White Guy? Don’t Apply

Suzanne M. Bump, Massachusetts secretary of labor and workforce development, said she could staff her entire operation with solely white lawyers.

Doing so, however, would rob her office of the diversity of perspective, culture and experience necessary to solve the critical workforce challenges the state faces, she said.

“I could fill my office with white lawyers,” Bump said. “We’re choked with applications from them. But they’re not going to get the job done. A diversity of skills, perspective and cultural background is necessary for success in creating more and better jobs in this state.”

Bump made her remarks today at a forum on diversity in the workplace held in Natick, co-sponsored by the MetroWest Alliance for Workforce Diversity and the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce.

The goal of the forum was to discuss the barriers to better workforce diversity and explore solutions to the growing problems of workforce homogeneity and a population decline in Massachusetts.

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