Blacks are underrepresented in many professional specialty occupations.
Nowhere is this more evident than in science and engineering. Although blacks comprised about 11 percent of the total U.S. workforce and 8 percent of all those in professional specialty occupations in 1992, only 4 percent of employed engineers and 2.7 percent of the natural scientists were black. Their representation in mathematical and computer science occupations was somewhat higher at 7.1 percent. There are some positive trends. The production of minority engineering graduates has been increasing steadily.