Music Business

Pandora Staff Is Just 3% African-American, 4% Hispanic Despite Oakland Base

image from soundcalledmusic.comKudos to Pandora for releasing an Employee Diversity Report.  Shame on them for what it revealed. Despite being located in racially diverse Oakland, CA, just 3% of its 1,300 or so employees are African-American/black and 4% are Hispanic. Overall 28% of the city's population is African-American and 25% is Hispanic.

It is estimated that 75% of the jobs at Pandora are non-technical, eliminating the "we can't find trained minority applicants" excuse. In fact, the percentage of African-Americans is even lower in tech jobs, where they represent only 1.1% of employees. In leadership roles, the number climbs slightly to 2.8%. 6.3% of Pandora’s leadership is hispanic.

Jesse Jackson Speaks Out

The report was released on the urging of community and racial activists, including Jesse Jackson. “Pandora is based in Oakland, the 'rainbow' city of the West Coast, with a mixed African American, Latino, Asian and white population, and a proud music and digital arts tradition," Jackson shared in a statement. "Significantly, Pandora chose to base its headquarters here, and build a company that reflects this community. As your workforce is 75% non-tech, there should be a strong pathway and few impediments to identifying and employing qualified Black and Latino from the local community and around the country so Pandora can reflect its user and consumer base.”

 

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