People visit on a bridge in front of the financial district of Pudong in Shanghai, China July 19, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song
Some of the largest U.S. companies are moving quickly to rebalance their headcount. At Apple, for example, women made up 38% of workers under 30 in 2018 versus just 31% four years earlier. The share of under-represented minorities in that group rose 10 percentage points to 35%. Meantime the employment-to-population ratio of white men fell from 76% in 1972 to 67% in 2018.
The goal is to reach new customers and positively transform corporate cultures. In the immediate term that may translate into net layoffs of older, more expensive, Caucasian men.