Apple Reveals A Workforce Much Like Its Silicon Valley Peers: Mostly Male And White

Apple has revealed the demographic makeup of its workforce for the first time, and it looks a lot like other big tech employers in Silicon Valley: largely white and male. In its first published diversity report, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:APPL) said Tuesday its overall U.S. workforce is 55 percent white, 15 percent Asian, 11 percent Hispanic and 7 percent black. That compares favorably with other Silicon Valley companies that have disclosed, such as Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), 57 percent white, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), 61 percent white, and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), 59 percent white.

Google was the first to report diversity figures about two months ago.

But while Apple is more diverse than its peers overall, its numbers include employees at 425 retail stores around the country. Figures show employees in leadership roles are 64 percent white, 21 percent Asian, 6 percent Hispanic and 3 percent black. Apple CEO Tim Cook has admitted the Cupertino, California, company has a lot of work to do in truly diversifying its workforce.

“As CEO, I’m not satisfied with the numbers on this page. They’re not new to us, and we’ve been working hard for quite some time to improve them,” Cook said in a statement.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder of the Rainbow Push Coalition, began calling for tech companies to address their lack of black, Hispanic and female employees in March, urging Silicon Valley to reveal its diversity reports. Jackson has commended Cook on his efforts for speaking out on the state of diversity in the technology sector when few other CEOs have done the same.

“This whole thing cries out for leadership. These companies must lead the way, not just begrudgingly release the data,” Jackson told USA Today.

Apple in particular has revealed a large gender gap within its workforce, having just 30 percent female employees and 70 percent, male. Notably, eBay’s (NASDAQ:EBAY) staff is 42 percent female while LinkedIn's is (NYSE: LNKD) 39 percent and Yahoo's (NASDAQ:YHOO) is 37 percent. Cook noted efforts to bolster female leadership at Apple include the addition of Angela Ahrendts as the head of retail and the promotion of Denise Young-Smith to head of human resources. Susan Wagner to Apple’s board has also been added to Apple’s board, where she joins Andrea Jung.

Other efforts include Apple’s sponsorship of the National Center for Women & Information Technology, an organization that aims to get women involved in technology, as well as the Human Rights Campaign, which is the largest LGBT rights organization. Referencing the anniversary of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, Cook indicated efforts to diversify Apple go far beyond race and sex.

“Together, we are committed to diversity within our company and the advancement of equality and human rights everywhere,” he said.