Communications of the ACM
High-Tech Pay Gap: Minorities Earn Less in Skilled Jobs
Attendees at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco in June.
Credit: Getty Images
Hispanics, Asians, and blacks are not receiving equal pay for equal work in the high-tech industry, according to a recent American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) report. "What this tells us is that race and ethnicity matter, and they matter a lot," says AIER's Nicole Kreisberg. "Simply increasing diversity is not enough. We also have to talk about money." The study examined several factors, including education, occupation, age, geography, gender, citizenship status, marital status, and children in the home.
Recent figures from some of the largest technology companies show blacks, Hispanics, and women are underrepresented in Silicon Valley. Analysts say this trend can be attributed to an unconscious bias. However, Silicon Valley companies are studying the issues. "We are regularly looking at our diversity metrics so that we can understand the current situation, target problem areas to address, and have a baseline to track the results of change," says Twitter's Janet Van Huysse.
The AIER report counters the industry's reputation as a meritocracy, where anyone with intelligence, ambition, and hard work can make it, regardless of gender, race, nationality, or class. "The lesson is not that companies shouldn't adopt merit-based practices, but that the pursuit of meritocracy is more difficult than it first appears," says Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Emilio Castilla.
From USA Today
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