The Milwaukee metro area is on track to hit its goals for increasing the number of people who are African American and Hispanic in the area's workforce, according to new data released Tuesday.
Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce has set the goals of increasing the proportion of African American and Hispanic employees in the workforce to 18.1% through its Region of Choice Initiative.
The number of African American and Hispanic workers has increased 6.2% since the initiative began, MMAC announced Tuesday.
"We're on pace to achieve that goal," said MMAC President Tim Sheehy in an interview before the meeting. "We've got some work to do ahead of us but the progress is good."
MMAC held its 160th all-member meeting Tuesday evening at the new Bradley Symphony Center downtown.
The goal of the Region of Choice initiative is to grow the overall employment of people who are African American and Hispanic by 15% over five years. It aims to increase the number of people in management positions who are African American and Hispanic by 25%. The Region of Choice initiative was launched in 2019, using 2018 data as a baseline.
The region is on track to exceed its goals for African American and Hispanic representation in management. The number of managers who are African American and Hispanic in the area has risen 23% since the initiative started. That means employers will likely exceed the goal of having 8.6% of its management workforce African American and Hispanic by 2023.
Hitting these goals won't achieve parity. In the four-county metro Milwaukee area, 16.3% of people are Black, 11.6% are Hispanic and 7.6% identified as two or more races, according to the latest U.S. Census data.
"These goals are not a ceiling," Sheehy said.
MMAC has signed on 120 organizations that employ 119,700 people in the region to the pledge. MMAC is a private, not-for-profit organization that represents around 1,800 member businesses with 300,000 employees in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington and Ozaukee counties.
"If we don't get this right, the biggest governor to our growth is filling these jobs and we can't continue to grow and progress if we are not a region of choice for all," Sheehy said.
A survey of management employees working at companies that are participating in the initiative showed differences in experiences at workplaces and in Milwaukee by race.
The survey asked management employees if they would recommend their company as a place to work and Milwaukee as a place to live.