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Facebook's latest diversity report shows little progress

Facebook's latest diversity report shows little progress

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Facebook has updated its statistics on employee diversity, and they may be disappointing for advocates of diversity in tech. Ninety-one percent of the company's US employees are white or Asian, including 94 percent of the senior leadership. The company's most recent employer information report, covering 2013, shows more detail on the company's diversity efforts, and suggests those numbers aren't changing as quickly as many would like. The form reports a net gain of 1,231 US employees in 2013, but despite the company's diversity efforts, the new employees included only six black men and one black woman. Thirty of the new employees are listed as biracial. The equivalent report for 2014 hasn't been released yet, but the figures are consistent with the company's most recent diversity statistics.

Across the industry, tech companies have struggled to diversify their workforces along both gender and racial lines. Earlier this year, Airbnb released its own diversity numbers to The Verge, revealing a similar split.

In a post accompanying the new data, Facebook highlighted its ongoing efforts to cultivate a more diverse employee pool through a combination of hiring practices and longterm training programs. "Diversity is central to Facebook’s mission of creating a more open and connected world: it’s good for our products and for our business," the company said. "It’s vital for us to have a broad range of perspectives, including people of different genders, races, ages, sexual orientations, characteristics, and points of view."