October 16, 2014
Star Jones Talks Workforce Diversity and the Influence of Minority Buying Power
When you put out your statement in regards to your new position at PDN, you also spoke on the inclusion of the LGBT community. Why do you think it’s important for the workforce to not forget LGBT individuals when talking about diversity?
Again, if it don’t make money it don’t make sense so I’m going to go back to the numbers. By 2050, minorities are going to make up 54 percent of the American population. Hispanic purchasing power is going to be $1.4 trillion. African American purchasing power is going to be just over $1 trillion, but the LGBT segment buying power is going to exceed $830 billion. That number alone should make American businesses say we want to include you in our job pool. When you know that the buying power of a particular group is over $830 billion don’t you want to make sure you are inclusive of that group and that your consumer outreach is who you have working for you? So I’m just very practical when it comes to this. By 2050 as I said, minorities are going to be the majority. If you’re going to have a workforce that appeals to the majority of Americans, it probably needs to resemble the majority of Americans.
What do you have to say to the CEOs who use the excuse of “We can’t find qualified minority candidates?â€
You know what, try harder is really the thing that I can say to you because PDN operates online professional networking communities that serve professionals and employers seeking to hire diverse talent. So we double dip. We know who the candidates are and we know the companies who say they are interested in hiring the candidates. It’s the perfect marriage.
There are a plethora of diverse Americans who are out here and looking to join your company for the opportunity to succeed. I have over 3 million total registered voters and over 600,000 of them are women. I can tell you for certain that 90 percent of my members have attended or graduated college and 70 percent make an excess of $75,000. The vast majority of my members are between 31 and 55. These are prime hiring age qualified people, so I’m wondering where you’re looking.
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