The government has set out new plans to remove the barriers people from ethnic minorities face when seeking to enter the workplace.

Ministers aim to bridge the gulf between high achievement in school and low achievement in the workplace.

The report also sets out a variety of measures to encourage pupils from ethnic minorities to do more to succeed at school.

There will be tailored programmes to connect the jobless with work, and initiatives to encourage more businesses to become good equal opportunities employers.

The prime minister said the moves were necessary given that Britain has "become a much more ethnically-diverse country".

"Some ethnic minority groups have done well in the education system and in the labour market. But too many members of ethnic minority communities are still being left behind," he said.

"And even those individuals who achieve academic success do not necessarily reap the rewards in the workplace that their qualifications merit.

"We need a much more fine-grained approach with interventions tailored to meeting the different needs of particular groups.

"This report contains such a package of fresh and practical measures, all of which will be implemented immediately as government policy."

The minister for social exclusion and equality, Barbara Roche, said: "This report highlights the importance of economic integration to achieving social and civic integration. It is an important step forward in how government addresses this issue.

"It clearly identifies that the experiences of different ethnic minority groups now vary widely - differing by geography, by gender, by generation and by socio-economic circumstances. Government cannot apply the same 'one size fits all' policies across the board."

Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, said the report recognised "the significance of race as a specific cause of disadvantage".

"We now look forward to working with government and others to put this new approach into practice," he said.