Just a Thought...

Two things:-

1. We have employment laws, because otherwise, evil corporations wouldn't hire non-white people.
2. Corporations don't seem to have any problems with sending work out to India, China and The Phillipines. In effect, increasing the amount of money they pay to non-white people, far above any statutory requirement.

Now, here's what I suspect really happened about these laws (and also things like bullying laws): the state was a much bigger problem than private industry.

Let's say I'm running a company as a money-grabbing capitalist. It's completely irrational for me to discriminate on race. Forget common humanity. Even in £sd, I should be hiring the best value staff, because they'll make me richer.

The state on the other hand doesn't have such targets. Bigots can hide in places where no-one is pushing you for more productivity and get away with a lot.