ough the marketing industry is diversifying, senior positions still remain underrepresented.

According to a survey conducted by the ANA, while marketing organizations continue to exhibit greater ethnic diversity, it decreases as you move up the org charts.

We care. The key to company success and productivity is diversity at all levels. Diversity and inclusion have many benefits, including increased stock and revenue performance, employee retention and hiring, as well as customer acquisition and loyalty. Diverse marketing organizations facilitate access to different markets.

Some 29.1% of those surveyed in the marketing/advertising industry this year identified as African American/Black, Asian, Hispanic/ Latino, American Indian/Alaskan Native and/or Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander. This is 1.9% more than last year’s 27.2%, and 3% more than the 26% recorded in 2018, which was the first year of the ANA’s survey.

Look deeper: The numbers show that diversity and inclusion are good for business.

The industry has 7.2% African American/Black, 10.2% Asian, and 9.9% Hispanic/Latino. Both African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino and both declined notably over last year (at 6.6% and 8.9%, respectively). However, the report states that “representation for both of these groups is still significantly lower than their respective proportions of the U.S. populace (12.1% and 18.7% respectively).

Although the number of Asians has declined to 10.2%, from 11.7% last years, it still exceeds its share of the U.S. populace (5.9%).

Black people account for 10.7% of admin/clerical workers and only 5% for senior leadership positions. Hispanics are more affected by the decline, with their share dropping from 15.5% to 8.2%. For Asians, who account for 9.8% of administrative/clerical workers and 11.1% in senior positions, this trend has reversed.

While more work is required to increase diversity, the report states that what we are seeing is a result of demographic changes as well as current diversity initiatives. This is not surprising given the fact that the U.S.’s younger population tends to be more multi-cultural than the older population. Also, corporate America’s efforts have made progress in diversifying the talent pool.

Deepen your research: What is diversity, equity, and inclusion? And why are marketers so important for them?

Gender inequalities. The industry is still dominated by women, accounting for 67.5%. This number decreases with increasing seniority. While men are 32.4% of marketing/advertising organizations, they have 44.2% of the senior level positions.

Methodology. The ANA asked members of member companies to anonymously and voluntarily answer questions about their ethnicity and gender for the survey. Over the three-year period from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2022 32,623 marketers answered the gender question, and 29194 answered the ethnicity question. Client-side marketers and marketing solution providers make up the respondent base. 31.790 marketers answered the gender question in the 2021 report and 28862 the ethnicity question.

The post Marketing industry diversity improving but still lags in senior positions was first published on MarTech.