Study: Asian Americans are the least likely to be promoted

Asian Americans often encounter a 'bamboo ceiling" that prevents them from advancing into board rooms.

ASAM NEWS

THOUGH ASIAN AMERICANS make up a larger proportion of the professional workforce than the demographic’s overall population share, it seems their odds of climbing the ladder are slimmest.

A recent op-ed in Harvard Business Review analyzed national workforce data to show that white professionals are twice as likely to be promoted into manager roles than Asian American colleagues. Asian employees were the least likely to be promoted out of any race, including blacks and Latinos.

Researchers have spotted this trend in a number of private industries, including technology, accounting and corporate law.

The public sector might also play a role. In 2016, Asian Americans made up nearly 10 percent of all federal professionals but only 4.4 percent of workers at the highest level.

RELATED: Silicon Valley Asian American workers bump into a 'bamboo ceiling'

The op-ed authors, Buck Gee and Denise Peck, recommended three key steps for corporations to fix the “Asian glass ceiling:”

1. Be data-driven in looking at retention and promotion rates of Asian Americans, including both race and gender, to identify specific barriers to progression.
2. Encourage CEOs and C-suite executives to visibly and proactively show their support for the advancement of minorities by shifting priorities and budgets to fund new programs.
3. Institutionalize the importance of diverse leadership, including Asian Americans, in the company’s leadership development process.

Gee is a former Silicon Valley executive and Peck is a former executive at Cisco and Sun Microsystems.

“Asian Americans are the forgotten minority in the glass ceiling conversation,” they wrote. 

The study reinforces earlier studies that showed the existence of a "bamboo ceiling" in American corporations that keeps AAPI workers from advancing beyond middle management.

"AAPIs make up almost 6% of the U.S. population, but they hold a meager 2.6% of the Fortune 500 board seats, according to Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics," wrote Rep. Grace Meng, D-NY, in an oped for The Hill.

"Astonishingly, 77.2% of Fortune 500 companies have no AAPI board representation whatsoever," Meng cites. "Even in industries where AAPIs are highly represented, like in Silicon Valley technology companies, they comprise a disproportionately small percentage of leadership. Ascend Foundation reports that AAPIs account for 27.2% of the Silicon Valley workforce, but only 13.9% of the executive and board positions. Corporations bear a responsibility for addressing this disparity and cultivating a pipeline to leadership that allows AAPIs to succeed."

Views From the Edge contributed to this report.

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