Tech/information companies these days flock to high-density urban areas such as New York and San Francisco. Fewer and fewer entrepreneurs want to put their startup out somewhere in a suburban office park. Instead, they place their new firm in places which are attractive to young tech workers.
As a result, the tech/information boom is generating jobs in downtown areas that are more accessible to inner city workers, who are typically less likely to have cars. What’s more, there’s a social element: If tech/information companies are located in dense downtown areas, they are more likely to want to help local schools.
The question is: Who is going to get those jobs? As has been repeatedly reported, tech has a major diversity problem, especially in the startup community (see, for example, this recent article). Organizations such as All Star Code, Black Girls Code, and CoderDojo NYC are helping connect inner city youth with tech opportunities, but it’s a slow process.
However, despite the diversity problems, there are reasons for optimism in the broader tech/information industry, going beyond startups. In fact, we’ve just gotten a round of new data from 2013 which shows how tech growth is helping black and Hispanics. This new data enables us to update previous results that we reported. Take a look at the chart below.
From 2009 to 2013, employment of blacks and African-Americans in computer and mathematical occupations grew by 41%, compared to 7.5% growth for black workers in all occupations. Over the same period, the employment of Hispanics in computer and mathematical occupations rose by 33%, compared to 15% for Hispanic workers in all occupations.
What kind of tech jobs are we talking about? The data doesn’t give a clear picture, although it looks like blacks and Hispanics are getting a wide range of tech jobs, from software developers to customer support. But here’s a couple of charts that give more insight.
This chart shows that black workers are getting a rising share of computer and mathematical jobs, while their share of in managerial and professional occupations, a much broader classification. That suggest that educated black workers are shifting over to tech.
The situation is somewhat different for Hispanic workers, who have gained ground both in tech jobs and in the broader managerial/professional occupations at roughly the same rate. In this case the rise in the Hispanic share of tech jobs is part of a broader set of gains in high-skill jobs.
