Google's workforce is largely male and white. That fact triggered mixed signals from diverse organizations, such as the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

According to Google, which published its own numbers on the diversity within their workforce, men accounted for 70 percent of the company's employees; women represented 30 percent of the Google workforce.

In regards to ethnicity, whites dominated with 61 percent. The other ethnicity to attract double-digit figures was Asians at 30 percent. Hispanics narrowly surpassed blacks with 3 percent and 2 percent, respectively. "Two or more races" represented 4 percent while less than 1 percent were categorized as "Other."

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"We've always been reluctant to publish numbers about the diversity of our workforce at Google. We now realize we were wrong and that it's time to be candid about the issues," Google's Senior Vice President of people operations Laszlo Bock said on the company's blog.

According to Bock, Google has not reached its expectations when it comes to diversity. Bock said technology companies, including Google, have struggled to recruit minorities and women and cited the disparity of computer science degrees in the U.S. between the two groups as one reason.

For the USHCC, the organization commended Google for publishing the diversity report. While acknowledging the low numbers represented by women and minorities, the USHCC stated Google's "swift, transparent, and self-motivated" decision to release the report is a "very positive first step."

"We commend Google's leadership in openly accepting responsibility for these disparities, and more importantly, for proactively seeking to rectify the situation," USHCC Chairman Marc Rodriguez said. "This report has the potential to inspire a national conversation on corporate diversity and inclusion."

Rodriguez added that Google's revelation could engage other companies to examine and improve their diversity figures in the workforce.

He said, "Leadership comes in many forms, and through this report, Google has demonstrated the rarest and most noble of them all: unbridled transparency in the face of challenge."

USHCC President and CEO Javier Palomarez, who noted Google's diversity report decision as "courageous," said the company was not forced to disclose the figures unlike "many" other companies.

"Google understands that recruiting and developing employees who reflect the faces of their consumers and shareholders is not only the right thing to do, but it is also a good business practice," Palomarez said.

The USHCC president stated his organization "stands firmly" with Google and their CEO Larry Page as news of the diversity report unfolds. He said the report exhibits Google's intentions to institute a more effective diversity and inclusion recruitment program.

As Latin Post reported, the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) stated the report is the first step towards an "honest conversation" about diversity issues within the tech community.

"Google isn't the only one with diversity skeletons in its closet. Let's have an honest conversation about diversity in this sector and work together to improve the situation," NHMC's Executive Vice President and general counsel Jessica González said.

As of the first quarter of 2014, Google has 50,000 employees.

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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