the public sector to promote good race relations should be extended to private employers.
"New laws in the public sector will make a difference, but these must now be extended to end the unfairness in pay for black and Asian workers," said TUC general secretary John Monks.
"These workers already suffer twice the levels of unemployment, lack of promotion opportunities and racial harassment."
The report was published ahead of today's TUC Black Workers' Conference in Southport.
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