Just six years have passed since countless companies proclaimed their support for DEI in response to the 2020 murder of George Floyd, and yet, just 12% of respondents to HR Brew’s survey said their organization considers DEI a “high priority.” Another 36% said DEI is a “moderate priority,” while 49% said it is “low” or “no priority.”

Despite the seeming deprioritization of DEI, 63% of respondents reported that their organization’s investment in DEI didn’t change in 2025. Less than one-third (25%) said investment had decreased, either somewhat or significantly, and 5% said it increased.

“The notions behind why DEI is imperative have not changed, so the work still exists. It [has] simply ‘gone underground,’” one respondent told HR Brew via written response. “I was a DEI leader…[and] the fear of backlash there was so big that indeed everything changed around DEI. We said nothing was stopping, but the deprioritization was very clear,” another respondent wrote.

Many HR pros may be experiencing “DEI fatigue,” Joycelyn David, founder of the multicultural marketing tech startup Tulong Technologies and author The Multicultural Mindset, told HR Brew.

For more on the state of DEI, keep reading here.—MC

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul took a break from negotiating the delayed state budget to speak about state and private-sector investments in childcare on April 15.

“Be smart about this,” Hochul said at an event hosted by Moms First and the National Business Coalition for Childcare. The governor pointed to new research published by Moms First and McKinsey that finds nearly all parents experience childcare disruptions, signaling an economic problem. Businesses, she posited, should be working to address this.

“We’ll continue being there at the state level…but I would love to be able to say that I, in New York, also have the most enlightened, smartest, competitive, pro-family business communities anywhere in the nation.”

The Moms First report estimates US businesses lose $70 billion annually when workers’ childcare breaks down, due in part to the fact that this disruption may cause employees to miss scheduled work or leave their jobs entirely. Given the magnitude of this impact, Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Moms First, argued it’s “fiscal malfeasance not to look at the impact of childcare on your workforce.”

For more on the role businesses can play in helping to solve the childcare crisis, keep reading here.—CV

The tech job market doesn’t always reflect the national one, but the two are starting to draw closer together—and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as interpreted by IT certification trainer CompTIA, unemployment in the tech sector edged up from February’s 3.8% to 3.9% in March. It’s a negligible shift, and the national unemployment rate experienced a similarly small change, dipping from 4.4% to 4.3%.

But those seemingly stable numbers may belie an ongoing uncertainty in the job market, driven by the perceived impact of AI.

For more on how AI is affecting the tech job market, keep reading on IT Brew.—EH