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Group Seeks More Room at the Top

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The Los Angeles chapter of the American Jewish Committee wants to “sensitize” area businesses to what it sees as continuing barriers to Jewish advancement to top corporate ranks.

The group recently completed a survey of 31 major Los Angeles-based firms and found that 9% of senior corporate officers are Jewish. That compares to a 13% overall Jewish population in the greater Los Angeles area, the nation’s second-largest Jewish community.

The study followed up on a similar survey conducted in 1966, which showed 5% Jews in top management.

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“We’ve made considerable progress in the last 20 years and are very pleased with the cooperative spirit shown by most of the companies surveyed,” said Neil Sandberg, executive director of the Los Angeles office of the American Jewish Committee.

“There are, however, some industries and organizations which have not effectively made the transition from historic patterns of exclusion. It’s in the best interest of these organizations to seek out and employ Jews at all levels.”

That sounds like the AJC crying bias, but Sandberg is careful to avoid making any charges.

“We’re not alleging discrimination today. We’re saying that the discrimination of past years can only be changed if companies intelligently and aggressively seek to effect change.”

The study admits the possibility of “a modest margin of error in religious identification.” It is based on last names taken from Standard & Poor’s directories and internal company “grapevines,” Sandberg said.

The survey singles out banks, oil companies and utilities as continuing to employ low numbers of Jews in the executive suite.

For example, the committee found that of 21 top Southern California Gas executives, none is Jewish. The utility said that proves nothing.

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“We have no policy preventing Jewish people from making headway in the company,” said company spokesman Rick Terrell. “A utility would be the last to discriminate in employment and promotion because we’re so observable by the public and tightly regulated by the Public Utility Commission and other agencies. It would be pretty hard for us to carry out a policy of that sort.”

Terrell’s comments miss the point, Sandberg countered. To some degree, Jews have been excluded from certain industries by self-selection because they knew they wouldn’t be welcome, he said. Changes in law and public climate have not altered these patterns, nor will quotas, he added. The AJC opposes quotas.

“Jews and other groups should be able to go freely and openly into whatever career they seek,” Sandberg concluded. “We’re not in this program as an employment agency, but to make the merit system work more effectively by eliminating barriers against Jews, women, blacks and other groups.”

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