Apple reports progress in workforce diversity

As the US tech firm stayed ahead of fellow Silicon Valley powerhouses Google & Facebook Inc in hiring minorities

Apple Inc on Wednesday reported improvements in gender and ethnic diversity in June as the US technology company stayed ahead of fellow Silicon Valley powerhouses Google and Facebook Inc in hiring minorities.

Apple also said in its annual diversity and inclusion report that it had closed pay gaps over the last year by analysing salaries, bonuses and annual stock grants. It had also opened up its annual stock grants programme to retail employees for the first time.

As of June, Apple's overall US workforce was 56 per cent white (up 2 per cent from a year ago), 19 per cent Asian (down 1 per cent) 12 per cent Hispanic (up 1 per cent), and 9 per cent black (up 1 per cent).

Apple's workforce includes a pool of retail employees that Google and Facebook do not have. In Apple stores, blacks and Hispanics respectively comprised 12 per cent and 17 per cent of general employees, and 5 per cent and 10 per cent of the leadership.

At Alphabet Inc's Google unit, blacks and Hispanics respectively made up 2 and 3 per cent of the overall workforce and 1 and 3 per cent of its tech employees, little changed from last year.

At Facebook, blacks and Hispanics were respectively 2 and 4 per cent of the workforce and 1 and 3 per cent of tech employees.

Apple's global workforce was 32 per cent women, up 1 per cent from the end of June 2015. Women held 23 per cent of technical positions, up 1 per cent from a year ago, and 28 per cent of leadership positions, unchanged from June last year.

Reverend Jesse Jackson, who confronted Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook in 2014 about the company's lack of diversity and unfair compensation, applauded its efforts to connect with engineers of colour through partnerships with historically black colleges and universities and scholarship organizations.

"They are clearly setting the pace, making measurable progress for three consecutive years. They've acted with intention, not just aspiration," Jackson said in a statement.

Amazon Inc, which employs a large number of workers at distribution centres, reported late last year that its ethnic diversity exceeded the US average, with a global workforce that was 21 per cent black, 13 per cent Hispanic, 11 per cent Asian and 5 per cent other ethnicities.

In management positions at Amazon, however, representation dropped to 4 per cent for blacks and Hispanics, 3 per cent for other races, and climbed to 20 per cent for Asians.