Invest in new models of inclusive tech workforce development, including new models for upskilling, reskilling, and hiring

Ensure technology platforms are held accountable for harassment, violence, discrimination, mis/disinformation, and other harmful consequences of their content

The technology sector plays an increasingly important role in our national economy, yet the technology workforce does not reflect the demographics of the overall workforce and of its customer base. Tech workforce data show that Black, Latinx, Native, and female employees are starkly underrepresented at every level in the technology workforce — from entry-level to management, C-Suite, and Boards. Just 9% of the overall tech workforce is Black, compared to 14% of the U.S. workforce; and just 7% is Latinx, compared with 18% of the U.S. workforce. In Silicon Valley, women comprise just 30% of the technology workforce, while Black and Latinx women comprise <2%. And while the existing data show sharp, and unwavering disparities, there is a lack of consistent, rigorous, and transparent data collection and reporting to track technology workforce diversity trends and mechanisms for holding companies accountable. The implications of the lack of racial and gender diversity in technology are significant and growing-- from income and wealth inequality, to representation in the design and deployment of technologies, loss of innovation potential, and the inability of the U.S. to meet future workforce needs. As one aspect of a comprehensive approach to increase technology workforce diversity, rigorous and consistent collection, reporting, and transparency of technology workforce data is necessary at the company, state, and federal level to track the entry and retention of Black, Latinx, Native, and female talent across technical vs. non-technical roles, management, C-suite, and Boards. Accordingly, accountability mechanisms are needed both in the public and private sector to further incentivize progress on workforce diversity commitments, to hold companies accountable for representation goals, and to take corrective action where needed.