Apple’s work force is mostly white, Asian and male

10 years ago | Posted in: Technology | 694 Views

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple’s work force is mostly white, Asian and male, just like other major high-tech companies in Silicon Valley.

Just 30% of its global work force is female, Apple said in a report released Tuesday.

In the U.S., more than half of its staff is white and 15% is Asian. The number of black and Hispanic employees is higher than other major high-tech companies.

Hispanics account for 11% and blacks account for 7% of staffers. Those higher numbers are likely due to greater diversity among retail workers in its company stores.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said last month that the company would detail the demographics of its work force.

In a letter published along with the report, Cook pledged to diversify Apple’s employee ranks.

“Apple is committed to transparency, which is why we are publishing statistics about the race and gender makeup of our company,” Cook wrote. “Let me say up front: As CEO, I’m not satisfied with the numbers on this page. They’re not new to us, and we’ve been working hard for quite some time to improve them. We are making progress, and we’re committed to being as innovative in advancing diversity as we are in developing our products.”

The issue of racial and gender parity in the high-tech industry has risen to the forefront in Silicon Valley as major companies have released sobering statistics on the lack of women, Hispanics and blacks in their ranks.

Twitter, Yahoo, Google, Facebook and LinkedIn have reported that their staffs are overwhelmingly male. Whites and Asians make up between 88% and 91%.

That has dismayed women, blacks and Hispanics who are major consumers of technology yet make up just a tiny percentage of workers.

“The walls are coming down to expose barren fruit trees,” said Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has led a campaign to get Silicon Valley companies to release their demographics and begin diversifying their staff. “Apple’s are a bit better than the others but not by much.”

In an interview, Jackson said he was pleased that Cook is speaking openly about diversity in tech.

“That is a bold and direct step,” Jackson said, noting the absence of other tech CEOs speaking out on diversity.

“This whole thing cries out for leadership. These companies must lead the way, not just begrudgingly release the data,” he said.

Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition is inviting companies that have released statistics on the make-up of their work forces to a public forum in Silicon Valley this fall to explore strategies to increasing diversity in high tech.

Apple and other Silicon Valley companies say they are looking to increase the diversity of their work forces to stay in touch with consumers.

“We are building products that people with very diverse backgrounds use, and I think we all want our company makeup to reflect the makeup of the people who use our products,” Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in an interview with USA Today. “That’s not true of any industry really, and we have a long way to go.”

source: usatoday

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