The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued a report concluding that people of color are underrepresented in the high-tech workforce compared with their participation in the overall U.S. workforce. The report—High Tech, Low Inclusion: Diversity in the High Tech Workforce and Sector 2014-2022—concludes that people of color in high-tech jobs are better represented in the high-tech sector.
The high-tech workforce refers to workers in 56 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations regardless of industry. The high-tech sector refers to industries in which high-tech workers comprise at least 20% of the industry workforce but also includes workers in non-STEM occupations.
Black workers were just 7.4% of the high-tech workforce, even though they made up 11.6% of the total U.S. workforce, the EEOC’s findings show. Hispanic workers were only 9.9% of the high-tech workforce, even though they made up 18.7% of the total U.S. workforce.
The high-tech sector, with 37.4% employees of color, was less racially and ethnically diverse than both the total U.S. workforce (41.6% workers of color) and the high-tech workforce (40.1% workers of color).
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), our affiliated nonprofit membership association, can read more here.