Top CEOs Back Push to Create One Million Jobs for Black Americans

By WSJ Noted. 

More than 30 chief executive officers from companies including Merck & Co., International Business Machines Corp. and Nike Inc. are backing a new nonprofit startup called OneTen, which will focus on training Black candidates for corporate roles. Black people make up 12.4% of the U.S. population, but 8% of professionals, a number that has stayed steady since 2013, according to a study by the nonprofit research group the Center for Talent Innovation.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. OneTen aims to create one million jobs for Black Americans over the next 10 years.

One of the startup's founders, Merck CEO Ken Frazier, said the organization will focus on helping Black Americans who have high school diplomas and other certifications, but who don't have four-year college degrees. The nonprofit aims to help them find "family-sustaining jobs," or roles with a salary of at least $40,000, depending on the region. Nonprofits, community colleges and credentialing organizations will provide training to help these workers be successful in business, and the CEOs who are backing the organization are committing to hiring these workers.

2. The killing of George Floyd prompted CEOs to come together to re-examine initiatives for Black Americans, says Frazier.

Frazier said the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, in police custody in May and the ensuing protests prompted corporate leaders to re-examine their initiatives for Black Americans and join forces. "What brought people together is that they looked at our country and said, it is this generation of CEOs who don't want to pass this down to the next generation," Mr. Frazier, one of four Black CEOs in the Fortune 500, said in an interview.

3. The startup also aims to improve representation of Black workers in the pipeline for middle and upper management roles.

Frazier said OneTen aims to improve how companies are hiring and developing college-educated people so that they can address the lack of Black representation in middle and upper management. "All of us would agree that what we're doing now isn't working to the extent that we want it to work," he said.

4. Companies will take a "skills-first" approach to hiring as part of the effort.

Nearly 80% of working-age Black Americans don't have a four-year college degree, which is a structural barrier for meaningful employment at many companies, says Frazier. Ginni Rometty, executive chairman at IBM and another founder of the startup, said companies will take a "skills-first approach" to jobs, and evaluate whether certain positions require four-year college degrees. These positions might include entry-level work in health care, business and finance operations, cloud-computing and advanced manufacturing.

Read the original article by Khadeeja Safdar here.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 10, 2020 17:59 ET (22:59 GMT)

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