Apple's Newest Diversity Numbers Show Small Yearly Gain

Apple is one of several tech companies that have publicly proclaimed goals to increase workforce diversity. Today it published its updated diversity numbers, and relatively speaking, the company made small but appreciable gains. Over the last twelve months, Apple made positive changes in nearly every category, increasing the diversity of its new hires for an overall more diverse workforce. Said CEO Tim Cook in a statement, "Diversity is critical to innovation and it is essential to Apple's future."

In the last 12 months, Apple revealed that it hired (across the globe) 11,000 women, which is a 65-percent increase over 2014. It broke the US numbers down further, saying that in the nation it hired in excess of 2,200 black employees, a 50-percent increase over 2014. Hispanic hiring reached 2,700 employees, a 66-percent increase.

The graph above shows Apple's updated total workforce diversity numbers. In comparsion, Apple's 2014 global gender percentages were 70-percent male/30-percent female. The number of asian workers in the US has increased by 3-percent, hispanic worker numbers have remained steady, black worker numbers jumped by 1-percent, and the "undeclared" category of workers decreased by 3-percent. "Multiple" and "Other" categories remain unchanged.

Cook elaborated on the company's goals, saying in part that:

We aspire to do more than just make our company as diverse as the talent available to hire. We must address the broad underlying challenges ... This means fostering diversity not just at Apple but throughout our entire ecosystem, from the customers we welcome in our stores to the suppliers and developers we work with. We are committed to fostering and advancing inclusion and diversity across Apple and all the communities we're a part of.

SOURCE: Apple