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Blacks, Latinos Dominate Silicon Valley’s ‘Invisible Workforce’ – Digits – WSJ
Hispanic and Blacks overrepresented in the public sector or non tech service positions.
Blacks and Hispanics grossly underrepresented in the burgeoning technology sector a driver in the global economy yet in menial positions in tech.
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Blacks and Latinos make up a sizable share of low-wage workers cleaning and guarding
Silicon Valley tech companies, where the technical workforces are overwhelmingly white and Asian, according to a report scheduled to be released Tuesday. -
report notes that most of the janitors, landscapers and security guards on corporate campuses are employed by contractors, and not by the tech firms themselves.
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According to the report, blacks and Latinos account for 76% of landscape workers, 72% of janitors and 41% of private security guards in Santa Clara County – home to Google, Apple,
Intel Corp. and scores of other tech companies. -
According to the report, the median hourly wage in the county for janitors is roughly $11 an hour, and $14 an hour for landscapers and security guards. By contrast, the median wage for software developers is roughly $63 an hour.
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in recent months, several tech companies vowed to take steps to boost the representation of blacks and Latinos in their workforces.
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“Talk is cheap,” said Michael Johnson, a 52-year-old black man who worked 15 years in tech, primarily as a systems engineer in telecommunications. After being laid off, Mr. Johnson has worked as a security guard in Silicon Valley for the past decade.
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“There is a huge status differential,” said Margaret Ann Neale, a professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business who has researched workforce diversity. She said Silicon Valley companies must move beyond the expectations that a tech workforce is predominantly young, white, Asian and male.
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