Black workers still hitting glass ceiling

SURE, IT'S 2005 and millions of black people may have fought the discrimination war. But, in the American workplace, there is still work to be done. The median pay of black men is $30,409 a year, compared with a white man's $38,869, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Black men make just 78 percent of what their white counterparts earn. A black woman earns a median salary of $25,117 yearly, about 89 percent of the $28,080 a white woman makes annually. And black people fill fewer than 5 percent of executive positions nationwide, though they comprise nearly 13 percent of the nation's population. "There is still that glass ceiling," says Lisa Cowan Hawkins, 33, assistant vice president of information technology strategies at Irwin Mortgage Corp. in Fishers, Ind. "When you're really wanting to progress, when being mid-tier isn't good enough, you do face some barriers." At lower levels of organizations, there are lots of opportunities. Employers, she says, seem to be willing to open their entry-level doors to blacks as they drive diversity numbers up. "Getting your foot in the door isn't the problem," she says. "But you see challenges as you try to go up in management." [more]