Cities’ pitch to land tech jobs: Racial diversity

Some cities and regions are highlighting racial diversity along with positive business climates, competitive tax rates and available land in pitches to lure tech companies and high-paying jobs.

Places such as Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Detroit are touting their populations of people of color to chief executives and other corporate officials as part of being open for business.

“For Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania, ethnic and racial diversity has been an integral part of our history and a rich part of our narrative,” said Stefani Pashman,

CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are among 20 cities still under consideration by online retail giant Amazon as locations for the company’ second headquarters. Las Vegas isn’t among them.

To succeed as a player in a global economy, Pashman said, Pittsburgh “must be a place where there’s a base of talent that looks and thinks like the world, because the world is the customer in today’s economy.”

When Seattle-based Amazon sought proposals for its second headquarters, more than 240 cities and regions including Las Vegas submitted bids and pitches about what they could offer the retailer. Many pitches came with sleek, professionally filmed videos of bright and busy downtowns, historic landmarks and recreational opportunities.

Some also featured snapshots of racial diversity in neighborhoods, shops and classrooms. That’s something sought by younger workers who will come to dominate a more tech-driven global economy, according to marketing experts.

Companies generally are looking to employ numerous millennials, and those hires are saying they “want to be able to work and live in a place where there are these interesting and diverse cultures,” said Matthew Quint, director of Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership.

But tech-based corporations are lacking in diversity, according to some data.

High-tech employment of African-americans in the U.S. was 7.4 percent, compared with 14.4 percent in the public sector overall, according to 2014 data collected by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Hispanic high-tech employment was 8 percent, compared to 13.9 percent in the public sector overall.

The data also showed that fewer than 1 percent of executives at some leading Silicon Valley tech firms were black and fewer than 2 percent were Hispanic.

“CEOS are talking about ‘We know we need to change,’” Quint said.

Meanwhile, he said, cities are telling companies, “You are going to have this diverse population to choose from as you’re looking to change your brand.”