Apple Inches Toward Workforce Diversity

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Apple's diversity divide narrowed a smidgen over the past year, with its global workforce gaining ever so slightly in terms of the number of women and minorities it has among its ranks.

Apple's figures released to the government show that as of Aug. 1 the company had 72,494 employees. Of this group, 30% were female, compared with 28.7% a year ago. When white males and white females are taken out of the equation, Apple had a workforce composed of 40.5% people of color, compared with 38.7% in the previous year.

The tech giant also posts figures of its diversity efforts, which are based on June 2015 numbers, on its website. In commenting on the way the government requires it to disclose its diversity figures and the way it prefers to show them, Apple stated in a post on its diversity blog:

We make the document publicly available, but it's not how we measure our progress. The EEO-1 has not kept pace with the changes in industry or the American workforce over the past half century. We believe the information we report elsewhere on this site is a far more accurate reflection of our progress toward diversity.

In the blog Apple also notes that its global workforce was 31% female in 2015, compared with 30% a year earlier. Also, Apple reports that its US workforce was 54% white in 2015, compared to 55% in 2014. Asians accounted for 18% in 2015 vs. 15% in 2014. The number of Hispanic workers remained at 11% in both years. Blacks held 8% of positions at Apple in 2015, slightly up from 7% in 2014.

[Read Microsoft Employee Diversity Numbers Fail To Impress.]

Nationwide, 4.3 million people held computer and mathematical occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics updated Feb. 2015 figures. Of this group, 25.6% were women. Asians accounted for 19.2%, blacks 8.3%, and Latinos 6.6% of the nation's computer and mathematical occupation workforce.

Since Cook took the helm as Apple CEO in 2011, he has been very public in voicing concern and a desire to increase Apple's diversity. "Diversity is critical to innovation and it is essential to Apple's future. We aspire to do more than just make our company as diverse as the talent available to hire," Cook said in Apple's diversity page blog post. He added Apple also aims to foster diversity among its suppliers and developers.