Commercial Gaming Industry Leader in Minority Employment – MGM MIRAGE report latest example
Posted: June 18, 2008
Nationwide reports have shown for years that the commercial gaming industry is among the leading employers of minorities, as a percentage of its total employee base. That fact was strongly reinforced earlier this month when MGM MIRAGE executives released impressive employee diversity statistics from the MGM Grand Detroit property.
According to that report, 70 percent of MGM Grand Detroit’s 3,000 employees are members of a minority group – 54 percent are African American, nearly 6 percent are Asian, and more than 5 percent are Hispanic.
MGM MIRAGE also reported that more than 47 percent of the $216 million the property spent on construction went to minority- or women-owned businesses.
These numbers represent an industrywide commitment to hiring minority employees and doing business with minority, women, and disadvantaged business enterprises (MWDBEs). Traditionally, commercial casino companies employ a significantly higher percentage of minorities than the U.S. national workforce. The commercial casino industry also actively works to promote diversity in both hiring and procurement through programs such as:
- An industrywide Diversity Resource Guide focused both on helping casino companies advance diversity in hiring and procurement, and on providing MWDBEs with the necessary tools to help them take the first steps to working with or in the industry.
- A Tier II Diversity Reporting Program that requires suppliers to submit regular reports on the amount of business they contract with MWDBEs.
Please visit www.mgmmirage.com for further details on the company’s Annual Diversity Report & Presentation. More information about the industrywide diversity initiatives is available at www.americangaming.org/diversity. Also, as you look deeper into the gaming industry’s efforts to hire and retain minority employees and suppliers, please feel free to contact me for information or additional resources.
