Employers are missing out on a wealth of skill and talent in the workforce by overlooking Asian women, a new report concludes today.

A study undertaken by the Trades Union Congress says 19 per cent of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women in West Yorkshire are unemployed compared with five per cent of white women.

Ishtiaq Ahmed, of Bradford Racial Equality Council, said discrimination was still common.

"Employers think many Asian women are looking for temporary work.

"That effects their chances of long-term employment and long-term training. More and more Asian women want to have a full-time job and career and are professionals.

"By not giving them the opportunity many employers are missing out on a lot of talent and skills in the Asian community."

Adeeba Malik, of the Quest for Education and Development in Bradford, said there were increasing numbers of high-flying, ambitious Asian women in Bradford. Attitudes were changing among the Asian communities which once frowned on the idea of women at work. But industry needed to recognise that there was a great resource of well-educated Asian women available for work.

A spokesman for Grattan, in Bradford, which employs a large number of Asian women, said: "We recognise it's a national problem and we are constantly committed to improving our equal opportunities."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.