These assumptions are certainly present in the conspicuous lack of Blacks, Asians and Hispanics in the upper echelons of corporate management. For Blacks, the ratio of service workers and laborers to senior-level management was 105–1 in 2018 according to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC): for whites, that ratio is about 7 to 1, with Black men earning 87 cents for every dollar earned by comparably qualified whites. It is no wonder that Black alumni of Harvard’s business and law schools experience more career plateaus and job changes than their white counterparts while their younger counterparts have shown less interest in becoming senior executives at Fortune 500 corporations. In 2021, The Washington Post reported that only 8% of C-suite executives are Black even though they make up 12% of the population at large. This disparity is even more glaring in the CEOs are considered where only 1% of the top 500 companies are Black.
Frances A. Chiu, Ph.D. | writing coach | editor