As brands worldwide cut diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, questions are being asked about whether the marketing industry is doing enough to attract and retain ethnically diverse talent.
Marketing Week’s exclusive 2025 Career & Salary Survey has uncovered an ethnicity pay gap for full-time workers of 13.3%, up sharply from 8.5% in 2024.
Some 82.9% of the total sample identify as white, up from 77.9% of respondents to the 2024 survey. Some 81.7% of residents in England and Wales identified as white in the 2021 Census published by the Office for National Statistics, putting the Career & Salary Survey sample slightly above the national average.
Marketing Week’s data found a pay gap of 10.3% in 2023 and 23.7% back in 2022, making the 2025 figure the worst for three years.
The impact of the pay gap goes beyond a wage packet at the end of the month. When touching on their experience of the causes of burnout, over half (52.5%) of respondents who identify as Asian/British Asian have felt undervalued and overwhelmed (51.7%) over the past 12 months.
A further 52.5% of this cohort have experienced a detached/negative attitude towards their role, while just under half (48.3%) have felt emotionally exhausted and experienced a lack of enjoyment in work that used to engage them (48.3%).
Some 79.3% of respondents who identify as mixed or multi-ethnic have experienced imposter syndrome, as have 66.7% of their Asian/British Asian peers.
Brands urged to tackle ‘name bias’ harming ethnically diverse talent
The number of black, African, Caribbean, or black British respondents was smaller than other ethnicities this year, something Marketing Week is conscious of addressing for our 2026 survey. However, while the existing sample answered at lower levels than other groups – meaning a lower base size – the data shows similar high levels of feeling undervalued and experiencing imposter syndrome.
The survey also finds ethnically diverse respondents are more likely to come from working class backgrounds than their white peers, demonstrating the intersectionality between the ethnicity and socio-economic pay gaps within marketing.
In some cases, the data is also indicative of people from non-white ethnicities being more likely to be made redundant and asked to do more hours/overtime than their white colleagues.
This insight correlates with data published in January by workplace equality champion People Like Us as part of its ‘#NameTheBias’ campaign. The survey of more than 2,000 working professionals found ethnic minority workers are almost twice as likely to have a pay rise or promotion rescinded due to the current economic climate (40% compared to 23% of white workers).
Almost a third of ethnic minority employees (32%) are working eight-plus hours above their contracted hours weekly, compounding pay inequities. Additionally, non-white employees work an average of 6.95 extra unpaid hours each week, compared to 6.27 hours for white employees.
According to the research, working in a business with a high ethnicity pay gap would lead a third (33%) of ethnically diverse talent to worry about their career progression and consider looking for roles elsewhere, compared to 16% of white employees.
The majority (66%) of ethnic minority professionals surveyed would either discount roles with companies with high ethnicity pay gaps or would only consider them if there were other compelling reasons. Indeed, the research finds more than a quarter (26%) of potential employees would not be willing to work for a company with a high ethnicity pay gap, regardless of ethnicity.
Marketing’s growing ethnicity pay gap not only demonstrates the extent to which the industry is failing to fairly reward, retain and progress diverse talent, but also reveals a profession struggling to reflect the rich diversity of UK consumers.
Marketing Week will be publishing an analysis of the ethnicity pay gap figure, alongside other exclusive reporting from the 2025 Career & Salary Survey, including in-demand skills and the changing face of recruitment.
