How ethnic, racial diversity drive corporate bottom line
Wednesday, June 24, 2020 0:01
By RUFUS MWANYASI
Bubba Wallace, the only Black driver in Nascar’s top series, wears a “I Can’t Breathe - Black Lives Matter” T-shirt under his firesuit at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), one of the best proxy indicators of discrimination in the world of work is the unemployment rate, and here the evidence that certain racial minorities are being particularly hard hit especially in the current economic downturn is solid.
For example, in the United States Department of Labour numbers show that unemployment rate remains almost twice as high for African-Americans relative to the white population in the United States, and the gap has widened since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis.
What is shocking is that even in the face of proof that racial equality works, discrimination continues.
In the US specifically, studies have shown that there is a linear relationship between racial and ethnic diversity and better financial performance: for every 10 per cent increase in racial and ethnic diversity on the senior-executive team, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rise 0.8 percent.
