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It’s not that complicated: Facebook is still mostly run by white men

Facebook reported a modest improvement in its latest diversity figures.

Facebook reported a modest improvement in its latest diversity figures.

(Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP/Getty Images)
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Facebook’s latest diversity figures barely budged from the previous year’s, with almost every level of the company still dominated by white men.

The report, which looks at the company’s workforce as of May 31, 2015, shows that 55% of the social network’s U.S. workforce is white, 36% is Asian, 4% is Latino, 3% is “two or more races” and 2% is black. The company’s current U.S. workforce is slightly more diverse than the previous year’s, when 57% were white and 34% were Asian. The other ethnic groups remained the same.

On the gender front, change also came in modest amounts, with women making up 32% of the company’s global workforce, up from 31% last year. In technical roles, women now account for 16% of the workforce, up from 15% last year.

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Facebook’s global director of diversity, Maxine Williams, said on the company’s blog that Facebook is taking steps to improve its diversity numbers through partnerships with LeanIng.org and the Anita Borg Institute, a revamped “Managing Bias” training course for employees, an expansion of an existing training course for college freshmen from underrepresented groups, and efforts to add people from underrepresented groups to hiring pools.

Facebook last year joined dozens of Silicon Valley technology companies, including Apple, Yahoo, Google, LinkedIn and Pinterest, when it released its workforce diversity numbers. While almost every company was panned for having predominantly male and white workers, industry insiders said it was an important first step toward addressing the problem of a homogenous industry.

Other large technology companies are expected to release their 2015 diversity figures in the coming weeks.

Twitter: @traceylien

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