Three numbers, one federal table, one year. Black or African American workers are 12.7% of everyone employed in the United States. They are 9.5% of computer and mathematical occupations. They are 5.4% of software developers.
The share does not fall at the door. About 80% of Black students attend a high school that offers computer science, close to the national rate. It falls at every rung after it, and it falls fastest where the money is.
That is a different problem from the one Brown to the Back describes, and it needs different interventions. You do not fix a progression problem with a recruitment campaign.
The five findings
Five Point Four
5.4% of American software developers are Black. The narrowing is measurable at every step of the ladder.
Nine Point Five
9.5% of computer and mathematical occupations — about 637,000 people in a country of 340 million.
Two Thousand Two Hundred Forty-Six
The number of Black students who took AP Computer Science A nationally in one year. 715 were girls.
Twenty-Eight Percent
HBCUs are 3% of American higher education and produce 28% of the STEM degrees Black students earn.
It Went Backwards
The count of Black computer science graduates rose. The share fell, from 10.8% to 8.9%. Both are true.
Each of the five is a full package: the finding, eight routes, all 51 states, and every one of the 3,152 counties in the United States. A search from anywhere in the country has an answer written for that place.
The eight routes, and what each asks of you
| Route | Who is obliged |
|---|---|
| An HBCU | 3% of institutions, 28% of the STEM degrees Black students earn |
| Community college | Open enrollment in every state |
| Registered apprenticeship | A wage from the first day |
| An industry certificate | Months rather than years; employers screen on them |
| AP Computer Science in high school | Depends on what your school offers |
| WIOA-funded training | A local workforce board covers every US county |
| Moving across where you already work | The most common route, and the least discussed |
| Self-taught with a portfolio | Nothing is required of anyone |
Black workers hold about 8% of technology jobs and about 3% of C-suite technology roles. The gap between those two numbers is not an entry gap. It is what happens after entry.
Every campaign
Amigos en Acción runs eight. Each takes one group and one barrier; the last one is the sum of them.
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