Member-only story
Tech Workers Should Be Using Their Privilege Right Now
Nearly everyone in the tech industry, from engineers to designers to CEOs, is better off in this pandemic than those in most other industries.
When I say “nearly everyone,” I leave out the contract workers (cleaning staff, shuttle bus drivers, landscapers, café workers, contract engineers on H-1B visas, and so on) who keep the tech industry functioning. They’re in a different category when it comes to privilege. A 2016 study from UC Santa Cruz revealed incredible disparities between these blue-collar workers and the rest of the industry in Silicon Valley. For example, 58% of blue-collar workers are Hispanic or African American, compared to 7% of high tech employees who are Hispanic or African American. These contract workers earn on average 70% less than direct-hire employees of the same companies.
But the rest of those full-time folks in the tech industry, those lucky enough to still be employed, are incredibly well paid. According to U.S. News & World Report, workers with the title of software developer made a median salary of about $103,000 in 2018. Full-time employees at many tech companies are also able to work entirely from home during this public health crisis, which is an incredible advantage when it comes to social distancing. Even as some tech folks are finding themselves recently unemployed, it’s safe to assume that many of these individuals have far larger safety nets than, for example, folks formerly working in nonessential retail stores for not much more than minimum wage.
Additionally, technical workers are disproportionately white and male. (Check out the statistics from Google, Microsoft, and Facebook.) This means that in this public health crisis, these folks are also likely to receive better care than, say, a poor black woman in the event that they contract Covid-19, because racism is a preexisting condition. These folks in tech are also likely to have good health insurance, larger spaces in which to correctly and safely social distance, and readier access to personal transit (a car) to safely stock up on supplies because of their proximity to money and other forms of privilege.
Given all these advantages, what is the tech industry at large and on an individual scale doing to combat the spread…
