Apple erases the pay gap for women and minorities as its diversity figures slowly improve

Apple has just released its latest inclusion and diversity report, which shows that the Cupertino firm has now completely closed the pay gap between men and woman and white and nonwhite employees in the US.

"We've achieved pay equity in the United States for similar roles and performance," Apple said in Wednesday's report. "Women earn one dollar for every dollar male employees earn. And underrepresented minorities earn one dollar for every dollar white employees earn."

Apple spent the last year conducting an internal pay equity study that showed female employees were earning 99.6 cents on the dollar compared to their male counterparts, according to Business Insider, which is a lot better than many Silicon Valley companies. Underrepresented minorities (URMs), meanwhile, were making 99.7 cents on the dollar compared to white employees.

As noted by CNET, the White House says US women earn 78 cents to the dollar compared to men.

In terms of new hires, Apple is slowly increasing its number of female and URM workers. In 2014, women made up 31 percent of new hires, now that figure is at 37 percent. URM hires, meanwhile, have increased 6 percent in the last two years to 27 percent.

Apple classifies URMs as "Black, Hispanic, Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Other Pacific Islander." When you include Asians in the minorities figures, 54 percent of Apple's new hires are non-white.

The iPhone maker's leadership roles continue to be dominated by white males. Men make up 72 percent of these positions globally, while 67 percent of its US leaders are white.

Overall, Apple is still mostly made up of white men; 68 percent of its total workforce are male, down from 69 percent last year, and 56 percent are white, an increase of 2 percent from 2015. The company said it is trying to diversify its employees with new hires.

"We see diversity as everything that makes an employee who they are. We foster a diverse culture that's inclusive of disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, and service to country. We want all employees to be comfortable bringing their entire selves to work every day. Because we believe our individual backgrounds, perspectives, and passions help us create the ideas that move all of us forward," wrote Apple.