Black Professionals Are Being Promoted At Pre-2020 Levels

Black professionals are now being promoted into managerial roles at rates reminiscent of 2019, a recent McKinsey & Co. study has revealed.

The findings signal a concerning erosion of progress made in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and widespread corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments.

The Erosion of Progress

The study, which analyzed promotion rates from over 270 companies employing over 10 million people, paints a disheartening picture.

Promotions for Black professionals, especially women, have fallen significantly.

In 2022, for every 100 men of all races promoted into their first management role, only 54 Black women received promotions. This marks a stark regression from the almost parity achieved in 2021, when 96 Black women were promoted for every 100 men.

Similarly, first-time promotion rates for Black men have dwindled, dropping to 66 promotions for every 100 men of any race in 2022, down from 72 in 2021.

By contrast, white men and women experienced consistently high promotion rates between 2019 and 2022.

The downshift in promotion rates is unsurprising, considering reports that many companies are cutting DEI programs, dissolving DEI teams, and scaling back DEI spending.

According to the Wall Street Journal, recent audits suggest that the majority of the top 25% of companies have deprioritized diversity.

Read: Is The Tech Industry Using The Economy As An Excuse To Ditch BLM Promises?

Mixed Picture Higher Up the Corporate Ladder

While there has been a steady rise in the overall representation of Black professionals at the C-suite level since 2020, it still lags significantly behind that of white professionals.

In 2021, three Black professionals were promoted into CEO positions are Fortune 500 companies:  Thasunda Brown Duckett at TIAA, David Rawlinson II at Qurate Retail, and Rosalind Brewer at Walgreens.

In 2022, Franklin Clyburn Jr. was announced as CEO of International Flavors & Fragrances and Calvin Butler at Exelon.

This year saw Chris Womack take over as CEO of Southern Company and Toni Townes-Whitley become the CEO of Science Applications International, as well as Brewer’s departure from Walgreens.

McKinsey’s analysis found that, in 2022, Black women were promoted to executive roles at a higher rate than all men.

For every 100 men promoted into the C-suite, 132 Black women were promoted, a significant increase from the 88 Black women promoted for every 100 men in 2021.

However, the promotion rate for Black men into the C-suite declined in 2022, dropping to 74 for every 100 men, down from 130 in 2021.

James D. White, former CEO of Jamba and current board chair of the Honest Co., warned that the overall upward trend in Black CEOs might be masking challenges lower down the corporate ladder.

“They’re going to seek an opportunity where there’s upward mobility at some other company,” he told the WSJ.