Source: Business Insider
Black Americans and Latinos are underrepresented in high-paying jobs
The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 54% of employed Asians worked in management, professional, and related occupations — the highest-paying major occupational category — compared with 41% of employed whites, 31% employed Blacks, and 22% of employed Hispanics.
This, in part, can be explained by racist hiring practices that kept Blacks out of business for decades under Jim Crow. It can also be explained by more subtle forms of prejudice today.
One Harvard University study (https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/minorities-who-whiten-job-resumes-get-more-interviews) found that when Blacks and Asians “whitened” their resumes — for example, used “American” or “white”-sounding names — they got more callbacks for corporate interviews. Twenty-five percent of Black candidates received callbacks from their whitened resumes, while only 10% got calls when they left ethnic details on their resume.
In addition, many companies rely on employee social networks for referrals, which can be problematic if your company is largely white, diversity experts told Business Insider. One survey found that three quarters of white employees don’t have any non-white friends.
People of color, and especially Black Americans, are severely underrepresented at the top of the corporate hierarchy.
A 2019 study by executive-staffing firm Crist Kolder associates looked at the CEOs of Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies. Only 8.7% of the 675 companies in the study had CEOs of color.
As of 2020, only four Fortune 500 companies have Black CEOs: pharmaceutical company Merck & Co., home improvement retailer Lowe’s, fashion holding company Tapestry, and insurance company TIAA.