BY: JOE WINDISH

Not very. In fact, Google, Apple, Yahoo, Oracle and Applied Materials all argued that the race and gender of their work force is a trade secret and so cannot be released. After an 18-month Freedom of Information battle, the San Jose Mercury News won. It's no wonder the companies wanted to keep the data hidden:

The Labor Department data ultimately obtained by the Mercury News shows that while the collective work force of 10 of the valley's largest companies grew by 16 percent from 1999 to 2005, an already small population of black workers dropped by 16 percent, while the number of Hispanic workers declined by 11 percent. By 2005, only about 2,200 of the 30,000 Silicon Valley-based workers at those 10 companies were black or Hispanic.

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