I’m glad you asked. Racial discrimination when hiring is a problem and can be observed easily.
For example this meta study, that looked at many experimental studies in 6 different western counties, shows how racial discrimination is a problem when hiring. This has been demonstrated in experimental research by sending two resumes to different workplaces. They show the same level of qualification, but one of them is from a white on one from a person that is not. You do this a lot, like 200 times with 200 employers and see how often both candidates are invited.
And consistently you can see that white people are invites, while racial divergent people are not.
From the meta study this reads like this:
Persistent discrimination in labor markets in North America and Europe has been demonstrated most clearly by field experiments in which investigators use testers or submit applications by mail or over the internet for jobs with clues indicating the race or ethnicity of applicants (5–7). These experiments show that on average in Western countries native Whites receive about 50% more callbacks than similarly qualified non-White applicants (5).* This does not include significant additional discrimination that occurs after the callback (8).
The study is evidence that there is a systemic disadvantage for non whites when hiring.
Why should this not be the case at NASA? What makes NASA so special that findings, that showed true on a systemic level across six countries don’t apply to it?
If you are interested, NASA did an audit on their progress on including DEIA in 2023.
Despite support from Agency leaders and multiple initiatives to increase diversity, we found NASA has made little
progress in increasing the representation of women and minorities in its civilian workforce or leadership ranks.
Specifically, over the past decade NASA’s overall workforce demographics have stayed roughly the same, with small
increases (1 or 2 percent) for some groups. Demographics have not varied significantly over the same time period at
individual NASA Centers, with only two Centers increasing African American representation and other Centers making
small gains in Hispanic, Asian American, and women’s representation. We also found NASA has made few gains in the
percentages of women and racial and ethnic minorities in its senior levels (General Schedule 14 and 15 positions and
NASA’s Efforts to Increase Diversity in Its Workforce
RESULTS IN BRIEF
Senior Executive Service) over the decade. At the same time, the proportion of veterans NASA hires has declined over
the past 10 years, most significantly from 28 percent in 2015 to 13 percent in 2021
I’m glad you asked. Racial discrimination when hiring is a problem and can be observed easily.
For example this meta study, that looked at many experimental studies in 6 different western counties, shows how racial discrimination is a problem when hiring. This has been demonstrated in experimental research by sending two resumes to different workplaces. They show the same level of qualification, but one of them is from a white on one from a person that is not. You do this a lot, like 200 times with 200 employers and see how often both candidates are invited.
And consistently you can see that white people are invites, while racial divergent people are not.
From the meta study this reads like this:
Cool study. What evidence is there that NASA has an unfair hiring practice they need to adjust for?
The study is evidence that there is a systemic disadvantage for non whites when hiring.
Why should this not be the case at NASA? What makes NASA so special that findings, that showed true on a systemic level across six countries don’t apply to it?
If you are interested, NASA did an audit on their progress on including DEIA in 2023.
https://oig.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IG-23-011.pdf
Sounds like they were already only hiring qualified people.
Forcing DEI where there was no problem causes a problem.