This is the most complete list of discrimination in the workplace statistics on the web.
The stats are categorized by race, gender, age, weight, DEI, sexual orientation, political discrimination, and more.
You can click on the table of contents below to navigate to the statistics that are most relevant to you.
Table of Contents
Where The Data Comes From
These employment discrimination statistics come from dozens of pages of original research data, dating all the way back to 2018, conducted by organizations such as the Society for Human Resource Management, the Pew Research Center, and Gallup.
The full list of sources is at the end of this article.
Some of the most insightful statistics are highlighted under the “Key Statistics” sections.
Let’s dive in:
See Also: Ultimate List of Stress in the Workplace Statistics
Ultimate List of Discrimination in the Workplace Statistics (2018-2023)
2023
Here are the latest statistics on workplace discrimination in 2023:
Key Statistics
- Many say being a man or being White is an advantage where they work (Pew Research Center)
- Black workers are the most likely to say they’ve been discriminated against in the workplace because of their race or ethnicity (Pew Research Center)
- 41% of Black workers say that at some point they have experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by an employer in hiring, pay or promotions because of their race or ethnicity, compared to just 8% of White workers (Pew Research Center)
- 8% of White workers, 20% of Hispanic workers and 25% of Asian workers say that at some point they have experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by an employer in hiring, pay or promotions because of their race or ethnicity (Pew Research Center)
- 23% of employed women say they have experienced discrimination because of their gender, only one-in-ten employed men say the same (Pew Research Center)
- 26% of U.S. workers age 50 and older say they have been the target of age-related remarks in the workplace over the past six months (SHRM)
- 30% of U.S. workers say they have felt unfairly treated due to their age at some point in their career. Of these workers, 72% say it even made them feel like quitting their job (SHRM)
- 72% of U.S. workers who have experienced unfair treatment at work due to their weight say it made them feel like quitting their job (SHRM)
- 9% of mid-market businesses globally still have no women in senior leadership (Grant Thornton)
- Office-based businesses have the lowest percentage of women in senior management (Grant Thornton)
- 32% of workers say it is extremely or very important to them to work somewhere with a mix of employees of different races and ethnicities (Pew Research Center)
- Women are more likely than men to value DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) at work. 61% say focusing on increasing DEI at work is a good thing, compared with half of men (Pew Research Center)
- 50% of workers say it’s extremely or very important to them to work somewhere that is accessible for people with physical disabilities (Pew Research Center)
Age Discrimination Statistics
- 30% of U.S. workers say they have felt unfairly treated due to their age at some point in their career. Of these workers, 72% say it even made them feel like quitting their job (SHRM)
- More individuals are choosing to work beyond traditional retirement years, resulting in the emergence of a multi-generational workforce (SHRM)
- 11% of HR professionals agree that older employees are not always treated as fairly as younger employees (SHRM)
- 26% of U.S. workers age 50 and older say they have been the target of age-related remarks in the workplace over the past six months (SHRM)
- Among U.S. workers age 50 and older, 1 in 10 say in the past six months they have often or always felt less valuable at work compared to younger workers (SHRM)
- 17% of HR professionals say they have received reports of perceived ageism in their workplace (SHRM)
- HR professionals who work for organizations that offer diversity, equity and inclusion training are significantly less likely to report that age has played a role in decisions made during the job application process (26%) compared to HR professionals who work for organizations that do not offer such training (40%) (SHRM)
- According to people managers, older employees are more likely to be perceived by others as not competent with technology (49%), resistant to new ways of doing things (38%), and stubborn or grumpy (48%) (SHRM)
Weight Discrimination Statistics
- 12% of U.S. workers say they have felt unfairly treated due to their weight at some point in their career (SHRM)
- 15% of U.S. workers say that others at work have made false assumptions about them because of their weight at some point in their career (SHRM)
- 72% of U.S. workers who have experienced unfair treatment at work due to their weight say it made them feel like quitting their job (SHRM)
- 1 in 5 U.S. workers have witnessed others being mistreated for weight discrimination (SHRM)
- Obese employees are more likely to be perceived as lazy (27%), unmotivated (23%) and unprofessional (17%), while average weight employees are more likely to be perceived as high performing (35%), hard-working (32%), motivated (31%) and as leaders (30%) (SHRM)
- 11% of HR professionals say an applicant’s weight has played a role in decisions their organization has made during the job application process (SHRM)
- 11 percent of HR professionals say that obese employees at their organization are not always treated as fairly as average weight employees (SHRM)
Gender Discrimination Statistics
- 32.4% of senior management positions in mid market businesses are now held by women, an increase of just half a percentage point since 2022 and only 13 percentage points since 2004. At this rate, just 34% of senior leadership positions will be held by women in 2025 (Grant Thornton)
- 9% of mid-market businesses globally still have no women in senior leadership (Grant Thornton)
- More women now hold the most senior positions than ever before – 28% of mid-market businesses now have a female chief executive officer (CEO) or managing director (MD), up from 15% in 2019 (Grant Thornton)
- Female CIO positions rose from 16% to 23% from 2019 to 2023 (Grant Thornton)
- Female chief operating officers (COOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs) are also on the rise; 25% of businesses now have a female COO and 38% have a female CFO (Grant Thornton)
- Businesses which offer hybrid, flexible or home working outperform when it comes to women in senior management. The more flexible the workplace, the more we see women getting into senior leadership (Grant Thornton)
- Office-based businesses have the lowest percentage of women in senior management (Grant Thornton)
- The ASEAN region experienced the biggest percentage points rise among the regions, increasing from 37% to reach the 40% mark (Grant Thornton)
- Africa tied with the ASEAN region for the highest percentage of women in senior management at 40% (Grant Thornton)
- Latin America was up 2pp from 35% to 37% (Grant Thornton)
- The European Union’s performance remained flat at 33% (Grant Thornton)
- APAC’s increase of 2pp to 32% places it ahead of North America for the first time since 2018 (Grant Thornton)
- North America was the only region to experience a dip, from 33% to 31% (Grant Thornton)
- The United Arab Emirates currently has 27% of senior leadership positions held by women (Grant Thornton)
- The trend for women to take on roles at the very top of businesses is particularly prevalent in North America where 39% of businesses have a female CEO / MD – due in part, to external pressures around ESG reporting (Grant Thornton)
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statistics
- For a majority of employed U.S. adults (56%), focusing on increasing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at work is a good thing. 28% say it’s neither good nor bad, and 16% of employed U.S. adults say it’s a bad thing (Pew Research Center)
- About six-in-ten (61%) U.S. employees say their company or organization has policies that ensure fairness in hiring, pay or promotions (Pew Research Center)
- 52% of U.S. workers say they have trainings or meetings on DEI at work (Pew Research Center)
- 33% of U.S. workers say their workplace has a staff member who promotes DEI (Pew Research Center)
- 30% of U.S. workers say their workplace offers salary transparency (Pew Research Center)
- 26% of U.S. workers say their workplace has affinity groups or employee resource groups based on a shared identity (Pew Research Center)
- Majorities of those who have access to these measures say each has had a positive impact where they work (Pew Research Center)
- 32% of workers say it is extremely or very important to them to work somewhere with a mix of employees of different races and ethnicities (Pew Research Center)
- 28% of workers say it is extremely or very important to them to work somewhere with a mix of employees of different ages (Pew Research Center)
- More than half of workers (54%) say their company or organization pays about the right amount of attention to increasing DEI. 14% say their company or organization pays too much attention to increasing DEI, 15% say their company or organization pays too little attention, and 17% say they’re not sure (Pew Research Center)
- Black workers are more likely than those in other racial and ethnic groups to say their employer pays too little attention to increasing DEI. They’re also among the most likely to say focusing on DEI at work is a good thing (78% of Black workers say this) (Pew Research Center)
- White workers are the least likely to say their employer pays too little attention to increasing DEI (47%) (Pew Research Center)
- Women are more likely than men to value DEI at work. 61% say focusing on increasing DEI at work is a good thing, compared with half of men (Pew Research Center)
- Larger shares of women than men say it’s extremely or very important to them to work at a place that is diverse when it comes to gender, race and ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation (Pew Research Center)
- Most Democratic and Democratic-leaning workers (78%) say focusing on DEI at work is a good thing, compared with 30% of Republicans and Republican leaners (Pew Research Center)
- Democrats are also far more likely than Republicans to value different aspects of diversity (Pew Research Center)
- Higher shares of Democrats than Republicans say the policies and resources related to DEI available at their workplace have had a positive impact (Pew Research Center)
- 50% of workers say it’s extremely or very important to them to work somewhere that is accessible for people with physical disabilities (Pew Research Center)
- A majority of workers (76% among those who do not work fully remotely) say their workplace is at least somewhat accessible for people with physical disabilities (Pew Research Center)
Race Discrimination Statistics
- Many say being a man or being White is an advantage where they work (Pew Research Center)
- Black workers are the most likely to say they’ve been discriminated against in the workplace because of their race or ethnicity (Pew Research Center)
- 41% of Black workers say that at some point they have experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by an employer in hiring, pay or promotions because of their race or ethnicity (Pew Research Center)
- 8% of White workers, 20% of Hispanic workers and 25% of Asian workers say that at some point they have experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by an employer in hiring, pay or promotions because of their race or ethnicity (Pew Research Center)
- 23% of employed women say they have experienced discrimination because of their gender, only one-in-ten employed men say the same (Pew Research Center)
2022
Here are the employment discrimination stats for 2022:
Key Statistics
- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received 73,485 new discrimination charges in 2022, an increase of almost 20% when compared to 2021 (EEOC)
- The EEOC obtained more than $513 million in monetary benefits for victims of discrimination in 2022 (EEOC)
- Globally, on average, women enjoy only 77 percent of the legal rights that men do (World Bank)
- In 2021-22, economies implemented the highest number of reforms to improve gender equality in the pay indicator (World Bank)
- The share of women hired into leadership roles has seen a steady increase, from 33.3% in 2016 to 36.9% in 2022 (World Economic Forum)
- Across the 5,000 business leaders in 29 countries surveyed by Grant Thornton, 90% record their business as having at least one woman in the C-suite or equivalent (Grant Thornton)
- Women leaders are 2x as likely as men leaders to be mistaken for someone more junior (McKinsey & Company)
- 37% of women leaders have had a coworker get credit for their idea, compared to 27% of men leaders (McKinsey & Company)
- 71% of HR leaders say remote work has helped their organization hire and retain more employees from diverse backgrounds (McKinsey & Company)
- In 2022, women earned an average of 82% of what men earned. These results are similar to where the pay gap stood in 2002, when women earned 80% as much as men (Pew Research Center)
- 20% of U.S. workers have experienced poor treatment in the workplace by coworkers or peers due to their political views (SHRM)
- LGBTQI+ individuals continue to experience significantly higher rates of discrimination than non-LGBTQI+ individuals, a trend that holds true in virtually every setting surveyed—including health care, employment, housing, and public spaces (Center for American Progress)
- 70% of transgender respondents reported experiencing some form of workplace discrimination or harassment in the past year (Center for American Progress)
General Workplace Discrimination Statistics
- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received 73,485 new discrimination charges in 2022, an increase of almost 20% when compared to 2021 (EEOC)
- The EEOC obtained more than $513 million in monetary benefits for victims of discrimination (EEOC)
- The EEOC resolved over 65,000 charges of discrimination (EEOC)
- The EEOC recovered more than $132 million for federal workers and applicants, and significantly reduced the federal hearing inventory by 25% from FY 2021 to FY 2022 (EEOC)
- The EEOC handled more than 475,000 calls—an 18% increase from 2021—and managed 32% more emails from the public than 2021 (EEOC)
- In 2022, the EEOC filed 91 employment discrimination lawsuits including 53 suits seeking relief for individuals, 25 non-systemic suits with multiple victims, and 13 systemic suits—obtaining just under $40 million in monetary relief for 1,461 individuals (EEOC)
- 50% of U.S. adults point to women being treated differently by employers as a major reason for the gender wage gap (Pew Research Center)
- Only 23% of employees say their workplace is free of racist traditions/people (Edelman)
- Only 23% of employees say their workforce is racially representative (Edelman)
- 82% of the U.S. general population expect CEOs to do something in response to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
Gender Discrimination Statistics (Global)
- Globally, on average, women enjoy only 77 percent of the legal rights that men do (World Bank)
- Nearly 2.4 billion women of working age around the world live in economies that do not grant them the same rights as men (World Bank)
- In 2022, the global pace of reforms toward equal treatment of women under the law has slumped to a 20-year low (World Bank)
- At the current pace of reform, it would take at least 50 years to approach legal gender equality everywhere (World Bank)
- In many countries, a woman entering the workforce today will retire before gaining the same rights as men (World Bank)
- In the areas measured in the report, it will take over 1,500 reforms to reach substantial legal gender equality around the world (World Bank)
- In 2022, only 34 gender-related legal reforms were recorded across 18 economies—the lowest number since 2001 (World Bank)
- The global average score on the Women, Business and the Law index rose just half a point to 77.1 from 2021 to 2022 (World Bank)
- Sub-Saharan Africa made significant progress last year. The region accounted for more than half of all reforms worldwide in 2022, with seven economies—Benin, the Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Malawi, Senegal, and Uganda—enacting 18 positive legal changes (World Bank)
- In East Asia and Pacific, China introduced a parental leave policy, Indonesia enacted legislation protecting women from sexual harassment in employment, and Mongolia mandated equal remuneration for work of equal value and introduced paid paternity leave (World Bank)
- The Middle East and North Africa also passed some significant reforms. Bahrain equalized the ages at which women and men can retire with full pension benefits. Iraq prohibited gender-based discrimination in financial services. Malta introduced paid parental leave for each parent (World Bank)
- Economies in other regions also enacted reforms: Costa Rica, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, and Pakistan (World Bank)
- Since 1970, the global average Women, Business and the Law score has improved by about two-thirds, rising from 45.8 to 77.1 points (World Bank)
- Just 14 economies—all high income—have laws giving women the same rights as men, and progress has been uneven across regions and over time (World Bank)
- Worldwide, every economy has implemented at least one reform since 1970; however, 176 economies still have room to improve (World Bank)
- Equality of economic opportunity for women is highest in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) high-income economies, where the average score on the Women, Business and the Law index is 95.3 points, and lowest in the Middle East and North Africa region, where the average score is 53.2 points (World Bank)
- Across all topic areas, most reforms have been issued to address domestic violence, prohibit gender discrimination in employment, and legislate on sexual harassment (World Bank)
- Economies that have the highest growth rates in the Women, Business and the Law score include Bahrain Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Togo, and the United Arab Emirates (World Bank)
- The 2000s were a golden decade for women’s legal rights: economies reformed in all areas, with a remarkable spike in reforms under the Workplace indicator (World Bank)
- In 2021-22, economies implemented the highest number of reforms to improve gender equality in the pay indicator (World Bank)
- For frontline operational roles, the overall gender wealth gap amounts to 11%; for professional and technical type roles, the gender wealth gap nearly triples to 31%; and for senior expert and leadership roles it expands further to 38% (World Economic Forum)
- The share of women hired into leadership roles has seen a steady increase, from 33.3% in 2016 to 36.9% in 2022 (World Economic Forum)
- On average, more women have been hired into leadership in industries where women were already highly represented (World Economic Forum)
- Women now hold 32% of top leadership positions, up from 31% in 2021 (Grant Thornton)
- In the last decade, we have seen the proportion of female leaders grow by 11 percentage points, up from 21% in 2012 (Grant Thornton)
- Across the 5,000 business leaders in 29 countries surveyed by Grant Thornton, 90% record their business as having at least one woman in the C-suite or equivalent (Grant Thornton)
Gender Discrimination Statistics (United States)
- Women leaders are switching jobs at the highest rate we’ve ever seen—and at a higher rate than men in leadership (McKinsey & Company)
- Only 1 in 4 C-suite leaders is a woman, and only 1 in 20 is a woman of color (McKinsey & Company)
- For the eighth consecutive year, a “broken rung” at the first step up to manager is holding women back. For every 100 men who are promoted from entry level to manager, only 87 women are promoted, and only 82 women of color are promoted (McKinsey & Company)
- Women leaders are leaving their companies at the highest rate in years, and the gap between women and men leaders leaving is the largest we’ve ever seen (McKinsey & Company)
- For every woman at the director level who gets promoted to the next level, two women directors are choosing to leave their company (McKinsey & Company)
- In the past year, 29% of women—and 22% of men—have thought about reducing their hours, taking a less demanding job, or leaving the workforce altogether, although far fewer have actually taken these actions (McKinsey & Company)
- For every 100 men promoted from entry level to manager, only 75 Latinas are promoted—and this number is even lower for Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous women (McKinsey & Company)
- Women in technical roles are twice as likely as women overall to say they are frequently the only woman in the room at work (McKinsey & Company)
- 32% of women in technical and engineering roles are often the only woman in the room at work (McKinsey & Company)
- Women leaders are 2x as likely as men leaders to be mistaken for someone more junior (McKinsey & Company)
- 37% of women leaders have had a coworker get credit for their idea, compared to 27% of men leaders (McKinsey & Company)
- Women leaders are 2x as likely as men leaders to spend substantial time on DEI work (McKinsey & Company)
- 40% of women leaders say their DEI work isn’t acknowledged at all in performance reviews (McKinsey & Company)
- 43% of women leaders are burned out, compared to only 31% of men at their level (McKinsey & Company)
- Women leaders are more than 1.5x as likely as men at their level to have left a previous job because they wanted to work for a company that was more committed to DEI (McKinsey & Company)
- Compared to other women at their level, Black women leaders are more likely to have colleagues question their competence and to be subjected to demeaning behavior—and 1 in 3 Black women leaders says they’ve been denied or passed over for opportunities because of personal characteristics, including their race and gender (McKinsey & Company)
- Latinas and Black women are less likely than women of other races and ethnicities to say their manager LGBTQ+ women and women with disabilities are shows interest in their career development (McKinsey & Company)
- 71% of HR leaders say remote work has helped their organization hire and retain more employees from diverse backgrounds (McKinsey & Company)
Gender Pay Gap Statistics (United States)
- In 2022, women earned an average of 82% of what men earned. These results are similar to where the pay gap stood in 2002, when women earned 80% as much as men (Pew Research Center)
- The wage gap is smaller for workers ages 25 to 34 than for all workers 16 and older. In 2022, women ages 25 to 34 earned an average of 92 cents for every dollar earned by a man in the same age group – an 8% gap. By comparison, the gender pay gap among workers of all ages in 2022 was 18% (Pew Research Center)
- 50% of U.S. adults point to women being treated differently by employers as a major reason for the gender wage gap (Pew Research Center)
- 42% of U.S. adults point to women making different choices about how to balance work and family as a major reason for the gender wage gap (Pew Research Center)
- 34% of U.S. adults point to working in jobs that pay less as a major reason for the gender wage gap (Pew Research Center)
- Women are much more likely than men (61% vs. 37%) to say a major reason for the gap is that employers treat women differently (Pew Research Center)
- While 45% of women say a major factor is that women make different choices about how to balance work and family, men are slightly less likely to hold that view (40% say this) (Pew Research Center)
- 68% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say a major factor behind wage differences is that employers treat women differently, but only 30% of Republicans and Republican leaners say the same (Pew Research Center)
- Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say women’s choices about how to balance family and work (50% vs. 36%) and their tendency to work in jobs that pay less (39% vs. 30%) are major reasons why women earn less than men (Pew Research Center)
- 76% of Democratic women say a major reason for the gender wage gap is that employers treat women differently, compared with 59% of Democratic men. 43% of Republican women say unequal treatment by employers is a major reason for the gender wage gap, and just 18% of GOP men share the same view (Pew Research Center)
- 46% of women say they wouldn’t want to be the boss or a top manager at work, compared with 37% of men (Pew Research Center)
Racism in the Workplace Statistics
- In May 2022, 67% said they were concerned about systemic racism and racial injustice in the America (Edelman)
- 73% believe systemic racism and racial injustice exist in the U.S. (Edelman)
- 70% of Americans ages 18-34 said they have advocated or acted against racism, compared with 56% of Americans ages 35-54 and 20% of Americans ages 55+ who said the same (Edelman)
- 72% trust their employer to do what is right when it comes to responding to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
- 53% trust NGOs to do what is right when it comes to responding to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
- 51% trust business to do what is right when it comes to responding to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
- 48% trust the media to do what is right when it comes to responding to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
- 47% trust the government to do what is right when it comes to responding to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
- 74% of White employees trust their employer to do what is right when it comes to responding to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
- 71% of Hispanic employees trust their employer to do what is right when it comes to responding to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
- 65% of Asian employees trust their employer to do what is right when it comes to responding to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
- 59% of Black employees trust their employer to do what is right when it comes to responding to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
- 60% of U.S. employees would not work for an organization that fails to speak out against racial injustice or have left a job in the last year because the organization has failed to address racism (Edelman)
- Only 23% of employees say their workplace is free of racist traditions/people (Edelman)
Workplace Diversity Statistics
- Only 23% of employees say their workforce is racially representative (Edelman)
- Only 19% of employees say their mid-level managers are racially representative (Edelman)
- Only 19% of employees say their organization has diverse suppliers (Edelman)
- Only 16% of employees say their executive leadership team is racially representative (Edelman)
- Only 14% of employees say their Board of Directors is racially representative (Edelman)
- Only 25% of employees say their organization has pay equity across employees (Edelman)
- Only 21% of employees say their organization has programs for career development of racially diverse employees (Edelman)
- Only 20% of employees say their organization has community initiatives that serve the needs of all racial and ethnic communities (Edelman)
- Only 19% of employees say their organization has employee assistance programs for diverse employees (Edelman)
- 52% of U.S. workers said they do not see their company making much progress addressing racism and racial inequity in the workplace (Edelman). The top 5 reasons are:
- No one is tasked with leading DEI initiatives
- Too many employees worry DEI initiatives would exclude them
- Executives do not prioritize eliminating racial inequities
- Executives do not see racism as a problem
- No one has called for DEI
- 52% of U.S. workers believe all employees benefit from workplace diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (Edelman)
- 9% of White U.S. workers believe all employees benefit from workplace diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (Edelman)
- 12% of Asian U.S. workers believe all employees benefit from workplace diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (Edelman)
- 14% of Hispanic U.S. workers believe all employees benefit from workplace diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (Edelman)
- 21% of Black U.S. workers believe all employees benefit from workplace diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (Edelman)
- 19% of U.S. workers believe no one benefits from workplace diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (Edelman)
- 62% of employees ages 18-34 believe companies are not living up to the promises they have made to address racism within their organization and the country, compared with 52% of employees ages 35-54 and 49% of employees ages 55+ (Edelman)
- 82% of the U.S. general population expect CEOs to do something in response to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman). The top 5 actions CEOs are expected to take are:
- Institute a policy of zero tolerance of racism
- Educate themselves on issues that impact communities
- Ensure their workforce at all levels is representative of the country as a whole
- Ensure there is diversity on the company’s board
- Foster the career growth of Black, Hispanic and Asian employees
- The #1 issue CEOs are expected to inform and shape conversations and policy debates about is wage inequality (67%), followed by prejudice and discrimination (62%), systemic racism and racial injustice (60%), gender inequality (59%), and LGBTQIA+ rights (53%) (Edelman)
Political Discrimination Statistics
- 20% of U.S. workers have experienced poor treatment in the workplace by coworkers or peers due to their political views (SHRM)
- 24% of U.S. workers have personally experienced political affiliation bias, including preferential treatment or undue negative treatment on the basis of their political positions or opinions, compared to 12 percent of U.S. workers in 2019 (SHRM)
- 13% of U.S. workers have experienced limited opportunities for promotions due to their political views (SHRM)
- 88% of companies have not experienced an uptick in employee complaints related to political discussions at work (SHRM)
- 88% of companies have not had to respond to an employee for political-related conflict in the workplace (SHRM)
- However, the percentage of U.S. workers who say they’ve experienced political affiliation bias or differential treatment because of their political views has increased by over 10 percentage points in the past three years (SHRM)
- 45% of U.S. workers say they have personally experienced political disagreements in the workplace, compared to 42% of U.S. workers in 2019 (SHRM)
- 46% of U.S. workers have witnessed or observed political disagreements in the workplace (SHRM)
- 50% of on-site full time employees say they’ve experienced political disagreements in the workplace, compared to 36% of hybrid workers and 39% of fully remote workers (SHRM)
- 26% of U.S. workers engage in political discussions with their coworkers (SHRM)
- Only 8% of organizations have communicated guidelines to employees around political discussions at work (SHRM)
- 66% of U.S. workers say the employees in their organization are inclusive of differing political perspectives amongst other employees. 68% say their organization is inclusive of differing political perspectives amongst employees (SHRM)
- Liberal workers (70%) and moderate workers (73%) are more likely to say the employees in their organization are inclusive of differing political perspectives among other employees than conservative workers (60%) (SHRM)
- Supervisors are 10 percentage points more likely to be hesitant to hire a job applicant who disclosed they had extremely conservative beliefs (30%) than an applicant who disclosed they had extremely liberal beliefs (20%) (SHRM)
- Male workers (30%) are more likely to say they’ve personally experienced political affiliation bias than female workers (18%) (SHRM)
- 13% of U.S. workers have experienced bullying in the workplace due to their political views (SHRM)
Labor Force Representation Statistics
- White employees represent 77% of the total employed workforce in the U.S. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
- Hispanic or Latino employees represent 18.5% of the total employed workforce in the U.S. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
- Black or African American employees represent 12.6% of the total employed workforce in the U.S. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
- Asian employees represent 6.7% of the total employed workforce in the U.S. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
LGBTQI+ Discrimination Statistics
- LGBTQI+ individuals continue to experience significantly higher rates of discrimination than non-LGBTQI+ individuals, a trend that holds true in virtually every setting surveyed—including health care, employment, housing, and public spaces (Center for American Progress)
- LGBTQI+ people of color, and LGBTQI+ individuals with disabilities generally report experiencing discrimination at rates higher than those of other LGBTQI+ individuals and of non-LGBTQI+ individuals (Center for American Progress)
- Half of LGBTQI+ adults reported experiencing some form of workplace discrimination or harassment in the past year because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or intersex status, including being fired; being denied a promotion; having their work hours cut; or experiencing verbal, physical, or sexual harassment (Center for American Progress)
- 70% of transgender respondents reported experiencing some form of workplace discrimination or harassment in the past year (Center for American Progress)
- 37% of LGBTQI+ respondents reported being subject to “verbal harassment, such as negative or offensive comments, remarks, or jokes,” while 25% reported experiencing sexual harassment, such as unwanted sexual attention; sexual coercion; or crude, offensive, or hostile behaviors (Center for American Progress)
- 15% of LGBTQI+ respondents reported experiencing “physical harassment, such as being physically threatened or assaulted.” (Center for American Progress)
- 22% of LGBTQI+ respondents reported that they had been fired or not hired because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or intersex status (Center for American Progress)
- 21% of LGBTQI+ respondents reported that they had been denied a promotion, wage, equal wages, or training opportunities because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or intersex status (Center for American Progress)
2021
Here are the discrimination in the workplace stats for 2021:
Gender Pay Gap Discrimination Statistics
- Women in the U.S. who work full time, year round are typically paid only 84 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts. This gap in earnings translates into $9,954 less per year in median earnings (National Women’s Law Center)
- Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) women working full time, year round make only 92 cents for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts (National Women’s Law Center)
- Black women working full time, year round typically make only 67 cents for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts (National Women’s Law Center)
- Latinas working full time, year round typically make only 57 cents for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts (National Women’s Law Center)
- Native women working full time, year round typically make only 57 cents for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts (National Women’s Law Center)
- The wage gap translates into an annual median loss of $22,692 for Black women, $29,724 for Latinas, and $28,797 for Native women (National Women’s Law Center)
- When we include part-time and part-year workers, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women make only 80 cents for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts (National Women’s Law Center)
- When we include part-time and part-year workers, Black women make only 64 cents for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts (National Women’s Law Center)
- When we include part-time and part-year workers, Latinas make only 54 cents for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts (National Women’s Law Center)
- When we include part-time and part-year workers, Native women make only 51 cents for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts (National Women’s Law Center)
- Mothers who work full time, year round typically have lower earnings than fathers: mothers are typically paid only 74 cents for every dollar paid to fathers, which means mothers typically make $1,417 less per month or $17,000 less per year than fathers (National Women’s Law Center)
- Mothers of every race are typically paid less than white, non-Hispanic fathers (National Women’s Law Center)
- Women ages 15 to 24 working full time, year round are typically paid 87 cents for every dollar their male counterparts are paid (National Women’s Law Center)
- Women ages 45 to 64 working full time, year round are typically paid only 79 cents for every dollar their male counterparts are paid (National Women’s Law Center)
- Women still working full time, year round at age 65 or older are paid 77 cents for every dollar paid to their male peers (National Women’s Law Center)
- Based on today’s wage gap, a woman who works full time, year round stands to lose $398,160 over a 40-year career. She would have to work nearly eight years longer than her male counterpart to make up this lifetime wage gap (National Women’s Law Center)
- The average Social Security retired worker benefit for women 65 and older was about $18,049 per year in December 2021, compared to $22,339 for men of the same age (National Women’s Law Center)
- Family income for married men in same-gender relationships is 31 percent higher than married women in same-gender relationships (National Women’s Law Center)
- Women with disabilities working full time, year round are typically paid just 84 cents when compared to their male counterparts with disabilities (National Women’s Law Center)
- Among full-time, year-round workers, women who started, but did not finish, high school, make 76 cents for every dollar their male counterparts make (National Women’s Law Center)
- Women with only high school diplomas working full time, year round are typically paid only 76 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts (National Women’s Law Center)
- Among workers with a Bachelor’s degree or higher, women typically make 77 cents working full time for every dollar their male counterparts make (National Women’s Law Center)
- Even when women working full time, year round earn a Bachelor’s degree, women still only make about what men with an Associate’s degree make ($62,208 and $60,959 respectively) (National Women’s Law Center)
- Women make less than men in 94 percent of occupations (National Women’s Law Center)
- Women who work full time, year round in the 40 lowest-paying occupations typically make only 82 percent of what men working in those same occupations make (National Women’s Law Center)
- Recent research reveals that even controlling for race, region, unionization status, education, work experience, occupation, and industry leaves 38 percent of the pay gap “unexplained.” Discrimination is thought to be a major cause of this unexplained gap (National Women’s Law Center)
- In the public sector, where wages are more likely to be publicly disclosed, wage gaps are slightly smaller (National Women’s Law Center)
LGBT Discrimination Statistics
- 45.5% of LGBT workers reported experiencing unfair treatment at work, including being fired, not hired, or harassed because of their sexual orientation or gender identity at some point in their lives (Williams Institute)
- 31.1% of LGBT respondents reported that they experienced discrimination or harassment within the past five years (Williams Institute)
- 8.9% of employed LGBT people reported that they were fired or not hired because of their sexual orientation or gender identity in the past year, including 11.3% of LGBT employees of color and 6.5% of white LGBT employees (Williams Institute)
- The percentage was five times as high for those who were out as LGBT to at least some people at work as compared to those who were not out (10.9% compared to 2.2%) (Williams Institute)
57 of LGBT employees who experienced discrimination or harassment at work reported that their employer or co-workers did or said something to indicate that the unfair treatment that they experienced was motivated by religious beliefs (Williams Institute) - 63.5% of LGBT employees of color said that religion was a motivating factor in their experiences of workplace discrimination compared to 49.4% of white LGBT employees (Williams Institute)
- Many employees also reported engaging in behaviors to avoid discrimination and harassment, including hiding their LGBT identity and changing their physical appearance, and many left their jobs or considered leaving their jobs because of unfair treatment (Williams Institute)
- 48.8% of transgender employees reported experiencing discrimination (being fired or not hired) based on their LGBT status compared to 27.8% of cisgender LGB employees (Williams Institute)
- Over twice as many transgender employees reported not being hired (43.9%) because of their LGBT status compared to LGB employees (21.5%). Respondents also reported other types of unfair treatment based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, including not being promoted, not receiving raises, being treated differently than those with different-sex partners, having their schedules changed or reduced, and being excluded from company events (Williams Institute)
- 20.8% LGBT employees reported experiencing physical harassment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Reports of physical harassment included being “punched,” “hit,” and ‘beaten up” in the workplace (Williams Institute)
- LGBT employees of color were significantly more likely to report experiencing verbal harassment (35.6% compared to 25.9%) at work because of their sexual orientation or gender identity than white LGBT employees (Williams Institute)
- Transgender employees were significantly more likely to report experiencing verbal harassment over the course of their careers than cisgender LGB employees (43.8% compared to 29.3%). In many cases, the verbal harassment came from employees’ supervisors and co-workers, as well as customers (Williams Institute)
- 67.5% of LGBT employees reported that they have heard negative comments, slurs, or jokes about LGBTQ people at work (Williams Institute)
- LGBT people continue to experience workplace discrimination even after the U.S. Supreme Court extended non-discrimination protections to LGBT people nationwide in Bostock v. Clayton County. 8.9% of LGBT employees reported that they were fired or not hired because of their sexual orientation or gender identity in the past year (Williams Institute)
- 50.4% of LGBT employees said that they are not open about being LGBT to their current supervisor and one-quarter (25.8%) are not out to any of their co-workers (Williams Institute)
- LGBT employees who are out to at least some people in the workplace were three times more likely to report experiences of discrimination or harassment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity than those who are not out to anyone in the workplace (53.3% compared to 17.9%) (Williams Institute)
- Many LGBT employees reported engaging in “covering” behaviors in order to avoid harassment or discrimination at work, including changing their physical appearance; changing when, where, or how frequently they used the bathroom; and avoiding talking about their families or social lives at work. Some of the respondents reported engaging in these covering behaviors because their supervisors or co-workers explicitly told them to do so (Williams Institute)
- Transgender employees were significantly more likely to engage in covering behaviors than cisgender LGB employees. For example, 36.4% of transgender employees said that they changed their physical appearance and 27.5% said they changed their bathroom use at work compared to 23.3% and 14.9% of cisgender LGB employees (Williams Institute)
- 34.2% of LGBT employees said that they have left a job because of how they were treated by their employer based on their sexual orientation or gender identity (Williams Institute)
Racism in the Workplace Statistics
- 73% trust their employer to do what is right when it comes to responding to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
- 53% trust NGOs to do what is right when it comes to responding to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
- 50% trust business to do what is right when it comes to responding to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
- 50% trust the media to do what is right when it comes to responding to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
- 46% trust the government to do what is right when it comes to responding to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
- Percent who say each sector is doing well in addressing racism: (Edelman)
- Sports (44%)
- Healthcare (42%)
- Food and beverage (39%)
- Technology (37%)
- Personal care (36%)
- Automotive (35%)
- Pharmaceutical (35%)
- Financial services (33%)
- 76% of U.S. workers feel their employer is making progress in redressing racism at their workplace (Edelman)
- 55% of employees agree racism in their workplace has damaged their relationship with their employer (Edelman)
- 41% would not work for an organization that fails to speak out publicly at this time to address racism in this country (Edelman)
- 79% CEOs must do something in response to systemic racism and racial injustice (Edelman)
Race Discrimination Statistics
- 14% of American workers have felt they were treated unfairly in the workplace due to race or ethnicity in the past year (SHRM)
- 19% of American workers who have felt they were treated unfairly workplace due to race or ethnicity over the last five years (SHRM)
- 34% of Black American workers, 17% of Asian workers, 16% of Hispanic/Latino workers, and 8% of White workers have felt unfairly treated in the workplace due to race or ethnicity in the past year (SHRM)
- 42% of Black American workers, 26% of Asian workers, 21% of Hispanic/Latino workers, and 12% of White workers have felt unfairly treated in the workplace due to race or ethnicity in the past five years (SHRM)
- Of those American workers who claim to have been unfairly treated due to their race or ethnicity in the past year, 72% report being treated this way between one and five times (SHRM)
- Of those American workers who claim to have been unfairly treated due to their race or ethnicity over the last five years, 57% were reportedly mistreated by a supervisor, manager, or leader other than their direct supervisor (SHRM)
- In response to feeling treated unfairly due to race or ethnicity at work, many American workers responded by behaving counterproductively: (SHRM)
- 45% put less effort into their work than they could have
- 35% took longer to complete their work than they could have
- 28% spent work time on non-work activities
- 25% took extra or longer work breaks
- 21% arrived late to work or left work early without their supervisors’ approval
- 7% took items from work without approval or wasted work materials
- Of those American workers who claim to have been unfairly treated in the workplace based on their race or ethnicity in the past year, 48% called in sick to work or missed work due to anxiety, frustration, stress, and other feelings stemming from their personal experiences (SHRM)
- In the past year, 10% of Americans have called in sick to work or missed work due to feelings like anxiety and stress that stem from witnessing someone else in their workplace being treated unfairly due to race or ethnicity (SHRM)
- Cost of absenteeism to U.S. businesses due to unfair treatment based on race or ethnicity in the past year: $54.1 billion (SHRM)
- Cost of productivity loss to U.S. businesses due to unfair treatment based on race or ethnicity in the past year: $58.7 billion (SHRM)
- Cost of turnover to U.S. businesses due to unfair treatment based on race or ethnicity in the last five years: $171.9 billion (SHRM)
- Employee turnover due to racial inequity in the workplace has cost U.S. organizations up to $172 billion over the past five years (SHRM)
- One-third of Black employees faced unfair treatment at work based on race and ethnicity in the past year, and over 2 in 5 Black workers say they have experienced this in the past five years (SHRM)
- 26 percent of Asians, and 21 percent of Hispanics or Latinos, have experienced unfair treatment in the workplace due to their race or ethnicity over the last five years (SHRM)
- Absenteeism due to anxiety, worry, stress, or frustration stemming from experiencing or witnessing unfair treatment based on race or ethnicity in the workplace may have cost U.S. businesses up to $54 billion in the past year (SHRM)
- Lost productivity was even more costly, carrying a nearly $59 billion price tag in the last year (SHRM)
Gender Discrimination Statistics (South Africa)
- In the 2nd quarter of 2021, approximately three quarters (75%) of South African employees were entitled to paid sick leave. However, the proportion was higher among men (76.4%) than among women (73.3%) (Stats SA)
- The rate of unemployment among women in South Africa, at 48.7%, was 8.1 percentage points higher than among their male counterparts in the 2nd quarter of 2021 (Stats SA)
- The share of men who were entitled to paternity leave (89%) was higher than the share of women who were entitled to maternity leave (76.8%) in the 2nd quarter of 2021 (Stats SA)
2020
Here are the workplace discrimination stats for 2020:
Workplace Diversity Statistics
- 76% of employees and job seekers report a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers (Glassdoor)
- About 4 in 5 Black (80%), Hispanic (80%) and LGBTQ (79%) job seekers and employees report a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers (Glassdoor)
- 71% of employees would be more likely to share experiences and opinions on diversity & inclusion at their company if they could do so anonymously (Glassdoor)
- Significantly more Black (71%) and Hispanic (72%) employees say their employer should be doing more to increase the diversity of its workforce than white (58%) employees (Glassdoor)
- 32% would not apply to a job at a company where there is a lack of diversity among its workforce (Glassdoor)
- Nearly 2 in 5 employees and job seekers (37%) would not apply to a job at a company where there are disparities in employee satisfaction ratings among different ethnic/racial groups (Glassdoor)
- 2 in 3 employees and job seekers (66%) trust employees the most when it comes to understanding what diversity & inclusion really looks like at a company, significantly higher than senior leaders (19%), the company’s website (9%) and recruiters (6%) (Glassdoor)
Race Discrimination Statistics
- Nearly half of Black (47%) and Hispanic (49%) job seekers and employees have quit a job after witnessing or experiencing discrimination at work, significantly higher than white (38%) job seekers and employees (Glassdoor)
- About one in four Black (24%) and Hispanic employees (24%) in the U.S. report having been discriminated against at work in the past year (Gallup)
- 18% of U.S. employees report having been discriminated against at work in the past year (Gallup)
- Experiences of workplace discrimination are similar between Black men (27%) and Black women (23%), as well as between Black employees in households earning less than $90,000 annually (24%) and those in households earning $90,000 or more (25%) (Gallup)
- Black workers younger than 40 (31%) are almost twice as likely as Black workers aged 40 and older (17%) to report having experienced discrimination at work in the past year (Gallup)
- Young Hispanic employees (31%) are the only other racial or ethnic subgroup to report such a high level of discrimination at work. This figure is nearly twice as high as the rate among Hispanic employees aged 40 and older (17%) (Gallup)
- 75% of Black workers indicated that the discrimination they experienced was based on their race or ethnicity — considerably higher than figures for Hispanic (61%) and White employees (42%) (Gallup)
- 24% of Black and Hispanic employees reported experiencing discrimination at work in the past 12 months, as did 15% of White employees and 16% of Asian employees (Gallup)
- 75% of Black employees say that discrimination was related to their race or ethnicity, compared with 61% of Hispanic and 42% of White workers (Gallup)
- There is less than a 1 percentage point difference in overall job satisfaction for White workers who experience discrimination versus those who don’t, but overall satisfaction is 9 points lower for Hispanic employees and 13 points lower for Black employees who report discrimination compared with those who don’t (Gallup)
- Black employees who experience discrimination are 6x less likely than White and 4x less likely than Hispanic employees to say they would recommend their organization as a great place to work (Gallup)
- About half as many Black workers as Hispanic or White employees can strongly agree that they have the freedom to make the decisions they need to do their jobs well – 17% among Black workers who report having an experience with discrimination compared to 27% of White workers and 28% of Hispanic workers who report having an experience with discrimination (Gallup)
- Only 10% of managers strongly agree compliance/ethics training programs change the way they do their jobs (Gallup)
Gender Discrimination Statistics
- When comparing all mothers who worked to all fathers who worked in 2020, regardless of how many hours or weeks they worked during the year, mothers were typically paid just 58 cents for every dollar paid to fathers (National Women’s Law Center)
2019
Here are the discrimination in the workplace stats for 2019:
General Discrimination Statistics
- 61% of U.S. employees have witnessed or experienced discrimination based on age, race, gender or LGBTQ identity in the workplace (Glassdoor)
- Employed adults in the U.S. have experienced or witnessed discrimination (61%) more than those in the U.K. (55%), France (43%) and Germany (37%) (Glassdoor)
- 42% of employed adults in the U.S. have experienced or witnessed racism in the workplace; the highest percentage of the four countries surveyed (Glassdoor)
- Ageism is the most experienced or witnessed form of discrimination in both the U.S. (45%) and U.K. (39%) (Glassdoor)
- Gender is the most experienced or witnessed form of discrimination in both France (30%) and Germany (24%) (Glassdoor)
- 50% of employed adults across the four countries believe their employer should do more to increase diversity and inclusion (Glassdoor)
- Men in the U.S. are more likely to witness or experience discrimination than women at work. 50% of men witnessed or experienced ageism as opposed to 38% of women respondents. 38% of men witnessed or experience LGBTQ discrimination compared to 28% of women (Glassdoor)
- Younger employed adults have more experiences of discrimination at work. 52% of employed U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 34 report gender discrimination at work. 29% of employed adults aged 55+ report the same (Glassdoor)
- Hiring for roles dedicated to fostering more diverse and inclusive workplaces has increased 30% (Glassdoor)
- 77% of U.S. employees say their company employs a diverse workforce. Although, over half (55%) believe their company should do more to improve D&I (Glassdoor)
- 64% of U.S. employees say their company is investing more in D&I now than it has in years past (Glassdoor)
- 62% of U.S. employees between the ages of 18-34 — which includes Millennials and Gen Z — believe their company should do more to increase diversity and inclusion (Glassdoor)
Post-#MeToo Movement Statistics
- Many men in today’s workplace are afraid of being pegged as a harasser—and they are willing to reduce interaction to avoid the label. A full 40% of male managers in the U.K. and 60% in the U.S. say they are uncomfortable engaging in common workplace interactions with women, including mentoring, socializing, and having one-on-one meetings. That’s up 14 percentage points from last year in the U.S. (Survey Monkey)
- Senior men are especially uncomfortable socializing with female colleagues. 48% of U.S. male managers said they were uncomfortable socializing with a woman outside of work (like in a restaurant). 35% of male managers in the U.K. said the same (Survey Monkey)
- 34% of male managers in the U.S. and 24% in the U.K. have actively taken steps to avoid having to interact with a female colleague outside of work (Survey Monkey)
- 68% of workers are seeing sexual harassment as being taken more seriously. Only 8% believe the allegations are categorically false (Survey Monkey)
- However, women feel less safe at work than they did before. In the U.S., only 85% said they feel safe on the job, down from 91% in 2018 (Survey Monkey)
- Only 16% of workers in the U.S. and 13% in the U.K. think that high-performing harassers are usually held accountable for their actions (and 3 in 10 think they are rarely or never punished) (Survey Monkey)
- More than half of workers (55% in the U.S. and 63% in the U.K.) believe that the consequences of bringing their story to light are more damaging to victims’ careers than harassers’ careers, and 7 in 10 (69% in the U.S. and 76% in the UK) think the consequences last longer for victims than harassers (Survey Monkey)
- #MeToo appears to have spurred companies to greater efforts over the last year. In 2018, only 46% of U.S. workers said their company had done something to address harassment in the workplace—this year 70% of U.S. employees report that their company has taken action in some way: (Survey Monkey)
- Updating sexual harassment policies (36%)
- Providing guidance about appropriate behavior at work (43%)
- Providing guidance on reporting inappropriate action (28%)
- Stopping or removing problematic employees (24%)
- Among employees whose workplace has taken action in the last two years, 71% of U.S. and 63% of U.K. workers say the changes have reduced the likelihood of sexual harassment (Survey Monkey)
- 76% of U.S. and 70% of UK workers say employers have improved the likelihood that an incident of harassment will be handled appropriately (Survey Monkey)
- 82% of U.S. and 88% of U.K. workers say their workplace doesn’t discourage people of different genders from mentoring, socializing, or traveling together (Survey Monkey)
- 80% of U.S. and 87% of U.K. workers haven’t heard that they should avoid interactions with the opposite gender—meaning most of the hesitance male managers feel is internal (Survey Monkey)
2018
Here are the workplace discrimination statistics for 2018:
Workplace Harassment Statistics
- 35% of workers feel they have been harassed at work (Hiscox)
- 41% of women feel they have been harassed at work (Hiscox)
- The top 5 most common forms of harassment at work are gender/sex (50%), race/ethnicity (17%), religion (15%), sexual orientation (13%), and age (13%) (Hiscox)
- Among survey respondents who said they were harassed, 78% said their harassers were men, and 73% said they were harassed by someone who was in a senior position to them in the organization (Hiscox)
- 17% of respondents said the person who harassed them was either a customer or vendor (Hiscox)
- The percentage of respondents who indicated they had been harassed at large companies (those with over 1,000 employees) and those at smaller companies (fewer than 200 employees) was the same (32%) (Hiscox)
- 36% of companies do not offer their employees anti-harassment training. When looking at companies with fewer than 200 employees, this figure spikes to 54% (Hiscox)
- In companies with fewer than 200 employees, 39% have implemented new policies related to workplace harassment in the past 12 months, compared to 57% of companies that have more than 1,000 employees (Hiscox)
- From 2010 to 2017, employers have paid out nearly $1 billion to settle harassment charges that have been filed with the EEOC (Hiscox)
- In cases of sexual harassment alone, employers paid $46.3 million to settle charges received by the EEOC in 2017. These sexual harassment cases represented 30% of the total charges received (Hiscox)
- Over half (53%) of those who experienced harassment didn’t report it because they feared a hostile work environment. Nearly as many (46%) cited a fear of retaliation (such as being terminated from their job) as a top reason for keeping quiet (Hiscox)
- 37% of those who reported being harassed said the incident was not properly handled by their employer (Hiscox)
- 45% of employees have witnessed the workplace harassment of a co-worker. Of those, 42% did not report it (Hiscox)
- In total, 85% of respondents said they believe people are more likely to report harassment today due to the influence of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements (Hiscox)
- Of those who have been harassed, 65% said they would report the incident if it happened today, an increase of five percentage points over the number who reported it originally (Hiscox)
- Millennials reported the highest percentage of being harassed (46%), compared to 35% of Gen Xers, and Millennials were more likely to report the harassment to company management or the police (76%) (Hiscox)
- 51% of all respondents report their companies have implemented new policies related to workplace harassment in the past 12 months and 25% of respondents say the new policies were the result of social movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp (Hiscox)
Earlier Studies & Data
Hiring Discrimination Statistics
- White names receive 50 percent more callbacks for interviews (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2003)
- For White names, a higher quality resume elicits 30 percent more callbacks whereas for African Americans, it elicits a far smaller increase (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2003)
- Applicants living in better neighborhoods receive more callbacks but, interestingly, this effect does not differ by race (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2003)
- The amount of discrimination is uniform across occupations and industries (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2003)
- Federal contractors and employers who list “Equal Opportunity Employer” in their ad discriminate as much as other employers (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2003)
- 20% of hiring managers indicated they have asked a question in a job interview only to find out later that it was illegal to ask, as these questions could be used to discriminate against candidates (CareerBuilder, 2015)
Sources
2023
- SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) Research on Age Discrimination in the Workplace
- New SHRM Research Details Weight Discrimination in the Workplace
- Women in Business 2023 (Grant Thornton)
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace (Pew Research Center)
- How Americans View Their Jobs (Pew Research Center)
2022
- World Bank. Women, Business and the Law 2023. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-1944-5. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Releases Annual Performance Report for Fiscal Year 2022
- 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer
- SHRM’s 2022 Politics at Work Study
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey
- World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2022
- Women in the Workplace 2022 Report
- Women in business 2022
- Gender pay gap in U.S. hasn’t changed much in two decades (Pew Research Center)
- Center for American Progress LGBTQI+ Adults 2022 Survey
- Charge Statistics (Charges filed with EEOC) FY 1997 Through FY 2022
2021
- National Women’s Law Center
- UCLA School of Law, Williams Institute’s “LGBT People’s Experiences of Workplace Discrimination and Harassment” Report
- 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer
- SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management), The Cost of Racial Injustice
- SHRM Report: Racial Inequity Persists, Costs American Workplaces Billions Annually
- Statistics South Africa Quarterly Labour Force Survey of the 2nd quarter of 2021
2020
- Glassdoor’s 2020 Diversity & Inclusion Workplace Survey
- Gallup’s 2020 Study by the Gallup Center on Black Voices
- Gallup 2020 Survey of U.S. Workers on the Effects of Workplace Discrimination
- National Women’s Law Center
2019
2018
Earlier Studies & Data