Business - Page 18

The wage gap between White and Black workers keeps getting worse. Here’s one solution

Opinion by Gad Levanon for CNN Business Perspectives Despite heightened awareness, the wage gap between Black and White workers continued to widen rapidly over the last decade. But the pandemic has created a potential opportunity to help shrink the divide: remote work. Much of the racial wage gap stems from the fact that Black workers with a bachelor’s degree are underrepresented in high-paying occupations and industries, such as the tech sector, and they are over-represented in relatively low-paying jobs, such as counselors and social workers, or jobs that do not require a college degree, such as drivers and security guards.

Video gaming association commits $1 million to support Black Girls Code

By Shirin Ali, CNN The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced a $1 million partnership with Black Girls Code (BGC) to help educate and support girls interested in technology. ESA, a trade association for the video game industry, announced it is working through its philanthropic arm, The ESA Foundation, to spend $1 million over the next two years to provide direct financial support, investments in volunteer time and other industry resources to support tech education, workshops and mentorships. The effort will be in collaboration with BGC to bring more women of color in to the tech and gaming industries “Talent is

The pandemic forced a massive remote-work experiment. Now comes the hard part

By Kathryn Vasel, CNN Business In March 2020, companies across the US abruptly shuttered their offices and instructed employees to work from home indefinitely as a result of the pandemic. At first, many thought the shutdowns would last a couple months. But one year later, millions of workers are still working remotely. The pandemic has forced a large segment of the global workforce to go through a remote-work experiment on a scale never seen before — and a lot has changed in the last 12 months. The boundary between our work and our personal lives has become blurred. Working at

Black women’s wealth is 90% lower than White men. Goldman Sachs is investing billions to change that

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN Business America’s Black women hold more than 90% less wealth than American White men, Goldman Sachs revealed in a new report Tuesday. In response, Goldman announced on Wednesday it will invest $10 billion into areas that will impact the lives of one million Black women by 2030. Goldman will partner with Black women-led organizations and institutions to commit $10 billion in direct investment capital and $100 million in philanthropy. The investment strategy is led by Black women, such as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Walgreens CEO Rosalind G. Brewer. “This initiative is transformational,” said

Vaccines and stimulus are a powerful cocktail for the US recovery

By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business Those betting on an economic boom in the United States this spring and summer just got a dose of very good news. What’s happening: President Joe Biden has announced that the United States will have enough vaccine supply for every adult by the end of May after Merck agreed to help manufacture a recently authorized vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson. That dramatically accelerates the country’s inoculation timeline. The Biden administration previously aimed to procure enough shots for all American adults by the end of July. “That’s progress,” Biden said in remarks from the White

Amazon employee sues the company, alleging racial discrimination and unequal pay

By Chauncey Alcorn An Amazon employee filed a lawsuit Monday accusing the tech giant of deliberately paying her and other Black employees less than their White counterparts, becoming the latest on a growing list of current and former Amazon workers to accuse the company of systemic racism. Amazon said it was investigating the allegations in the lawsuit. “Amazon works hard to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture, and these allegations do not reflect those efforts or our values,” a spokesperson said. “We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind and thoroughly investigate all claims and take appropriate

Black-owned hair salons and barbershops provide a “safe haven” for the community in Northwest Arkansas

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By Veronica Ortega FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas (KFSM) — Like many small businesses around the country, Black-owned barbershops and hair salons have had to adapt to operating during a pandemic. Many locally have had to evolve to survive, but business remains strong because it’s a staple for the Black community. Hair salons and barbershops are not just small businesses for the Black community but a safe haven. “I think we make up a small percentage, and when people come into the area, they feel that they can come for culture, conversation, or just being around a commonplace,” Nick Jones, owner, Trendsetter Barbershop,

Thasunda Brown Duckett to helm TIAA, making her the second Black woman to be named Fortune 500 CEO this year

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN Business Thasunda Brown Duckett will succeed Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., as TIAA’s president and CEO starting May 1, the company said Thursday. Duckett is currently chief executive officer of consumer banking at JPMorgan Chase. She will become the second Black woman CEO to helm a Fortune 500 company currently, following the appointment last month of Rosalind Brewer to run Walgreens. Before Duckett and Brewer, there had been only one other Fortune 500 Black woman CEO, Ursula Burns who ran Xerox, plus Mary Winston, who served as interim CEO at Bed, Bath & Beyond. “Thasunda is widely

Celebs including A-Rod and Ciara are getting into SPACs. What could go wrong?

By Matt Egan, CNN Business SPAC mania has entered the celebrity phase. Colin Kaepernick, Shaquille O’Neal, Larry Kudlow and pop star Ciara are all lending their star power to the blank-check boom. Baseball legend Alex Rodriguez’s special purpose acquisition corporation, Slam Corp., began trading Tuesday on the Nasdaq after raising $500 million. The fact that athletes, politicians and musicians are backing SPACs underlines the staggering sums of cash being poured into the sector. Once reserved to the backwaters of Wall Street, these reverse merger companies are all the rage in this era of rock-bottom interest rates and sky-high market valuations.

JPMorgan and Google launch program to help minority-owned banks

By Chauncey Alcorn, CNN Business JPMorgan Chase and Google launched a program Tuesday to help banks owned and led by people of color increase their lending capabilities. The new initiative is dubbed “Empowering Change.” It’s designed to help banks that are majority-owned or directed by people of color provide JPMorgan-backed money market funds to large companies. Most minority depository institutions wouldn’t have the resources to service those companies otherwise. The program offers the same services to minority-led community development financial institutions, which offer credit to underserved markets typically overlooked by mainstream lenders. JPMorgan says Empower Change will give minority-owned banks