Yahoo Diversity Figures Show Lack of Blacks, Hispanics

Yahoo has released information on the diversity of its workforce, and like Google it has a lot of room for improvement.

Last month, Google revealed that only 2% of its workforce was Black, 3% Hispanic and women only 30%.

Yahoo has followed suit by publishing its workforce diversity figures, and they are along the same lines. Women make up 37% of the overall workforce, with blacks representing 2% and Hispanics 4%.

In leadership positions at Yahoo (defined as VP and above), the story is even more lopsided. 77% of those posts are held by men, 2% are held by Hispanics and only 1% by Blacks.

“Here at Yahoo we are committed to attracting, developing and retaining a diverse workforce,” the company said in a blog outlining the figures.

Yahoo says statistics don't tell the whole story.

“We have a wide range of Employee Resource Groups that serve people of diverse backgrounds and are highly engaged in their respective communities," it said. "For example, Yahoo received a 100% Corporate Equality Index score and was named a ‘Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality.’”

The National Hispanic Media Coalition appreciated the transparency, if not what it showed.

"Yet another tech company reveals what we all knew to be true: there is a lack of diversity across this sector," said NHMC President Alex Nogales. "I applaud Yahoo's transparency as an important first step to becoming inclusive of this country's diversity. It is critically important for all tech companies to recruit and tap into the pool of Latino talent found throughout the nation -- and NHMC commits to ensure this happens."

Nogales said he would be setting up meetings with Google, Yahoo and LinkedIn, which also published its diversity figures, to talk about how NHMC can help them meet their diversity goals.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.