Black tech execs hope the current attention on racial disparities will help diversify tech workers, as black people account for only 7.8% of core US IT workers
Despite yearslong efforts by companies to diversify their tech workforces, black people account for less than 8% of core IT workers in the U.S. Tweets: @grattongirl , @wsj , and @shatter242 Tweets: Sarah-Jayne Gratton / @grattongirl : (Jared Council/Wall Street Journal) https://www.techmeme.com/... @wsj : Despite yearslong efforts by companies to diversify their tech workforces, black people account for less than 8% of core IT workers in the U.S. https://www.wsj.com/... @shatter242 : @Techmeme @JaredCouncil From my experience, that percentage is way too high. Maybe across the board in all tech companies, including Sales and Facilities. IT specifically? Less than 1%.
Context & Ripple Effects
The 7.8% figure lands in the middle of a decade-long arc the coverage has already traced: the share of Black employees at the eight largest US tech companies moved just from 2.5% to 3.1% between 2014 and 2017 despite stated commitments, and as far back as 2016 Howard University's Black graduates were struggling to get hired in Silicon Valley even as companies ran diversity initiatives.
What is different now is timing and pressure. The article runs days before Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft issued fresh workforce-diversity pledges that Bloomberg noted repeat years of similar claims with little progress, and alongside LA Times reporting from workers describing discrimination and isolation inside these firms.
First-order effects
- Black executives gain an opening they have lacked since earlier pledge cycles: public attention gives them leverage to push hiring targets at Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft precisely when those companies are re-committing publicly.
- Companies whose prior initiatives stalled face immediate scrutiny over the gap between their stated efforts and outcomes like the 7.8% core IT share.
Second-order effects
- Retention, not recruiting, becomes the contested ground — Bloomberg's follow-up on why giants lose new Black and Latinx employees suggests rivals will be judged on keeping hires, which raises the cost of treating diversity as a headcount announcement.
- Atlanta, where roughly a quarter of tech workers were reported African American, gains bargaining power as an alternative talent hub for employers unable to move Silicon Valley's hiring numbers.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, diversity programs shift from pledge-and-pipeline models toward retention metrics and accountability structures, since a decade of pipeline-first effort produced only marginal share gains at the top eight firms.
- Hiring geography could decentralize: persistent underrepresentation in traditional hubs pushes companies toward markets like Atlanta where diverse candidate pools already exist.
The trend: Tech's diversity push is moving through its recurring cycle of pledges after moments of national attention, but this round is increasingly judged on retention outcomes and regional talent strategies rather than headline commitments.