A recession could unwind DEI progress at agencies

A recession appears to be on the horizon, and layoffs and cost cutting is now threatening to unwind critical diversity progress advertising and marketing agencies have made within their ranks in recent years. Ongoing inflation and looming interest rate hikes are continuing to stoke fears of recession among business leaders, and many businesses are already taking measures to cut their costs and headcounts. At tech companies, 16,000 jobs were cut in May, and the bloodletting has continued into June. This week, Tesla announced it would cut 10% of its staff, while Meta recently instituted a hiring freeze and Cameo and On Deck each laid off around a quarter of their employees.  For agencies – which already adjust their headcounts regularly in response to client demands – a cut in