Google is planning to release statistics documenting the diversity of its workforce for the first time amid escalating pressure on the technology industry to hire more minorities and women.
The numbers are compiled as part of a report that major U.S. employers must file with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Employers, though, aren’t required to make the information publicly available.
Google Inc. had resisted calls for it to share the diversity data.
The company announced its about-face Wednesday during its annual shareholders’ meeting after the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a longtime civil rights leader, urged Google to lead the effort to hire more minority and women in technology.
Jackson applauded Google for its concession. Google Inc. says the information will be released sometime next month.
The company employs nearly 50,000 people.
Associated Press
