Business | Beyond the pale

Will Silicon Valley face up to its diversity problem?

The tech industry’s response to the killing of George Floyd has been stronger even than in other parts of the economy

Jun 20th 2020|PALO ALTO

TO GET A sense of diversity in tech, take a stroll on University Avenue in Palo Alto, a city at the heart of Silicon Valley. Before the pandemic, if you encountered a black person, the chances were they worked in a local shop. African-Americans account for 3% of workers at America’s five biggest technology firms (see chart) and probably less at smaller ones. About one in 50 partners at venture-capital (VC) firms is black. The figure among VC-financed entrepreneurs is one in 100. Such dismal numbers, and Silicon Valley’s meritocratic pretensions, help explain why tech’s response to the killing of George Floyd has been louder even than other industries’. Will outrage lead to lasting change?

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Beyond the pale”