In Apple's latest workforce diversity report, the company revealed that it has made good progress in addressing the problems of discrepancies in pay and opportunities offered to women and minorities.
Silicon Valley has been known to have issues with workforce diversity, with reports released by tech companies often showing pay gaps working against women and minorities, with positions and leadership roles mostly taken up by white males.
According to Apple's report though, the company has solved the pay gap issue for both women and minorities, as it analyzed the compensation of its employees in the United States. Apple now proudly claims that it has achieved pay equity, paying women employees $1 for every $1 male employees earn, and employees from underrepresented minorities $1 for every $1 white employees earn.
Apple added that it is now studying the compensation of its employees worldwide, and that it will address any pay gaps that it might encounter in its operations around the world. The company, however, is not the first one to reach equal pay, as Facebook and Microsoft have both previously made the claim.
Another piece of information that Apple shared is the fact that women now make up 32 percent of the company's workforce, compared with 31 percent in 2015 and 30 percent in 2014. While the percent increases might seem small, it is still progress being made in ensuring gender diversity in the company.
Race and ethnicity diversity in Apple, however, has largely been maintained as mostly white, with 56 percent, 54 percent and 55 percent of its workforce being white for 2016, 2015, and 2014 respectively. Asians and blacks, however, have been gradually increasing their numbers in Apple's workforce, with 19 percent of employees in the United States being Asian and 9 percent being black.
Underneath the numbers, what is apparent is that Apple has committed to improving the diversity of its workforce, which is a good thing for the industry and the people looking to be a part of it.
"We want Apple to be a reflection of the world around us," the company said in the report.
The gender pay gap in Silicon Valley is a mirror of a global issue, as revealed by a report released earlier this year. According to Glassdoor Economic Research, upon the examination of information from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and France, the gender pay gap is still prevalent. The research shows that men earn 24.1 percent more than women in the United States. With controls added for certain factors, the gap shrinks to 5.4 percent, but the fact remains that there is no explanation for such a problem.
