Apple Inc. primarily depends on white and Asian men for its top-paying technology jobs, adding to the perception that Silicon Valley's economic boom is mostly excluding women, blacks and Hispanics, according to The Associated Press.
This recent criticism comes after Apple released a breakdown on Tuesday that showed 54 percent of their technology jobs in the U.S. are filled with whites and another 23 percent by Asians. Men make up 80 percent of Apple's technology employees throughout the world. They did not provide racial statistics for its global workforce of 98,000 employees.
These findings are similar to other major Silicon Valley companies like Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and LinkedIn Corp, according to AP.
Apple, who is the world's most valuable company, also has the largest workforce among that group. A big chunk of their $575 billion market value has enhanced Apple programmers as well as other technology workers who received stock options to supplement their salaries, which usually exceed $100,000, AP reported.
Tech companies have been sharing their demographic data they compile for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission because of pressure by Rev. Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow PUSH coalition. Jackson focuses on tech companies because the industry has become a stimulus for new jobs and wealth as consumers buy gadgets and spend more time on digital services, AP reported.
Apple, like its peers, acknowledged its workforce isn't as diverse as it should be. Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed disappointment in a letter alongside the company's data.
"Let me say up front: As CEO, I'm not satisfied with the numbers on this page," Cook said in the letter. "They're not new to us, and we've been working hard for quite some time to improve them."
Jackson called Cook Tuesday to discuss the data and congratulate him for "stepping up to the plate."
"It shows his personal commitment and his leadership," Jackson said in a statement. "I urge him to take further bold steps to make Apple better, and leverage his leadership to make the whole industry better."
Since Cook has succeeded the late Steve Jobs as CEO nearly three years ago, Apple has been an outspoken advocate for diversity, according to AP. The company has proclaimed the phrase, "Inclusion inspires innovation," as a rallying cry. Cook has even reinforced that same message on his Twitter account throughout the past two months and periodically posts about supporting gay rights in the workplace.
As CEO, Cook also promoted Cuban-American Eddy Cue to the company's executive team and hired a woman, Angela Ahrendts, to oversee Apple stores, AP reported. The California-based company also added another woman, Sue Wagner, to its eight-person board of directors in July.
But even with those appointments, 72 percent of Apple's leadership is comprised of men.
However, Apple does seem to be doing a slightly better job of employing blacks and Hispanics than its peers, including non-tech positions. The thousands of sales jobs in its 427 stores around the world, including 254 U.S. locations, may have something to do with that, according to AP. Overall, 11 percent of Apple's U.S. employees are Hispanic and 7 percent are black. On the contrast, 3 percent of Google's U.S. workers are Hispanic and 2 percent are black. Facebook's U.S. workforce are 4 percent Hispanic and 2 percent black.
Technology executives usually trace the scarcity of women, Hispanics and blacks in the computer programming and engineering fields to flaws in the U.S. education system. Apple and Google, among other companies, are financing efforts to direct more women and minorities to math and science in high school, AP stated.
"But a shortage of qualified women and minority candidates for tech jobs explains some, but not all of the industry's bias toward white and Asian men," said Marianne Cooper, a sociologist at Stanford's University's Clayman Institute and author of "Cult Adrift: Families in Insecure Times." Cooper thinks most tech companies haven't done enough to attract minorities and women or make the field more welcoming.
"The tech boom has been something to behold in terms of being an economic engine, but more people need to be brought along that ride," Cooper said.
