USA TODAY International Edition
CEO group to hire disadvantaged and minorities
A group of CEOs, including the heads of JPMorgan Chase and Google, are banding together with the goal of hiring 100,000 New Yorkers who are disadvantaged or people of color over the next decade.
The New York Jobs CEO Council will work with community groups and educators to kick start the careers of those often shut out of opportunities, offering training and entry- level positions at the major companies run by the council members.
Those businesses, which span companies from media to finance to medicine, include Goldman Sachs, Amazon and Mastercard.
“Many New Yorkers are stuck in low- paying jobs that could be lost in the future, or are struggling to navigate the labor market as the COVID- 19 crisis has further exacerbated the economic inequities in the city,’’ Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase and a council co- chairman, said in a statement. “As companies with a long- standing commitment to the New York area and its residents, we are using our collective power to prepare the city’s workforce with the skills of the future and helping New Yorkers who have been left behind get a foot in the door.”
Among the hires and apprentices will be 25,000 students at the City University of New York.
The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated inequities that have disadvantaged Black, Latino and Asian communities, but before the crisis the disparities in New York City were striking. The Bronx, for instance had an unemployment rate that was 85% higher than Manhattan‘ s, according to the council.
In July, the national unemployment rate was 10.2%, and 9.2% specifically for whites. But the jobless rate was 12% for Asians, 12.9% for Latinos, and 14.6% for Black Americans.
The initiative intends to move beyond entry- level employees to assist those who are in the middle of their careers or who want to move into new fields. And it aims to expand to cities beyond New York.