Chapter 4
How diverse are Tech Talent markets?
Scoring Tech Talent 2024
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Tech talent diversity by race/ethnicity and sex has improved slowly. Remote work and workforce analytics have created opportunities to increase diversity.
Strategic approaches to diverse team building can be enhanced by greater use of data and benchmarking analytics that identify where diverse talent is located and being developed. Our analysis details workforce race/ethnicity and sex by geography, industry, job classification and income bracket, as well as college tech degree graduates’ race/ethnicity and sex by geography. Workforce diversity for these categories used office-using industries as the benchmark for comparison. If tech talent diversity was below this benchmark, there was underrepresentation.
Strategic approaches to diverse team building can be enhanced by greater use of data and benchmarking analytics that identify where diverse talent is located and being developed.
Industry Diversity
Tech talent across all industries was little changed over the past five years and remains predominantly White, Asian and male relative to total employment and office-using employment.3 U.S. Census Bureau data from 2022 shows that Hispanics, Blacks, other non-Whites, non-Asians and females were underrepresented (Figures 23 and 24). The Hispanic, Black and Other race/ethnicity categories combined accounted for 26.5% of the office-using workforce and only 23.1% of the tech talent workforce in the U.S. In Canada, underrepresented race/ethnicity groups have a small share of tech talent employment (10.2%) but exceed that of office-using industries (9.8%).
Figure 23A: U.S. Workforce by Race/Ethnicity for Selected Industries (2022)
Note: Office-using includes occupations that are typically performed in an office setting.
Figure 23B: Canada Workforce by Race/Ethnicity for Selected Industries (2022)
Note: Office-using includes occupations that are typically performed in an office setting.
3 Non-tech occupations in industries that heavily use office space for their operations, including information, professional & business services and financial activities.
Female Diversity
Females were the most underrepresented group within the tech talent workforce (Figure 24). Females comprised 24% of the tech talent workforce across all industries and 21% within the tech industry.
Females accounted for 33% of all occupations within the tech industry, below the 47% share for total employment and 50% share for the office-using workforce. Females within underrepresented race/ethnicity groups (Hispanic, Black and Other) had a higher share of jobs than White females in all five workforce categories.
White females had a lower share than Asians for tech talent overall and within the tech industry but had higher or similar shares in the three other categories. Black females had the highest share of jobs for all race/ethnicity groups and workforce categories.
In Canada, females comprised 22% of tech occupations within the tech industry and 24% across all industries. They were 49% of Canada’s total workforce and 57% of the office-using workforce.
Figure 24: Female Share of Total U.S. Workforce by Race for Certain Industries (2022)
Note: Office-using includes occupations that are typically performed in an office setting.
Occupation Diversity
Segmenting U.S. tech talent occupations across all industries in two broad categories showed that there was a higher concentration of female workers within Computer Support, Database & Systems occupations at 28.2% than within Software Developers, Programmers & Engineers at 19.1% (Figure 25). By race/ethnicity within these same occupations, Black and other females were less underrepresented than Black and other males.
In Canada, females were similarly concentrated in the two broad tech occupation categories, with 29.5% within Computer Support, Database & Systems occupations and 18.8% within Software Developers, Programmers & Engineers.
Figure 25: U.S. Tech Talent Occupation Category by Race/Ethnicity & Sex (2022)
Income Diversity
Tech talent across all industries segmented by annual wage bracket for race/ethnicity and sex showed a higher concentration of underrepresented groups and females in the lower wage ranges, generally because they have less tech work experience. This data analysis does not conclude that wages for these groups are unequal, but only their representation in each bracket. A more detailed job- by-job and person-by-person analysis beyond the scope of the data analyzed is required to make such a determination.
Black and Hispanic tech talent in 2022 was concentrated in the under $100,000 wage bracket at 72.8% and 71.9%, respectively, compared with 42.8% for Asians and 62.8% for Whites (Figure 26). Female tech talent making less than $100,000 accounted for 69.5% of their total, compared with 57.3% for males. Hispanic and Black females had the highest concentration under $100,000, both above 76%. Asian males had the highest concentration in the $150,000+ wage bracket at 30.1%, compared with 17.0% for Whites, 11.7% for Hispanics and 8.2% for Blacks.
The same data was compiled for software engineers, the biggest tech talent growth category (Figure 27). In general, software engineers earned higher wages than tech talent overall. Other notable differences included 29.9% of males in the $150,000+ wage bracket, compared with 19.3% for females. Black females had the highest concentration in the under $100,000 wage bracket at 65.9%, followed by Hispanic females at 61.1%. Asian and White males had the highest concentration above $150,000 at 39.0% and 28.1%, respectively.
Black and Hispanic tech talent in 2022 was concentrated in the under $100,000 wage bracket at 72.8% and 71.9%, respectively, compared with 42.8% for Asians and 62.8% for Whites.
Figure 26: U.S. Tech Talent Workforce by Race/Ethnicity and Income Range (2022)
Figure 27: U.S. Software Engineers by Race/Ethnicity and Income Range (2022)
In general, software engineers earned higher wages than tech talent overall. Other notable differences included 29.9% of males in the $150,000+ wage bracket, compared with 19.3% for females.
Geographic/Market Diversity
Demographics should be benchmarked by the representative workforce within a geographical or market area rather than at the country level. Demographics vary by geography and country-level data benchmarks would assume all markets to have the same diversity.
For tech talent markets, there was variability in underrepresented race/ethnic groups and females when benchmarked by office-using industries. If the difference between tech talent and the office-using benchmark was a positive number, it means there was no underrepresentation using this metric.
For underrepresented race/ethnic groups, the most diverse large tech talent markets were Montreal, Calgary and Philadelphia, while the most diverse small tech talent markets were Quebec, Nashville and Madison, WI (Figure 28). The least diverse large markets were Greater Los Angeles-Orange County, Houston and Dallas-Ft. Worth, while the least diverse small markets were the Inland Empire, CA, Hartford and San Antonio.
Figure 28: Underrepresented Race/Ethnic Groups in North America Tech Talent Workforce by Market (2022)
**Hispanic, Black, Other Non-White/Non-Asian
Source: U.S. Census, IPUMS, Statistics Canada, CBRE Research, April 2024.
For tech talent markets, there was variability in underrepresented race/ethnic groups and females when benchmarked by office-using industries. If the difference between tech talent and the office-using benchmark was a positive number, it means there was no underrepresentation using this metric.
For females, diversity was well below the office-using benchmark in all markets. Large markets with the most female representation were Ottawa, Washington, D.C. and Raleigh-Durham (Figure 29), while small markets with the most were Cincinnati, Sacramento and Madison, WI.
Figure 29: Females in North America Tech Talent Workforce by Market (2022)
Source: U.S. Census, IPUMS, Statistics Canada, CBRE Research, April 2024.
Tech Degree Graduate Diversity & Current Enrollment
The pipeline of recent tech degree graduates offers opportunities to build the next generation of talent and use analytics to measure success. These graduates, like the existing tech talent workforce, were predominantly White, Asian and male.
Of the 342,718 U.S. tech degree graduates in 2022, 25.7% were from underrepresented race/ethnicity groups and 26.3% were female (Figure 30). Underrepresented race/ethnicity groups accounted for 31.5% of total college graduates in 2022 and females accounted for 59.8%. Asian, Hispanic and other race/ethnicity groups have materially increased their shares of tech degrees since 2010, while Blacks have increased slightly and the share of Whites has declined. The share of females has grown by 4.5 percentage points.
Compared with the existing tech talent workforce, the share of tech degree graduates from underrepresented groups (25.7%) exceeded existing workers (23.1%), as did female tech degree graduates (26.3%) compared with existing workers (24.4%). This is a positive indicator of future tech talent diversity.
Figure 30: U.S. Tech Degree Graduates' Race/Ethnicity & Sex (2022)
Source: IPEDS, CBRE Research, April 2024.
For underrepresented race/ethnic groups, the most diverse markets for tech degree graduates were South Florida, San Antonio, the Inland Empire, Houston and Orlando (Figure 31). The least diverse markets were Madison, WI, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Detroit.
For females, the most diverse markets for tech degree graduates were Pittsburgh, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco Bay Area and New York Metro. The least diverse markets were Salt Lake City, Orlando, Jacksonville, Milwaukee and Charlotte.
The U.S. tech degree graduate pipeline grew by 8.2% year-over-year to 1.1 million as of Spring 2024, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center4 and CBRE Research estimates of students enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs. While diversity breakdowns for these students were not available, trends suggest there will be greater tech talent workforce diversity than exists today.
Figure 31: U.S. Tech Degree Graduate's Race/Ethnicity & Sex by Market (2022)
Notes: Total tech degree graduates and male/female breakdown includes U.S. resident and foreigners. Race/ethnicity breakdown excludes unknown races and foreigners.
Source: IPEDS, CBRE Research, April 2024.
4 "Overview: Spring 2024 Enrollment Estimates", National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
The most diverse markets for tech degree graduates were South Florida, San Antonio, the Inland Empire, Houston and Orlando. The least diverse markets were Madison, WI, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Detroit.
Tech Talent Diversity Progress
Greater diversity of the tech talent workforce should continue to slowly progress. Our review of U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission diversity data and publicly released data from private tech companies confirms this. Accelerating the pace of workforce diversity is both a challenge and an opportunity.
Technology will be critical to support the new hybrid approach to work, in which team members can work either in the office, remotely or from widely dispersed locations. Tech talent employers were offering remote working arrangements for 15% of job postings as of May 2024, according to Lightcast data. This hybrid/remote approach shows promise to expand tech talent recruitment across all markets and increase workforce diversity.
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