More than twice as many black Africans reported they had been discriminated against in workplaces in Ireland in 2010 as in 2004, according to a report by the Economic and Social Research Institute.
The authors say their findings, combined with high rates of unemployment among non-white immigrants, suggests this group is particularly vulnerable to racial discrimination.
This ESRI study says previous research shows immigrants suffer higher unemployment and lower wages than Irish nationals.
Analysing responses from 16,000 households surveyed by the Central Statistics Office in 2004 and again in 2010, the authors find the proportion of black Africans reporting workplace discrimination jumped from 11.6% to 28.5% - six times the level reported by white Irish workers (4.5%).
But the authors did not find that overall discrimination against immigrants increased significantly because of the recession.
On people's experiences looking for work, it finds that visibly different ethnic groups, in particular black Africans and non-whites from the EU, reported very high rates of unfair treatment, which did not decrease over time.
The authors say this is consistent with discrimination based on racial prejudice, and a preference for white immigrants.
