Everyone knows that African-Americans have less access to technology. It’s called the Digital Divide. The problem is so well documented that it’s become its own field of research. Given this situation, it would be logical to assume that African-Americans are likewise underrepresented in the I.T. workforce.

But are we? Let’s see what the research says.

A 2007 report issued by the Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) found that 10% of the U.S. IT workforce was “black.” This finding was consistent with a 2004 report published by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), which found that 8.3% of the U.S. IT workforce was African-American.

According to the ITAA, the high-water mark for African American technology employment occurred in the year 2000, when we made up a whopping 10.1% of the U.S. I.T. workforce.

Hmmn. 90% of I.T. workers are not black. Seems like a clear race gap, right? Well it turns out that African-Americans make up only 10% of the overall U.S. workforce. In other words, we appear in the IT workforce in the same proportion that we appear in the overall workforce.

So is there really a race gap at all?

Of course there is, Justice Thomas. Are there 50 Black CIOs in the Fortune 500? I think not. The African-Americans who make up the 10% of the IT workforce are disproportionately clustered in the lowest-paying positions in the industry (what the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls “data-processing” positions.) Every survey—and I mean every survey—finds that approximately 80% of U.S. I.T. workers are white males. And when it comes to IT “senior leadership” positions, 86% are held by white males according to InformationWeek’s 2007 National IT Salary Survey. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2006 white IT workers earned an average of $77,646, while African-American IT workers earned an average of $66,806.

Make no mistake, there’s a digital divide in the I.T. workforce. It’s just not the one you think.