Since the world reopened in the spring, the U.S. labor market has gone through an incredible shift: historical job growth, disastrous labor shortages, and the epic pivot to remote work. But we’ve also turned our eyes to how minorities are faring through these changes. In time for National Hispanic Heritage Month, LinkedIn has released new data about the Latinx workforce and key professional trends that have arisen within the community, most notably how colorism affects their career growth.
Some of the key findings from the report highlight the impact of colorism in the workplace among Latinx workers. Of Latino professionals surveyed between ages 18-34, 79% believe there is colorism in the Hispanic/Latino community, 73% believe that a person’s skin tone has an impact on their career progression and 72% believe that Latino individuals who are white-passing advance further in their careers.
Additionally, the report sheds light on how workplace allyship and support affect Latinx professionals. For instance, 87% of Latino professionals surveyed said they believe diversity, equity, and inclusion are important to their senior leaders, however, half (50%) still reported feeling that their place of work lacks a nurturing environment for employees that look like them. And 69% say having an ally in their current workplace and feel comfortable discussing issues of race and injustice.
The report also broached deeply personal topics that most have overlooked.
LinkedIn reported that Latinos with strong accents receive more allyship, but still face more adversity. Of Latino professionals who have strong accents, 89% have felt overlooked for career advancement. Additionally, while more than 90% of Latino professionals with strong accents reported having a mentor/sponsor who is advocating for their career, only 35% of Latino professionals without accents reported the same. The same disparity is seen when asked whether the two groups had a direct manager who understands the specific challenges and nuances they face as a Latino employee with 75% of Latino professionals with strong accents reporting they had this and over half (51%) of Latino professionals without accents reporting that they did not.
While corporate DEI efforts are appreciated, they’re still not enough. The findings showed that 87% of Latino professionals surveyed believe diversity and equity are important to the senior leaders at their workplace, 44% have faced blatant discrimination and/or microaggressions at work and 43% have been overlooked for career opportunities due to the color of their skin.
Given recent events with the Black Lives Matter movement, 66% of Latino professionals say they would be more interested in working for an organization that makes a public commitment for equity and racial justice.
More information can be found in the full report.
