According to a new report released by Working Partnerships USA, the majority of low-wage service jobs within Silicon Valley’s bustling tech companies are occupied by Latinos and African Americans. The report comes on the heels of public disclosures made by large tech companies such as Google and Apple regarding the ethnic and racial composition of their high-skilled, technical workforce which reports stated were overwhelmingly White and Asian.
The report noted that, “These contracted service workers – not counted on tech companies’ official employment rolls and rarely mentioned in the public discourse – constitute the Silicon Valley tech industry’s ‘invisible workforce.’”
76% of landscape workers, 72% of janitors and 41% of security guards are African American or Latino. Since a majority of these service workers are hired by contractors, they do not get to reap the benefits of the industry’s famously generous amenities and incomes. These statistics have prompted companies and stakeholders to evaluate diversity in the workforce in an effort to create greater equality and representation at every level in the industry.
Derecka Mehrens, executive director of Working Partnerships USA said, “The service workers who are a critical part of the industry’s business model deserve to make a living wage and share in the wealth and prosperity of the industry, just as the engineers and coders do.” Mehrens continued, “These numbers represent real people: black and Hispanic workers who work hard but remain in poverty. Their jobs make this valley work. The people who protect and serve Silicon Valley’s new elite need deserve dignity in their own occupations.”
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