Birmingham's image as a city divided between rich and poor has been underlined by new research showing a direct link between unemployment and ethnic minority communities.
While relatively prosperous suburbs continue to flourish, more than a third of adults in inner city wards where black and Asian populations are in the majority are either unemployed or claiming benefit.
In Sparkbrook, where BME (black and minority ethnic) communities make up 64 per cent of the population, more than 38 per cent are out of work and claiming a range of benefits. There is a similar picture in Aston, Washwood Heath, Small Heath, Handsworth and Nechells.
By contrast, Sutton Coldfield, Edgbaston and Selly Oak enjoy below-average unemployment.
Evidence has also emerged, in figures prepared for Birmingham City Council, of pockets of deprivation in a small number of areas with majority-white populations, including Kingsbury, Kingstanding and Bartley Green.
The figures, taken from the 2001 Census, call into question the success of Government-backed high-profile re-skilling and training projects such as the £55 million Aston Pride New Deal for Communities project, which are supposed to tackle ingrained unemployment in inner city wards.
About 130,000 people in Birmingham fall under the Government definition of worklessness - they are either unemployed or claiming benefit. This represents 22.3 per cent of the working population, compared with a 13.4 per cent average for the UK.
There are links between patterns of worklessness across Birmingham and struggling local shopping areas.
Retail centres in Aston, Sparkbrook, Small Heath and Washwood Heath have already been identified by the council as failing.
The latest statistics were described as "extremely worrying" by Aston city councillor Ayoub Khan, who sits on the Aston Pride management board. Coun Khan (Lib Dem) was in no doubt that "Islamaphobia" was preventing Asians from finding work. He said: "Employers are reluctant to take on people with Muslim-sounding names. I am sure of that."
He gave the example of an engineering graduate who, because he was a Muslim, had been unable to find work suitable to his qualification and was now employed as a security guard.
"This sort of thing is happening all of the time and we have got to try to address it," Coun Khan added.
He wants the council and other public agencies to do more to match unemployed people in inner city wards to new jobs.
Ken Hardeman, Birmingham cabinet member for regeneration, said the figures painted an "exaggerated picture" of poverty.
Coun Hardeman (Con Brandwood) claimed hundreds of people in wards such as Aston and Sparkbrook had moved to other, wealthier, parts of Birmingham after finding work. Their places were taken by asylum seekers and immigrants.
This meant inner city wards would always be affected by a transient population and unemployment would be higher than average.