How diverse are tech talent markets?

Industry Diversity

Tech talent diversity across all industries was little changed over the past five years and remains predominantly White, Asian and male relative to total employment and office-using employment.³ According to 2021 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics, Blacks and other non-White and non-Asian groups and females were underrepresented (Figures 20 and 21). The tech industry, which accounts for 41% of tech talent in the U.S., had more underrepresentation than tech talent across all industries.

³ Non-tech occupations in industries that heavily use office space for their operations including information, professional & business services and financial activities.

Figure 20: U.S. Workforce by Race/Ethnicity for Certain Industries (2021)

Source: U.S. Census, IPUMS and CBRE Research, April 2023.
Note: See Table 22b in the Appendix section for Canadian workforce by race/ethnicity for certain industries.

Female Diversity

Females were significantly underrepresented within tech talent occupations across all industries (Figure 21). Within the tech industry, females were more underrepresented in tech occupations at 21% compared with 24% across all industries. Females accounted for 33% of all occupations within the tech industry, below the 47% share for total employment and 52% share for office-using industries. Females within underrepresented race/ethnicity groups (Hispanic, Black and Other) had a higher share of jobs than White females in all five workforce categories. They had a lower share than Asian females for tech talent within the tech industry but had higher or similar shares in the four other categories. Black females had the highest share of jobs for all race/ethnicity groups and workforce categories.

Figure 21: Female Share of Total U.S. Workforce by Race for Certain Industries (2021)

* Office-using industries include information, financial activities and professional & business services (excluding tech industry within these categories).
Source: U.S. Census, IPUMS and CBRE Research, April 2023.
Note: See Table 23b in the Appendix section for female share of total Canadian workforce for certain industries.

 

Occupation Diversity

Segmenting tech talent occupations across all industries in two broad categories showed that there was a higher concentration of female workers within Computer Support, Database & Systems occupations at 28.6% than within Software Developers, Programmers & Engineers at 18.4% (Figure 22). By race/ethnicity within these same occupations, Black and other females were less underrepresented than Black and other males.

Figure 22: U.S. Tech Talent Occupation Category by Race/Ethnicity & Sex (2021)

Source: U.S. Census, IPUMS and CBRE Research, April 2023.
Note: See Table 24b in the Appendix section for Canadian tech talent occupation category by sex.

Income Diversity

Tech talent across all industries segmented by annual wage bracket for race/ethnicity and sex showed a higher concentration of underrepresented groups and females in the lower wage ranges. However, we cannot conclude that there are unequal wages within each of these groups since they are classified by a wide salary range. A more detailed job-by-job and person-by-person analysis is required to make such a determination.

Black and Hispanic tech talent in 2021 was concentrated in the under $100,000 wage bracket at 76.7% and 75.4%, respectively, compared with 46.6% for Asians and 64.9% for Whites (Figure 23). Female tech talent making less than $100,000 accounted for 73.4% of their total, compared with 59.7% for males. Hispanic, Black and Other females had the highest concentration under $100,000, all 75% or more. Asian males had the highest concentration in the $150,000 or more wage bracket at 27.5%, compared with 15.0% for Whites, 8.9% for Hispanics and 6.9% for Blacks.

Figure 23: U.S. Tech Talent Workforce by Race/Ethnicity and Income Range (2021)

Source: U.S. Census, IPUMS and CBRE Research, April 2023.

The same data was compiled for software engineers, the biggest tech talent growth category (Figure 24). In general, software engineers earned higher wages than tech talent overall. Other notable differences included 24.4% of males in the $150,000 or more wage bracket, compared with 14.8% for females. Hispanic females had the highest concentration in the under $100,000 wage bracket at 74.9%, followed by Black females at 71.3%. Asian and White males had the highest concentration above $150,000 at 34.0% and 22.2%, respectively.

Figure 24: U.S. Software Engineers by Race/Ethnicity and Income Range (2021)

Source: U.S. Census, IPUMS and CBRE Research, May 2023.

Geographic/Market Diversity

Demographics should be benchmarked by the representative workforce within a geographical or market area. For tech talent markets, there was variability in underrepresented race/ethnic groups and females when benchmarked by office-using industries. If the difference between tech talent and the office-using benchmark was a positive number, it means there was no underrepresentation using this metric.

For underrepresented race/ethnic groups, the most diverse large tech talent markets were Salt Lake City, Portland and Minneapolis/St. Paul, while the most diverse small tech talent markets were Nashville, San Antonio and Sacramento (Figure 25). The least diverse large markets were Dallas/Ft. Worth, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area, while the least diverse small markets were the Inland Empire, Jacksonville and Hartford.

Figure 25: Underrepresented Race/Ethnic Groups in U.S. Tech Talent Workforce by Market (2021)

*Difference calculation: tech talent Share minus Office-Using Share Benchmark; **Hispanic, Black, Other Non-White/Non-Asian
Source: U.S. Census, IPUMS and CBRE Research, April 2023.
Note: See Table 27b in the Appendix section for underrepresented race/ethnic groups in Canadian tech talent workforce by market.

For females, diversity was well below the office-using benchmark in all but one market (Madison). Large markets with the most female representation were Washington, D.C., Raleigh-Durham and San Diego (Figure 26), while small markets with the most were Madison, Sacramento and Cleveland.

Figure 26: Females in U.S. Tech Talent Workforce by Market (2021)

*Difference calculation: tech talent Share minus Office-Using Share Benchmark.
Source: U.S. Census, IPUMS and CBRE Research, April 2023.
Note: See Table 28b in the Appendix section for females in Canada's tech talent workforce by market.

Tech Degree Graduate Diversity & Current Enrollment

The pipeline of recent tech degree graduates offers opportunities to build the next generation of talent and use analytics to measure success. These graduates, like the existing tech talent workforce, were predominantly White, Asian and male. Of the 348,500 U.S. tech degree graduates in 2021, 25.3% were from underrepresented race/ethnicity groups and 26.1% were female (Figure 27). Underrepresented race/ethnicity groups accounted for 31.2% of total college graduates in 2021 and females accounted for 59.4%. Asian, Hispanic and other race/ethnicity groups have materially increased their shares of tech degrees since 2010, while Blacks have increased slightly and the share of Whites has declined. The share of females has grown by 4.3 percentage points during this same timeframe.

Figure 27: U.S. Tech Degree Graduate's Race/Ethnicity & Sex (2021)

Note: Total tech degree graduates and male/female breakdown includes U.S. resident and foreigners. Race/ethnicity breakdown excludes unknown races and foreigners.
Source: IPEDS and CBRE Research, April 2023.

Compared with the existing tech talent workforce, the share of tech degree graduates from underrepresented groups (25.3%) exceeded existing workers (22.2%), as did female tech degree graduates (26.1%) compared with existing workers (24.3%). This is a positive indicator of future tech talent diversity.

For underrepresented race/ethnic groups, the most diverse markets for tech degree graduates were South Florida, San Antonio, Houston, the Inland Empire and Virginia Beach (Figure 28). The least diverse markets were Madison, Cincinnati, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Columbus.

Figure 28: U.S. Tech Degree Graduate's Race/Ethnicity & Sex by Market (2021)

*Aggregate of Hispanic, Black, Other Non-White/Non-Asian Note: Total tech degree graduates and male/female break-down includes U.S. resident and foreigners. Race/ethnicity breakdown excludes unknown races and foreigners.
See Table 30b in the Appendix section for a breakdown of Canadian tech degree graduates' sex by market.
Source: IPEDS and CBRE Research, April 2023.

For females, the most diverse markets for tech degree graduates were Pittsburgh, Seattle, Boston, San Francisco Bay Area and New York Metro. The least diverse markets were Salt Lake City, Orlando, Milwaukee, San Antonio and South Florida.

The U.S. tech degree graduate pipeline grew by 4.9% year-over-year to 1.7 million, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center⁴ and estimates by CBRE Research for students enrolled in bachelor’s or higher programs as of Fall 2022. While diversity breakdowns for these students were not available, trends suggest there will be greater tech talent workforce diversity than exists today.

⁴ Overview: Fall 2022 Enrollment Estimates, National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

Tech Talent Diversity Progress

Greater diversity of the tech talent workforce should continue to slowly progress. Our review of U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission diversity data and publicly released data from private tech companies confirms this. Changing the pace of workforce diversity is both a challenge and an opportunity.

Technology will be critical to support the new hybrid approach to work, in which team members can work either in the office, remotely or from widely dispersed locations. Tech talent employers were offering remote working arrangements for 20% of job postings as of May 2023, according to Lightcast data. This hybrid/remote approach shows promise to expand tech talent recruitment across all markets and increase workforce diversity.