109 HCON 429 IH: Recognizing the low presence of minorities U.S. House of Representatives 2006-06-13 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IV 109th CONGRESS 2d Session H. CON. RES. 429 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 13, 2006 Mr. Meeks of New York (for himself, Mr. Owens, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Ms. Kilpatrick of Michigan, Mrs. Christensen, Mr. Scott of Georgia, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Hinojosa, Mr. Kucinich, Mr. Clay, Ms. Millender-McDonald, Mr. Wynn, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Davis of Alabama, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. Watt, Mr. Ford, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Ms. Watson, Mr. Cleaver, Ms. Waters, Mr. Meek of Florida, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Gutierrez, Ms. McCollum of Minnesota, Mr. Rush, Mr. Al Green of Texas, Mr. Towns, Ms. Lee, Ms. Corrine Brown of Florida, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Serrano, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Payne, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Baca, Mr. Pastor, Ms. Velázquez, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Israel, Mrs. Lowey, Mr. Engel, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Ms. McKinney, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Ackerman, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Wu, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Weiner, Mr. Gonzalez, Ms. Solis, Mr. Filner, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Delahunt, Ms. Carson, Mr. Fattah, Mr. Rothman, Mr. Higgins, Mrs. McCarthy, Mr. Capuano, Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Moore of Kansas, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Linda T. Sánchez of California, Ms. Loretta Sanchez of California, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. Reyes, Mr. Becerra, Mrs. Napolitano, Ms. Norton, and Mr. Cuellar) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Recognizing the low presence of minorities in the financial services industry and minorities and women in upper level positions of management, and expressing the sense of the Congress that active measures should be taken to increase the demographic diversity of the financial services industry.

Whereas the financial services industry is vitally important to the United States economy; Whereas in 2003, employment in the financial services industry was 7 percent of total employment in the United States, with over 9,000,000 employees; Whereas since 1995, the average hourly earnings of non-supervisory workers in financial activities was above the private industry and increased from approximately $12 in 1995 to $17.53 in 2004; Whereas minorities and women face various challenges in obtaining and maintaining positions, especially upper level positions, within the financial services industry; Whereas minorities and women often cite the lack of mentors and leadership training as barriers to their advancement; Whereas in 2003, only 6 percent of the board seats at the Fortune 1,000 companies were held by minorities and women comprised only 13.4 percent of Fortune 500 board seats in 2003; Whereas in financial services, the percentage of black employees has slowly decreased from 10.5 percent to 9.8 percent between 2000 to 2003; Whereas in 2003, blacks were only 9.8 percent of those employed in the financial services industry and just 6.9 percent of financial managers; Whereas from 2000 to 2003, Hispanics have been an increasing percentage of the United States workforce and the financial services industry; Whereas in 2003, Hispanics comprised only 9 percent of those employed in the financial services industry, just 6.1 percent of financial managers, and less than 2 percent of the directors of Fortune 1,000 companies; Whereas in 2004, Asians represented only 4.1 percent of the employees in the financial services industry and just 3.4 percent of all financial managers; Whereas from 2000 to 2003, a greater percentage of women worked in the financial services industry than any other United States industry; Whereas approximately half of financial managers are women and the percentage of women financial managers was 52.7 in 2003; Whereas in a 2001 survey of 2,200 senior and pipeline level women and men representing approximately 60 securities firms, 65 percent of women reported that women have to work harder than men to get the same rewards, and 51 percent of women report that women are paid less than men for doing similar work; and Whereas a minority of women (32 percent) and men (43 percent) believe that promotion decisions are made fairly in their firm: Now, therefore, be it

That— (1)the Congress— (A)recognizes that minorities and women still face unique challenges entering into and obtaining upper level positions within the financial services industry; (B)encourages financial institutions to partner with organizations which are focused on developing opportunities for minorities and women to place talented young minorities and women in industry internships, summer employment and full-time positions; (C)encourages financial institutions to partner with inner-city high schools, girls’ high schools, and high schools with majority minority populations to establish or enhance financial literacy programs and provide mentoring; (D)encourages financial institutions, including Federal and State financial institution regulatory agencies, to build and retain a diverse staff through initiatives, including— (i)providing financial support for minorities and women undergraduate and graduate business programs; (ii)heavily recruiting at historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, women’s colleges, and colleges that typically serve majority minority populations; (iii)sponsoring and recruiting at job fairs in urban communities; and (iv)placing job ads in newspapers and magazines oriented toward people of color; (E)encourages financial institutions to appoint more minorities and women as board members; and (F)encourages financial institutions, and public and private pension funds to seek qualified minority and women owned firms as investment managers, underwriters and other business relationships; and (2)it is the sense of the Congress that— (A)active measures should be taken by employers and educational institutions to increase the demographic diversity of the financial services industry; and (B)diversity within the financial services industry is vitally important not only to promoting innovation and creativity in the industry but to developing a more inclusive workforce for a fair and just economy.