AS debates about immigration, assimilation and discrimination rage across the pages of our newspapers, a recent report by the Eurobarometer painted an interesting picture of our perceptions of the extent of discrimination here. Across the EU25, the survey studied residents' attitudes to perceived discrimination on grounds of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, religion and age.

Overall, the discrimination on grounds of ethnic origin is perceived to be most common. In Ireland, 57% of people believed that ethnically-driven discrimination is widespread - less than the EU25 average of 64% and well below the 69% average for the EU15.

Looking deeper into the Eurobarometer results, 65% of the EU25 and 61% of the EU15 residents agreed with the proposition that the presence of people from different ethnic backgrounds enriches their own culture. In Ireland this number was 62%. This suggests that, while Irish people appear to see less ethnic discrimination than their European counterparts, their perception of the cultural contributions made by the various ethnic minorities is slightly less favourable.

Given that our cultural and intellectual elites are almost invariably supportive of ethnic diversity, while being prone to decrying allegedly severely racist attitudes within Irish society, it is worth looking in greater depth at why the data so far appears to contradict their beliefs.

Consider the issue of ethnic discrimination in the context of overall perceived exclusion. While 67% of Irish respondents felt that ethnic minorities are discriminated against, only 30%-38% believed there was discrimination based on other grounds, such as age, gender or sexual orientation.

This suggests there is significant variation in Irish perceptions of discrimination.

There are several reasons for this that may be entirely rational. First, discrimination against ethnic minorities is more visible than discrimination against less well-defined groups. Second, policies aimed at reducing discrimination against other groups may be more apparent to a casual observer than those directed toward ethnic minorities.

Third, if ethnic minorities are associated with lowerpaying jobs and tend to have lower average income, their social status can be easily confused with active discrimination against them.

Fourth, ethnic minorities are often more distinguishable within the population by different attire, social customs and behaviour. If these differences are treated as a signal of aptitudes and abilities, what might appear to be discriminating behaviour aimed at ethnic minority can be selection against any difference from the mean.

There is little that can be done to assess properly the role played by the first two reasons in driving our attitudes toward ethnic minorities. A lot more can be said about the other two.

Take the last argument first. Asked which criteria might put people at a disadvantage when a company can choose between two candidates with equal qualifications, 51% of Europeans chose the candidate's look, dress sense and presentation. All of these are highly visible signals of potential aptitude that has a real, tangible value in a workplace. However, 49% of people regard a disability or age as criteria which may put people at a disadvantage. Ethnic origin was the fourth-most frequently chosen criteria (45%). A similar distribution holds in Ireland.

This reinforces the potential link between the average income of ethnic minorities and the perception of the degree of discrimination reported by the Eurobarometer.

The latest available data from a comprehensive survey of Irish labour markets shows that, for every 100 Irish nationals employed in jobs paying high wages, only 57 nationals are in jobs with lower average wages. For the foreign nationals this ratio is almost converse, with more than 110 non-nationals earning lower wages for every 100 employed in better-paying occupations. These results are broadly similar to findings from the analysis of the European Social Survey 2002-2003 reported by Danish researchers in September 2006.

If Irish people perceive ethnicity as an important determinant of discrimination, it is entirely plausible that they are taking income distribution among foreigners as a sign of social exclusion. Thus, Irish women are most vocal about perceived discrimination across all categories than Irish men. Better-educated people - a proxy for higher household income - tend to be most inclined to perceive discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin as being the most widespread in Ireland.

In other words, the greater the gap between ethnic minorities' income and the social status of the respondents, the greater is the perception of discrimination against the minority.

The Eurobarometer data also shows that 49% of Irish people think that enough is being done to combat discrimination against ethnic minorities. Only 39% disagree. However, women and better-educated individuals tend to be more critical of the policies in place in Ireland to combat discrimination.

This is hardly surprising, given that several studies from the US and UK have shown that, in both countries, it is predominantly the upper middle classes and the well-off who are most concerned with racial discrimination. The same groups are the most vociferous about the social ills of poverty in general and poverty among racial minorities in particular.

Overall, the Eurobarometer data indicates that, in Ireland, concern with integration of ethnic minorities and the perception of Ireland as a society rife with discrimination on the basis of ethnicity predominantly affect the better-off classes.

The results also indicate that, adjusting for the relatively low-income status of foreigners in Ireland, our perception of ethnicity as the strongest basis for discrimination in reality conceals our interpretation of income differences across the ethnic groups as a sign of exclusion. In other words, we may be confusing lower average earnings for discrimination and euros for ethnicity.

Dr Constantin Gurdgiev is an economist and editor of Business & Finance magazine www. businessand"nance. ie constantin@tribune. ie