Apple hires 11,000 female employees within a year

Over the last 12 months, tech giant Apple hired more than 11,000 new female employees around the world.

In the US, almost 50% of the company’s new workers in the first half of 2015 were women, Native American, black or Hispanic.

Demographics

Apple's own employee demographics were first revealed last summer and have now been updated.

Denise Young Smith, head of human resources, revealed a 65% increase in the number of women newly employed by the company worldwide in the last year.

Although the numbers represent only a small fraction of the company's total global work force of over 110,000 people, Young Smith believes the new figures show things are moving in the right direction.

“We feel good about what’s been accomplished in the last 12 months,” she stated. “Clearly this is a start, but we know that with the investments that we’re making and the work we’re doing we’ll show much more progress over time.”

Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, posted a message on the company’s website that referenced the figures and said: “Some people will read this page and see our progress. Others will recognise how much farther we have to go. We see both.”

Progress

Last year, Cook became the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 listed company. At the time, he said that diversity should take into account age and sexual orientation alongside race and gender.

Cook went on to say he wanted Apple to be as committed to “being as innovative in advancing diversity as we are in developing products.”

With professional recruitment becoming an ever-increasing level playing field, Young Smith endorsed Cook's comments and explained their importance when she said: “It is the leader and leaders of a company that really sets the tone and articulates the commitment [to increasing diversity].”