Amazon Unclear on Diversity ⇥ bits.blogs.nytimes.com

This week, Amazon released their workplace diversity figures, and they’re, well, a little sketchy. The Rainbow PUSH Coalition, as quoted by David Streitfeld in the Times:

“Their general work force data released by Amazon seems intentionally deceptive, as the company did not include the race or gender breakout of their technical work force,” the statement said. “The broad assumption is that a high percentage of their black and Latino employees work in their warehouses.”

I’m not sure about malicious, but Amazon’s figures are certainly less forthcoming than the figures from other companies. Amazon, like Microsoft, seems to be masking their male- and white-dominated workforce. Apple, too, does not break out their retail employees from their corporate employees; one might reasonably guess that, in the current employment environment, their retail employees are more likely to be women or minorities than their corporate employees. Diversity statistics which break out different divisions within the company would be much more revealing for all tech companies.