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Apple reports improving racial and gender diversity among employees

Among new hires in the USA, 27% are black, Hispanic, Native American or Pacific Islander, compared with 22% of its US workforce. Apple is now working on doing the same for workers globally.

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As of June, Apple’s overall USA workforce was 56 percent white (up 2 percent from a year ago), 19 percent Asian (down 1 percent) 12 percent Hispanic (up 1 percent), and 9 percent black (up 1 percent). In Apple stores, blacks and Hispanics respectively comprised 12 percent and 17 percent of general employees, and 5 percent and 10 percent of the leadership. Facebook’s workforce is 52% white and 38% Asian, but only 4% of its employees are Hispanic, and 2% are black. Women held 23 percent of technical positions, up 1 percent from a year ago, and 28 percent of leadership positions, unchanged from June last year.

Apple also shared data on its participation in President Obama’s ConnectED initiative to bring technology into underserved schools.

Since a year ago, Apple’s overall percentage of minority employees has increased, slightly.

Apple said that it has achieved pay equity in the United States for similar roles and performance as of August 2016. In the C-suites, Lisa Jackson and Denise Young Smith.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has been a vocal critic of the lack of diversity in Silicon Valley, had praises for Apple’s gains.

“We are absolutely accountable to making sure that we are as richly represented as we can be”, she said. Apple said over the past three years it had hired 28,500 women globally, and 12,700 underrepresented minorities in the U.S. This past year, we looked at the total compensation for USA employees and closed the gaps we found.

On Apple’s updated Diversity page where it publishes the annual data, the company is now featuring profiles of employees from various parts of the company.

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“When we first launched CBC TECH 2020, I led a congressional delegation to Silicon Valley to meet with tech leaders, including Apple CEO Tim Cook. This increase is a step in the right direction and shows Apple’s commitment to diversity, inclusion, and opportunity for all”, said Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.).

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