U. S. Merit Systems Protection Board

Ben L. Erdreich, Chairman

Beth S. Slavet, Vice Chairman

Office of Policy and Evaluation

Director

John M. Palguta

Project Supervisor

Bruce Mayor

Project Manager

Keith Bell
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Notice
A REPORT BY THE U.S. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD i

Contents

Executive Summary .................................................................................... iii

Chapter 1. Introduction .............................................................................. 1

Reasons for this Study .......................................................................................... 1

Law and Policy ..................................................................................................... 1

Chapter 2. Methodology ............................................................................. 3

Statistical Sources .................................................................................................. 3

Survey Material ..................................................................................................... 3

Interviews ............................................................................................................. 3

Chapter 3. Background ............................................................................... 5

Government Diversity Programs ......................................................................... 5

Measuring Representation in the Federal Workforce ........................................... 5

Issues in Measuring Hispanic Representation ....................................................... 6

Currency of detailed data................................................................................. 6

Definition of Hispanic ..................................................................................... 7

Civil service age restrictions ............................................................................ 7

Chapter 4. Factors Affecting Hispanic Representation ............................... 9

Attitudes, Awareness, and Environment .............................................................. 9

Commitment to diversity ................................................................................ 9

Managerial awareness ....................................................................................... 9

Discrimination ............................................................................................... 10

Demographic Factors and Civil Service Requirements ...................................... 10

Geographic concentration of the Hispanic population ................................. 10

Government occupations .............................................................................. 11

Federal downsizing and the changing CLF ................................................... 13

Citizenship requirements in the civil service ................................................. 14

Chapter 5. Agencies Actions: Current Status and Potential Strategies .... 17

Availability of Program Information.................................................................. 17

Allocation of Program Resources ....................................................................... 18

Special Program Placements ............................................................................... 18

Recruiting for the Shifting Civil Service Workforce .......................................... 19

Program Leadership ............................................................................................ 19

Chapter 6. Conclusions and Recommendations .........................................21

Achieving a Representative Federal Workforce:

Addressing the Barriers to Hispanic Participation
ii ACHIEVING A REPRESENTATIVE FEDERAL WORKFORCE: ADDRESSING THE BARRIERS TO HISPANIC PARTICIPATION

Table 1. Distribution of Hispanic Populations and Civil Service

Positions, 1995 ................................................................................................. 10

Table 2. Civil Service Workforce by PATCOB Category, 1991, 1996 .......... 11

Table 3. Hispanic Representation in Federal Departments and Agencies:

September 30, 1991 and September 30, 1996 ................................................... 12

Table 4. Percentages of Hispanics and Non-Hispanics Who Have Attained

the Indicated Education Level, 1995 ................................................................ 12

Table 5. Hispanic Representation in the Federal Workforce by Grade Level

Grouping, September 30, 1996 ........................................................................ 13

Table 6. Permanent Employees in the Departments and Agencies of

the Federal Government .................................................................................. 14

Table 7. Civilian Labor Force 1980-2005 ........................................................ 14

Tables
A REPORT BY THE U.S. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD iii

Executive Summary

It is the policy of the United States to have a Federal workforce that is reflective of the

Nations diversity. As noted in previous MSPB reports, the Government has made commendable progress in achieving the statutory goal of a representative workforce. In fact,

among the major racial and ethnic minority groups, only Hispanics are employed in the

Federal Government at a rate significantly below their level of participation in the U.S.

civilian labor force. This report explores the reasons for the persistent underrepresentation

of Hispanics in the Federal workforce. It finds that there are multiple barriers to overcome

in achieving full representation and, hence, multiple strategies for change are required. The

report concludes with a discussion of recommended actions.

Background

In the course of research conducted in recent years

by the Merit Systems Protection Board, the issue

of Hispanic representation in the Federal workforce has become one of particular concern. In

reporting the results of demographic and minority

studies it conducted during the period 1990-95, the

Board noted that Hispanics were the only

underrepresented minority group in the Federal

workforce.

Reinforcing our concern about this issue have been

requests from several organizations that urged us to

examine the question of Hispanic underrepresentation as part of the Boards statutory mission to

conduct periodic studies of the civil service and

other merit systems. Those studies share a common theme in their focus on the degree to which

Federal departments and agencies are adhering to

the merit system principles and whether the

public interest in a civil service free of prohibited

personnel practices is being adequately protected.

In this context, the Civil Service Reform Act of

1978 articulates in the merit system principles a

concurrent goal for Federal managers. That goal

requires that Federal employees be selected and

advanced solely on the basis of relative ability,

knowledge, and skills and that the resultant workforce be representative of all segments of society.

The challenge for Federal managers, as the Board

has noted in previous reports, is to successfully

meet both statutory objectives.

In undertaking the current study, the Board sought

to better understand the causes for Hispanic

underrepresentation in order to suggest possible

remedies that Federal employers might apply to

increase the number of well-qualified Hispanic

men and women in Federal jobs. As outlined in

this report, our research finds that the aggregate

underrepresentation of Hispanics in the civil

service has persisted despite decades of special

emphasis programs intended to increase their

representation. Although some progress has been

made, the percentage increase in the employment

of Hispanics in the Federal Government has

consistently lagged behind that of other minority

groups. The study found multiple causes for this

situation, some of them outside the control of

Federal managers. The ability of Federal managers

to address those causes within their control is

further complicated by the Governments current

downsizing efforts.
iv ACHIEVING A REPRESENTATIVE FEDERAL WORKFORCE: ADDRESSING THE BARRIERS TO HISPANIC PARTICIPATION

These issues, among others which are summarized

below and are discussed in more detail in this

report, make the problem of Hispanic representation in the Federal workforce uniquely challenging

to deal with. The results of our study suggest that

the environment in todays Federal workplace

demands especially intensive efforts to recruit wellqualified Hispanics and to apply the Governments

limited affirmative recruiting resources in areas

where underrepresentation is most severe.

Findings

1. Hispanics remain the only underrepresented

minority group in the Federal workforce.

Figures reported by the U.S. Equal Employment

Opportunity Commission (EEOC) indicate that as

of 1995 Hispanics made up 6.1 percent of the

Federal workforce, but 8.1 percent of the comparable civilian labor force. The U.S. Office of

Personnel Management (OPM) reports that in

1995 Hispanics made up 5.9 percent of the Federal

workforce, but 10.2 percent of the civilian labor

force. The figures differ because they are calculated somewhat differently. Nevertheless, both

confirm Hispanic underrepresentation in the

Federal workforce.

2. Commitment to full Hispanic representation in the Federal workforce is hampered by

managers and supervisors beliefs about their

role in achieving diversity and their perceptions

about Hispanic underrepresentation.

In a Governmentwide survey administered by

MSPB, some 65 percent of White managers and

supervisors (and 49 percent of Hispanic managers

and supervisors) indicated they did not believe that

Hispanics are underrepresented in their work

units. Responding to a survey item concerning

workplace diversity, only 35 percent of White

managers (and 63 percent of Hispanic managers)

agreed that selecting officials should be held

accountable for achieving a workforce that is as

diverse as the available civilian labor force. The

responses of these survey participants suggest a

need for a better understanding of representation

issues and a greater emphasis on affirmative employment programs, particularly with respect to

Hispanic representation.

3. Despite well-documented gains made by

minorities in expanding their representation in

the Federal workforce, racial and ethnic discrimination still appear to have an effect on job

opportunities for minorities.

According to earlier MSPB research, there are

measurable differences in the employment-related

experiences of minority and nonminority Federal

employees and not all of the differences can be

explained by patterns of education, experience, and

other merit-based factors. These measurable

differencesand the belief that they existare

reflected in the individual discrimination complaints filed each year by Hispanic employees in a

variety of Federal agencies, the class action complaints pending or settled in several Federal agencies, and periodic findings of discrimination by the

EEOC involving Hispanic employees.

4. Because of a combination of several powerful demographic realities, even the total elimination of discrimination from the Federal workplacewere that possiblewould not alone

result in achievement of full Hispanic representation.

These demographic realities are:

Geographic concentration. There is a major

mismatch between where most Hispanics live

and work and where most Federal jobs are

located. Only 34 percent of civil service jobs

are located in the ten States that account for

over 86 percent of the U.S. Hispanic population.

Federal downsizing and the changing civilian

labor force. The Federal workforce was reduced

by 12.8 percent from 1991-96, and with this

decline have come fewer opportunities for

agencies to hire additional Hispanics. An

additional concern is the possibility that

downsizing could disproportionately affect

Hispanics. Although Hispanic representation

in the Federal workforce increased from 5.4 to

6.0 percent during 1991-6, the percentage of

Hispanics in the civilian labor force grew at an

even faster rate, and is expected to reach 11.1

percent by 2005. With such growth in the

Hispanic population occurring simultaneously

with Federal downsizing, special outreach

efforts will be needed to close the gap between
A REPORT BY THE U.S. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD v

Hispanics representation in the Federal workforce and their representation in the civilian

labor force.

Hispanic qualifications for Government occupations. Jobs in the professional and administrative occupations, most of which require education above the high school level, make up about

53 percent of Federal jobs, and this percentage

is increasing. At the same time, blue-collar jobs

are held by about 14 percent of the Federal

workforce and are steadily declining in number.

This is significant for Hispanic representation

in the Federal workforce because in the civilian

labor force, which is the source from which the

Government recruits new employees, a much

higher percentage of Hispanics occupy bluecollar jobs than does any other racial or ethnic

group. Blue-collar experience in the civilian

labor force is qualifying for equivalent bluecollar civil service jobs, but is unlikely to

prepare individuals for other types of jobs. In

addition, the percentage of the Hispanic population whose education has prepared them for

professional and administrative jobs is relatively

low. In 1995, 9.2 percent of Hispanics had a

bachelors degree or higher education, while

24.2 percent of non-Hispanics had reached that

level.

Citizenship requirements in the civil service. In

most cases, non-Government employers are

able to hire anyone in the civilian labor force,

without regard to the citizenship of the candidates. Most Federal employers may hire only

U.S. citizens for Federal Government jobs. (A

major exception to this rule is the U.S. Postal

Service, which may hire noncitizens.) Because

about 35 percent of Hispanics in the U.S. labor

force are not citizens, and thus are effectively

barred from most Federal employment, the

pool of Hispanics from whom the Federal

Government may hire is significantly smaller

than that available to non-Government employers.

5. For the most part, agencies do not have

reliable systems to monitor the apportionment

and use of resources for affirmative recruitment.

Based on agency responses to an MSPB questionnaire concerning Hispanic recruitment, information that tracks the major aspects of agencies

Hispanic recruitment efforts is not readily available

and is difficult to assemble. Top agency management, in most cases, does not appear to be closely

monitoring the progress of Hispanic employment

programs, nor are they funding outreach efforts

commensurate with the degree of Hispanic underrepresentation in their workforce. Monitoring the

resources being channeled into special emphasis

recruitment and apportionment of those resources

based upon the magnitude of the underrepresentation problems will become more important as

agencies face a future of limited resources.

Conclusions

Underrepresentation of Hispanics in the Federal

workforce is inconsistent with the statutory goal of

a workforce representative of all segments of

society. Further, as the Board has noted previously, the Federal Government, as the Nations

largest employer and enforcer of laws, has a special

obligation to be fair and inclusive in all its employment practices. Therefore, if the Government is to

employ Hispanic men and women in the same

proportions as they participate in the civilian labor

force within any reasonable time frame, we must

reconsider past approaches to meeting this goal.

As noted, only some of the obstacles to achieving

the goal of full representation of Hispanics in the

Federal workforce are within the control of

Federal managers. Actions to address the obstacles

that are within their control, therefore, must be

aggressively pursued. Federal agencies, for example, must remain vigilant in aggressively identifying and eliminating instances of discriminatory

treatment of Hispanics which constitute illegal

prohibited personnel practices. Discrimination has

undeniably played a role in the history of Hispanic

employment issues and there is no evidence to

suggest that it has somehow been totally eliminated from the Federal workplace.

What the findings from this study also suggest,

however, is that in light of all of the barriers that

exist with regard to the fuller employment of

Hispanics, the Federal Government must do more

than simply attempt to eliminate overt discrimination if it is to significantly increase the representa-
vi ACHIEVING A REPRESENTATIVE FEDERAL WORKFORCE: ADDRESSING THE BARRIERS TO HISPANIC PARTICIPATION

tion of Hispanics in the Federal Government. To

achieve the goal of a workforce representative of

all segments of society, therefore, Federal agencies

must pay special attention to all of the barriers to

Hispanic employment. The following recommendations are intended to assist in this regard.

Recommendations

1. Federal departments and agencies should

develop integrated strategies for increasing the

representation rate of Hispanics in the workforce.

The strategies should be implemented and monitored in a systematic manner, and should include

measures such as:

n Establishing entry-level positions in

principal agency occupations at locations with

large Hispanic populations in order to increase

the Hispanic applicant pool from which candidates for employment are drawn.

n Increasing the number of Hispanic

managers in order to provide more mentors for

Hispanic employees within the agency and a

greater connection with Hispanic communities.

n Emphasizing the importance of seniorlevel leadership in efforts to achieve a fully

diverse workforce so that line managers, in

turn, are motivated to pursue the goal of full

representation of Hispanics in the workforce.

2. Federal departments and agencies should assure

that their managers and supervisors have comprehensive and accurate information about the current

representation of ethnic and minority groups and

are committed to doing their part towards achieving the statutory goal of full representation.

3. Because Hispanics remain the only significantly

underrepresented minority group in the Federal

workforce and the obstacles to full Hispanic

representation are particularly severe, agencies

should devote a greater proportion of their recruitment resources to hiring well-qualified Hispanic

men and women.
A REPORT BY THE U.S. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD 1

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Reasons for this Study

For some time, the issue of Hispanic representation in the Federal workforce has been of concern

to the Board. In a 1993 report on workforce

demographics, we cited the aggregate underrepresentation of Hispanics in the Federal workforce

and recommended that agencies * * * intensify

recruitment of Hispanic men and women.1

 In a

subsequent report on minority employment we

again noted that Hispanics remained the only

underrepresented minority group in the Federal

workforce.2

The aggregate statistics available tell the same

story: Hispanic underrepresentation persists.

Although the figures reported by the two agencies

that monitor representation vary somewhat, both

confirm Hispanic underrepresentation in the

Federal workforce.3

 The Equal Employment

Opportunity Commission reports that Hispanics

made up 6.1 percent of the Federal workforce in

1995, compared with 8.1 percent of EEOCs ideal

labor force. The Office of Personnel Management

reports that in 1995 Hispanics made up 5.9 percent

of the Federal workforce, but 10.2 percent of the

civilian labor force. It should be noted that the

EEOCs Federal workforce figure (6.1 percent)

includes a number of agencies not included in the

OPM figure, and its ideal labor force figure (8.1

percent) is based on the 1990 census (the reasons

for this are discussed on page 6 of this report).

Also, OPM includes Puerto Rico in its calculation

of the civilian labor force.

It was not only reports of underrepresentation and

our own research findings that suggested a need to

examine Hispanic representation in the Federal

civil service. We also were contacted by several

organizations that recommended we study these

issues. These organizationsthe National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives (NAHFE), the

National Council of La Raza, and the National

Puerto Rican Coalitionemphasized the need to

* * * find answers to the question of Hispanic

underrepresentation if we are to have a truly

diverse Federal workforce,4

 and the need to * * *

develop concrete recommendations for remedying

[Hispanic underrepresentation].5

Law and Policy

It is the policy of the United States that the Federal

workforce reflect the Nations diversity. The Civil

Service Reform Act states that a properly adminis1 U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, Evolving Workforce Demographics: Federal Agency Action and Reaction, Washington, DC, November

1993, p. xi.

2 U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, Fair and Equitable Treatment: A Progress Report on Minority Employment in the Federal Government,

Washington, DC, August 1996.

3 The Federal Government has approximately 3 million civilian employees, counting the employees of the judicial and legislative branches, and the

executive branch, including the U.S. Postal Service, Government corporations, and other quasi-governmental units. However, this study examines

only the executive departments and agencies, currently employing 1.7 million permanent employees. In addition to excluding the legislative and

judicial branches, our study also excludes the U.S. Postal Service, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and other quasi-governmental entities as well as the

employees of the intelligence-gathering agencies such as the CIA and NSA.

4 Letter to Ben L. Erdreich, Chairman, U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, from Gilbert Chavez, President NAHFE, Dec. 7, 1993.

5

 Letter to Ben L. Erdreich, Chairman, U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, from the National Puerto Rican Coalition, Dec. 15, 1993.
2 ACHIEVING A REPRESENTATIVE FEDERAL WORKFORCE: ADDRESSING THE BARRIERS TO HISPANIC PARTICIPATION

tered Federal personnel management system

should provide the people of the United States

with a competent, honest and productive work

force reflective of the Nations diversity. 6

 And, in a

similar vein, the first merit system principle

provides that Federal recruitment should endeavor to achieve a work force from all segments

of society.7

 To help meet the diversity objective,

Congress placed affirmative recruitment requirements into the Reform Act. In 5 USC 7201, it

required the Office of Personnel Management to

oversee agency-conducted recruitment efforts

designed to eliminate minority underrepresentation. The law, in this section, defines underrepre6

 5 USC 1101 note, Findings and Statement of Purpose of the Civil Service Reform Act (emphasis added).

7

 5 USC 2301 (b)(1).

sentation quite broadly. Under these provisions,

underrepresentation will be deemed to exist and to

require affirmative recruitment effort whenever, as

has been historically true with regard to Hispanics,

the percentage of a minority group in any position

is lower than the percentage of that minority

group in the civilian labor force as a whole.

It is against this legal and policy background that

we seek to identify the obstacles that have prevented the full representation of Hispanics in the

Federal workforce and to suggest strategies that

may be utilized to surmount those obstacles.
A REPORT BY THE U.S. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD 3

Statistical Sources

We conducted research for this study using several

statistical sources. The most important data source

for measuring the various aspects of the Federal

workforce is the Central Personnel Data File

(CPDF) maintained by the Office of Personnel

Management. This data base contains a variety of

information about the Federal civilian workforce,

including data summarizing activities such as

hiring, separations, and retirements for each

quarter of the fiscal year. We also used data from

the Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment

Program annual report published by OPM as well

as the Annual Report on the Employment of

Minorities, Women, and People With Disabilities

in the Federal Government, published by the

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

To compare the Federal workforce with the

overall U.S. labor force, we used statistical information from the Civilian Labor Force (CLF). This

is a data base that tracks all persons 16 years of age

or older in the noninstitutionalized, nonmilitary

population of the United States who are employed

or unemployed and seeking work. The CLF data

base, which is maintained by the Bureau of Labor

Statistics, is updated using the monthly Current

Population Survey conducted by the Bureau of the

Census. The CLF data are supplemented by

analyses of the civilian workforce drawn from the

decennial census conducted by the Bureau of the

Census.

Survey Material

To gauge understanding and acceptance of the

Governments special emphasis program for

Hispanics, in 1995 we surveyed a representative

sample of Federal managers and supervisors on

their knowledge of and attitudes towards diversity

and the Hispanic employment program activities.

This primary survey material was supplemented by

data obtained from a survey conducted for our

earlier cited report, Fair and Equitable Treatment:

A Progress Report on Minority Employment in

the Federal Government.8

 This latter survey

provided insights on the perceptions of Hispanic

employees in the civil service.

In addition, to assess the level of resources being

used by agencies to address the underrepresentation of Hispanics, we surveyed the directors of

Equal Employment Opportunity at the 23 largest

Federal departments and agencies9

 that collectively

employ 92 percent of the civil service workforce.

We asked a number of questions about how

agencies are implementing program initiatives and

how resources are being allocated to Hispanic

employment programs.

Interviews

To supplement our survey data, we interviewed a

number of Hispanic program officials, human

resources professionals, and private sector experts

to solicit their views on Hispanic employment.

8

 See footnote 2. 9

 These are the Departments of the Air Force, Agriculture, the Army, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human

Services, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, Justice, Labor, the Navy, State, Transportation, the Treasury, and Veterans

Affairs; and the Environmental Protection Agency, the General Services Administration, NASA, the Office of Personnel Management, the

Small Business Administration, and the Social Security Administration.

CHAPTER 2

Methodology
4 ACHIEVING A REPRESENTATIVE FEDERAL WORKFORCE: ADDRESSING THE BARRIERS TO HISPANIC PARTICIPATION

These interviews provided us with a better sense of

the perceptions of various participants in the

Governments recruitment and placement process

as well as the perceptions of those who are advocates for Hispanic employment. We also conducted telephone interviews with program officials

at centers of Federal employment in California and

Texas, the States with the largest Hispanic population. The information collected from these interviews is necessarily subjective, but it provides us

with a sense of how peoples assumptions and

attitudes affect how they view the aggregate

underrepresentation of Hispanics in the civil

service.
A REPORT BY THE U.S. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD 5

Government Diversity Programs

Federal agencies are required to have two formal

plans addressing the goal of full representation in

their workforces. One of these is the Affirmative

Employment Plan, administered by the Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission.10 This

plan has rather elaborate requirements for structuring the agencies programs for recruiting minorities, women, and persons with disabilities, and for

reporting to EEOC on program structure and

workforce demographics. Agencies are required to

determine the representation of all targeted groups

in each major occupation within an agency or

department and then compare the agencys minority group representation with the representation of

these groups in comparable occupations in the

CLF. Agencies then must develop plans to correct

significant underrepresentation identified in their

workforces by this process.

The other plan required of Federal agencies is the

Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program

(FEORP),11 administered by the Office of Personnel Management. OPM requires agencies to

develop plans to increase the numbers of the

identified groups within the agencies recruitment

pools based on the analysis in the Affirmative

Employment Plan.

While both of these plans require agencies to

actively recruit minority candidates to increase

diversity in the civil service, the programs must

operate within the merit system and not as an

exception to it. The programs do not set hiring

quotas nor do they grant any preferential treatment in hiring. For example, in the examining and

selecting process, no candidate is given additional

credit or considered ahead of other equally qualified individuals based on his or her minority

status.12 All candidates must compete on their own

merits and may be actively considered only if

among the best qualified available candidates for a

vacant position. These principles, which guide the

administration of Government diversity programs,

derive from the same law that prescribes diversity

as a governing principle of Federal hiring:

Recruitment should be from qualified

individuals from appropriate sources in an

endeavor to achieve a work force from all

segments of society, and selection and

advancement should be determined solely on

the basis of relative ability, knowledge, and

skills * * *.13

Measuring Representation in the Federal

Workforce

Some objective means is needed for measuring

progress toward full minority participation in the

10 The current EEOC program is contained in Management Directive (MD) 714, October 1987. 11 5 CFR 720.205. 12 Candidates for competitive civil service appointments (jobs not filled by current employees) are examined and assigned scores based on their

qualifications. By law, managers may select from among only the three highest scoring candidates for each job filled. The law grants special

preference only for veterans, who by law are assigned 5 or 10 points in addition to the scores earned on civil service examinations and are referred

to selecting officials ahead of nonveterans with scores equal to the veterans augmented scores. In addition, a manager may not bypass a veteran to

select a nonveteran with the same or lower score.

13 5 USC 2301(b)(1).

CHAPTER 3

Background
6 ACHIEVING A REPRESENTATIVE FEDERAL WORKFORCE: ADDRESSING THE BARRIERS TO HISPANIC PARTICIPATION

civil service. In the evaluation of the two diversity

plans required of Federal agencies, this measurement is done statistically by comparing the

makeup of the actual Federal workforce with a

benchmark. OPM uses the civilian labor force of

the United States (including Puerto Rico) as its

benchmark. The aggregate representation of each

minority group in each cabinet department and

independent agency is compared with the percentages of the minority groups in the civilian labor

force. If a minority group is not represented in the

Government agencies at least at the same level as in

the benchmark, that group is underrepresented.

This is a straightforward methodology, but it does

not provide information in sufficient detail to

allow agencies to target their recruiting to specific

occupations.

In contrast, for affirmative action planning purposes, EEOC constructs a benchmark ideal workforce by determining the participation of women

and minorities in particular occupations in the

civilian labor force (not including Puerto Rico).

From the full labor force base taken at the time of

the decennial census, EEOC subtracts occupational

categories that are not represented in the Federal

workforce and weights the remaining occupations

based on their prevalence in the Federal workforce. This ideal workforce is compared occupation by occupation, with the Federal workforce

and where appropriate, comparisons are made by

specific geographical area.

Issues in Measuring Hispanic Representation

As noted above, these different methods of calculating minority representation result in somewhat

different measures of the percentage of Hispanics

in the Federal workforce. According to OPMs

FEORP report, as stated earlier, Hispanics made

up 5.9 percent of the Federal workforce and 10.2

percent of the civilian labor force of the United

States and Puerto Rico in 1995.14 EEOCs calculations put Hispanics at 6.1 percent of the Federal

workforce in 1995 compared to 8.1 percent of its

benchmark civilian labor force.15 Despite the

differences, however, the essential message of these

measures remains the same: Hispanics are the only

minority group that is underrepresented in the

Federal civilian workforce. It is also useful to put

these measurements into context by looking at

some of the technical issues that affect the way

representation is calculated. These issues are

discussed below.

Currency of detailed data. Although EEOC

makes comparisons along narrow occupational

lines to ensure that solutions to underrepresentation of any given group can be narrowly tailored

to the problem, this approach has an inherent

technical difficulty. The detailed analyses of the

labor force that EEOC makes using CLF data

require that a full enumeration or a very large

sample of the labor force be used. A full enumeration of the labor force is done during the deccenial

census. Updates to the CLF are done by using a

monthly sampling survey which is far too small to

accurately calculate the racial, gender, and ethnic

makeup of individual occupations and of labor

force representation in specific geographical areas.

Thus, the EEOC calculations of the ideal labor

force that are currently used reflect the status of

the workforce in 1990, the last time the sample was

large enough to calculate individual occupations.

Although the most recent detailed data are from

1990, we know that the aggregate representation of

Hispanics in the CLF has increased significantly.

In 1990, the aggregate representation of Hispanics

as determined by EEOC was 8.1 percent.16 The

Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates that by 1995

aggregate representation of Hispanics stood at 9.3

percent17 of the CLF of the United States.

13 5 USC 2301(b)(1).

14 U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program, Fiscal Year 1995, Washington, DC, July 1996, p. 13. 15 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Annual Report on the Employment of Minorities, Women and People With Disabilities

in the Federal Government For the Fiscal Year Ending 1995, Washington, DC, October 1996, p. 4.

16 Ibid., p. 11.

17 U. S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1996 (116th ed.) Washington, DC, 1996, table 615. (As discussed

previously, the 1995 labor force figure differs from that reported by OPM because OPM has chosen to include the labor force of Puerto Rico in its

calculations.)
A REPORT BY THE U.S. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD 7

Definition of Hispanic. Another complication in

measuring Hispanics in the CLF against those in

the civil service is the different way in which these

two data bases define the term Hispanic. In the

Federal workforce, people may identify their race

and national origin as only one of the following:

American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian or

Pacific Islander; Black, not of Hispanic Origin;

Hispanic; or White, not of Hispanic Origin.

Hispanic is defined in the civil service data base

as a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban,

Central or South American, or other Spanish

cultures or origins. It does not include persons of

Portuguese culture or origin.18 The terms Black

and White specifically exclude persons of Hispanic origin. Thus, in the Government workforce

Hispanic is used as a racial category, equivalent to

and separate from the other recognized racial

categories.

The civil service definitions are further complicated by the fact the generally used categories

described above are applicable to 49 States and the

District of Columbia, while alternate classifications

are used for civil service positions in Hawaii and

Puerto Rico. In Hawaii, Asians are categorized by

their country of origin (e.g., Japan, Korea). In

contrast, in Puerto Rico all employees are placed in

one of two categories: Hispanic and non-Hispanic.

In contrast to the civil service data base, the CLF

data base identifies persons as Hispanic based on

their answer to the question: What is the origin

or descent of each person in this household?

Those who report themselves as Mexican-American, Chicano, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban,

Central or South American (Spanish countries), or

other Hispanic origin are designated as Hispanic.19

This ethnic designation is in addition to racial

identifiers, so that a person in the CLF who is

Hispanic is also Native American, African American, Asian, or White.

Civil service age restrictions. Beyond the dissimilar ways in which Hispanic individuals are identified in the CLF and the Federal workforce, the

CLF does not align with the Federal workforce in

terms of age. The CLF includes persons 16 years

of age and older. But the Federal Government

generally may not hire 16- and 17-year olds, thus

excluding this portion of the CLF. This may

slightly increase the underrepresentation of Hispanics, because Hispanics are proportionally more

heavily represented in this youngest cohort of the

labor force than are non-Hispanics.20

18 Standard Form 181, Race and National Origin Identification. 19 Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1996, p. 5. 20 While Hispanics made up 8.9 percent of the population 16 years and older in 1994, they made up 12.4 percent of the 16- and 17-year olds. (U. S.

Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1995 (115th ed.), Washington, DC, 1995, table 22).
8 ACHIEVING A REPRESENTATIVE FEDERAL WORKFORCE: ADDRESSING THE BARRIERS TO HISPANIC PARTICIPATION
A REPORT BY THE U.S. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD 9

CHAPTER 4

Factors Affecting Hispanic Representation

Despite well-documented gains made by minorities

in expanding their representation in the Federal

workforce, the aggregate underrepresentation of

Hispanics in the Federal workforce makes it clear

that the affirmative employment programs of

Federal agencies have not yet achieved their

ultimate goal. Achieving a workforce that reflects

the diversity of the American population will

require Government agencies and their managers

to be aware of representation issues, sensitive to

demographic realities, and committed to action

that will result in real progress for the Hispanic

minority. And all of this must take place in an

environment rife with challenges to agencies

ability to adequately address underrepresentation

problems. Some of these issues and challenges are

discussed below.

Attitudes, Awareness, and Environment

Managers have always had a key role in achieving

diversity in their workforces. They make the

hiring, placement, and promotion decisions within

the merit system rules. Their attitudes and focus

are of great importance in increasing the representation of Hispanic men and women in Federal

jobs. Therefore, as part of this study, we surveyed

a sample of supervisors and managers to learn

about their understanding of Federal diversity

programs and of the roles of line managers and

staff offices in the programs. We asked all respondents to identify themselves by racial/ethnic

category, so we were able to analyze responses

according to these categories. As discussed below,

we found that the responses of survey participants

signal the need for greater emphasis and understanding of affirmative employment programs,

particularly with respect to Hispanics.

Commitment to diversity. We asked managers and

supervisors whether they agreed or disagreed with

the statement, Selecting officials should be held

accountable for achieving a workforce that is as

diverse as the available civilian labor force. Only

35.3 percent of White respondents agreed or

strongly agreed, while 63.1 percent of Hispanic

respondents agreed or strongly agreed, and 70.7

percent of other minorities agreed or strongly

agreed. In the aggregate, only 41.8 percent of

respondents agreed or strongly agreed. This

suggests that a substantial majority of supervisors

and managers do not feel responsible for increasing

minority representation in their work units. The

much higher agreement rate of minorities also

suggests that increasing the representation of

minorities in the managerial ranks should be part

of the strategy to increase Hispanic representation.

Managerial awareness. When asked, Do you

believe that Hispanics are underrepresented in

your work unit(s)?, 65.1 percent of White managers answered no. Significantly fewerbut still

almost halfof Hispanics (49.4 percent) said no.

These results may seem surprising given what we

know about the aggregate employment levels of

Hispanics. One explanation for this perception,

even among Hispanic managers, may be the

unequal distribution of Federal jobs and Hispanic

workers. (As we discuss later in this report,

Federal job concentrations and Hispanic population centers are not located in the same places.)

Managers are likely to base their perceptions on

their local environments. Since so much of Federal civil service employment is in areas with few

Hispanics, managers are likely to perceive their

workforces as having representative numbers of

Hispanics, given their local communities. This
10 ACHIEVING A REPRESENTATIVE FEDERAL WORKFORCE: ADDRESSING THE BARRIERS TO HISPANIC PARTICIPATION

perception is likely to have the effect of making

managers less concerned about increasing Hispanic

representation in their work units.

Discrimination. While affirmative employment

programs have helped expand representation in the

Federal workforce, racial and ethnic discrimination, be it subtle or overt, still exists and can still

affect Federal job opportunities for minorities.

According to earlier MSPB research on this subject, there remain measurable differences in the

employment-related experiences of minority and

nonminority Federal employees, and not all of the

differences can be explained by differences in

education, experience, and other merit-based

factors.21 These differences place the approximately 2,000 individual formal charges of discrimination based on Hispanic origin that are filed

annually in a larger context. These measurable

differencesand the belief that they existare

reflected in the individual discrimination complaints filed each year by Hispanic employees in a

variety of Federal agencies, the class action complaints pending or settled in several Federal agencies, and periodic findings of discrimination by the

EEOC involving Hispanic employees.

Demographic Factors and Civil Service

Requirements

Although discrimination undoubtedly continues to

interfere with Hispanic

hiring, the total elimination of discrimination

from the Federal landscapewere that possible would still not

result in the achievement of full Hispanic

representation in the

Federal workforce

unless other actions

were taken. The reason

for this is the interaction

of several demographic

and civil service requirements that act as a

powerful impediment to

increasing the number of Hispanic men and

women hired for Federal jobs. In planning the

future of their Hispanic employment programs, it

is critical that agenciesand Federal managers and

supervisorsbe aware of these factors, and that

they fashion recruitment strategies accordingly. A

discussion of these factors follows.

Geographic concentration of the Hispanic population. There is a major mismatch between where

most Hispanics live and where most Federal jobs

are located. Hispanic populations are concentrated

geographically, with two States, California and

Texas, accounting for over half of the Hispanic

population. These and eight other States are home

to over 86 percent of the Hispanic population of

the United States. Table 1 shows the Hispanic

population and the Federal civil service presence in

these 10 States. Note that California and Texas

have only 16.3 percent of the permanent Federal

jobs, and all 10 States combined have only 34.9

percent of all permanent civil service jobs. The

distribution of Federal jobs compared to the

distribution of the Hispanic population acts as an

obstacle to full Hispanic participation because

most job searches by applicants and most recruiting efforts by employers focus on the local commuting area. This is particularly so for jobs in

blue-collar occupations (in which the greatest

percentage of Hispanics are employed).

Table 1. Distribution of Hispanic Populations and Civil Service Positions, 1995

Geographic Location

Numb er and (Percent)

of Total Hispanic

Population

Number and (Percent) of Total

Federal Jobs in These States

Total U.S. 26, 797,000 (100) 1,711,909 (100)*

Total California and Texas 14,403,000 (53.7) 278,231 (16.3)

Total for the 8 Other States with

Significant Hispanic Population** 8,696,000 (32.5) 317,936 (18.6)

Remaining 40 States and D.C. 3,698,000 (13.8) 1,115,742 (65.2)

* This reflects only those permanent civil service jobs in the 50 States and the District of Columbia. It does not include jobs in

the U.S. territories and possessions or in foreign countries. Percentages do not equal 100 due to rounding.

**New York, Florida, Illinois, Colorado, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Sources: population, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1996; civil service positions, Central Personnel Data File.

21 Fair and Equitable Treatment: A Progress Report on Minority Employment in the Federal Government, p. xi.
A REPORT BY THE U.S. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD 11

While the geographic concentration of the Hispanic population has negative effects on overall

Hispanic representation in Federal jobs, there are

exceptions. The concentration of Federal installations in Texas and in metropolitan San Antonio, in

particular, illustrates the positive impact on aggregate Hispanic representation rates when Federal

jobs are located in areas of high Hispanic population. As of September 30, 1995, metropolitan San

Antonio had 29,133 permanent Federal civil

service employees, of whom 12,473, or 42.8

percent, were Hispanic. The thousands of Hispanics employed by the Government in metropolitan

San Antonio contribute greatly to the overall

representation of Hispanics in the Federal workforce. They were, in fact, 12.1 percent of all

Hispanics employed in the entire permanent civil

service. Metropolitan San Antonios population is

56 percent Hispanic,22 one of the highest concentrations in the United States.

Government occupations. In recent years, the

mix of occupations in the Federal workforce has

been changing rapidly. As table 2 shows, in the 5-

year period from 1991 to 1996, professional and

administrative jobs, which typically require

education beyond the high school level, have

grown both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of all jobs. By the end of that period they

made up over half (nearly 53 percent) of all

permanent Federal jobs. Over the same period,

clerical and blue-collar jobs declined markedly,

from 32.6 percent to 25.3 percent of permanent

jobs.

Reductions in the number of clerical positions can

be traced to technological advances. Much of the

work once accomplished by clerical workers has

been taken over by electronic data bases that are

maintained by higher skilled workers. Further, the

proliferation of personal computers and the

creation of networks of such machines has eliminated much of the need for typists and file clerks,

so the number of clerical workers is likely to

continue to decline.

The decline in blue-collar jobs reflects their concentration in the Department of Defense. That

department has been cutting infrastructure in

response to the end of the Cold War and the

changing role of the Nations armed forces. Cuts

have been accomplished by congressionally mandated base closings and the contracting out of

industrial activities. In all likelihood, the decline in

blue-collar jobs in the civil service is a trend that

also will continue.

This reduction in blue-collar jobs and the growth

in professional and administrative jobs has particular significance for Hispanic representation. First,

since most Federal jobs will continue to be in the

administrative, professional, and technical occupations, those are the areas in which

Hispanics can make the most

progress. And, in fact, Hispanics have

increased their numbers significantly

in the professional, administrative,

technical, and other categories as

shown in table 3. At the same time,

overall Hispanic employment has

dropped in the declining clerical and

blue-collar occupationsas has that of

nonminority employeesas the total

number of positions has declined.

For Hispanics, this sharp decline in

blue-collar jobs in the civil service

makes it harder to achieve full representation in the Federal workforce.

This is so because of the large propor22 Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1996, table 46.

Table 2. Civil Service Workforce by PATCOB Category, 1991, 1996

PATCOB Category Percentage of Federal

Workforce, 1991

Percentage of Federal

Workforce, 1996

Professional 21.7 23.5

Administrative 25.8 29.4

Technical 17.7 19.2

Clerical 16.0 11.3

Other 2.2 2.5

Blue-collar 16.6 14.1

Note: Civil service jobs are broadly categorized within the CPDF by a system called

"PATCOB" (professional, administra tive, tec hnical, clerical, other, and blue-collar)

Source: Office of Personnel Management, Central Personnel Data File
12 ACHIEVING A REPRESENTATIVE FEDERAL WORKFORCE: ADDRESSING THE BARRIERS TO HISPANIC PARTICIPATION

tion of Hispanics employed in blue-collar jobs in

the civilian labor force, the pool from which the

Government recruits Hispanics. In 1994, 58

percent of Hispanics in the CLF were employed in

blue-collar occupations, in contrast to 40 percent

of all persons in the CLF employed in these jobs.23

The much higher representation of Hispanics in

these occupations is significant because of the

importance of work experience in qualifying for

civil service jobs. While working in blue-collar

jobs in the labor force is qualifying for equivalent

blue-collar civil service jobs, that work experience

is unlikely to prepare individuals for other types of

jobs in the civil service.

This occupational

distribution of Hispanics can be better

understood by examining Hispanic educational attainment. The

percentage of the

Hispanic population

whose education has

prepared them for

professional and

administrative jobs is

relatively low. Overall, a far smaller percentage of Hispanics

than non-Hispanics have completed

advanced education. As table 4 shows,

in 1995, 9.2 percent of Hispanics had a

bachelors degree or higher level of

educational attainment, while 24.2

percent of non-Hispanics had reached

that level.

While this demographic factor is

beyond the power of Federal managers

to remedy directly, the Government

has initiated action to address concerns

about education. Executive Order

12900, Educational Excellence for

Hispanic Americans, requires Federal

agencies to prepare plans to, among

other actions, eliminate unintended

regulatory barriers to the participation

of Hispanic Americans in federally

administered education programs and ensure that

Hispanic-serving school districts and institutions of

higher education know of Federal program opportunities.

Over time these remedies may considerably

improve prospects for increasing Hispanic representation in the Federal workforce. In the short

term, however, the much lower percentage of

Hispanics with education beyond high school

means that it will require special efforts to recruit

those who are well qualified for the increasingly

professional civil service workforce. These factors,

Table 3. Hispanic Representation in Federal Departments and

Agencies: September 30, 1991 and September 30, 1996

PATCOB

C atego ry

No. Hispa nic s

9/30/91

No. Hispa nic s

9/30/96

Percent C hang e

 1991 to 1996

Profe ssional 14,949 16,067 +7.5

Administrative 23,435 27,634 +17.9

Technical 19,348 21,472 +11.0

Clerical 19,913 12,792 -35.8

Othe r 4,364 5,617 +28.7

Blue-Collar 23,669 19,152 -19.1

TOTAL 105,678 102,734 -2.8

Sou rce: Office of Personne l M anage ment, Cen tral Per sonnel Data File

23 Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1995, table 649.

Table 4. Percentages of Hispanics and Non-Hispanics

Who Have Attained the Indicated Education Level, 1995

(For persons 25 years old and over; percenta ges by highest level of attainment)

Highest Level of Attainment Hispanic Non-Hispanic

Less than high school graduate 46.6 15.7

High school graduate 26.3 34.6

Some college, but less than a

bachelor's degree 17.8 25.4

Bachelor's degree 6.5 16.0

Advanced degree 2.7 8.2

Source: S tatistical Abstract of the United States: 1996, table 243
A REPORT BY THE U.S. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD 13

coupled with the high concentration of Hispanics

in blue-collar occupations in the civilian labor

force imply a critical need for Federal employers to

aggressively seek out well-qualified Hispanic

candidates to fill Government jobs.

(Its also important to note that Hispanic representation at lower grade levels is higher than their

aggregate representation in the Federal workforce.

Thus, advancement of Hispanics already in the

workforce is another issue that merits the continuing attention of Federal managers. Table 5 displays

the distribution of Hispanic Federal workers by

grade level grouping.)

Federal downsizing and the changing CLF. The

pressure to downsize agency workforces has been

continuous since 1991. Over the period 1991-96,

the permanent civil service workforce was reduced

by 12.8 percent. As shown in table 6, Hispanics

increased their representation rate over

this period from 5.4 percent of the

total workforce to 6.0 percent of the

workforce, but this did not result in a

net increase in the number of Hispanics in permanent jobs. Further, it must

be recognized that the large aggregate

decline in the number of civil service

positions has reduced agencies opportunities to hire additional Hispanics.

Although Hispanics have increased

their representation in the Federal

workforce to 6 percent, they have

grown as a percentage of the CLF even

more. As table 7 shows, by 1995

Hispanic representation in the CLF

had increased to 9.3 percent, and it is

projected to grow to 11.1 percent by

2005. With such growth in Hispanics

share of the CLF occurring simultaneously with

Federal downsizing, special outreach efforts are

likely to be needed to close the gap between

Hispanics current representation in the Federal

workforce and their representation in the CLF.

Furthermore, this pressure to downsize the Federal

workforce can be expected to continue for the

foreseeable future. The Base Closure and Realignment Commission has identified a significant

number of military installations that Congress has

approved for closure by 2001. Language has been

included in an appropriations measure approved

by the Senate to increase contracting out of functions now performed by Federal employees.24

Further, the continuing burden of finding savings

to balance the budget will most likely fall heavily

on civil service employment. Current downsizing

and the high potential for future employment cuts

are likely to have significant impact on Federal

recruiting in general and Hispanic recruiting in

particular.

Among the more serious consequences of

downsizingat least with respect to Hispanic

representationis the inordinate Governmentwide

effect that closing certain military installations is

likely to have. For example, Kelly Air Force Base,

which is located in San Antonio, Texas, has been

designated for closure in connection with plans to

cut military infrastructure. This one installation

employs 40 percent of all the Hispanics in the

Department of the Air Forces permanent civilian

workforce, and 6.4 percent of all the Hispanics in

the entire Federal civil service.25 Obviously,

elimination of the civilian jobs at Kelly Air Force

Base will seriously decrease Hispanic representaTable 5. Hispanic Representation in the Federal Work force

b y Grade Level Grouping, September 3 0, 1996

Grade level

grouping

No.

employees in

grade

grouping

No. Hispanics

in grade

grouping

Percentage

Hispanics in

grade

grouping

GS 1-4 123,291 9,798 7.9

GS 5-8 441,997 31,437 7.1

GS 9-12 599,811 34,431 5.7

GS 13-15 317,445 10,932 3.4

Blue-collar 242,156 19,152 7.9

Subtotal 1,724,700 105,750 6.1

Senior pay levels 15,024 376 2.5

N ote: Thes e d ata i nclud e full-tim e, part-time, a nd inte rmi tt ent p osition s, a nd bot h

perman ent an d temporary po siti on s

Source: Office o f Perso nn el M an age ment , Central P ers onnel Dat a File

24 Senate bill 1023, 105th Congress. 25 U. S. Office of Personnel Management, Central Personnel Data File.
14 ACHIEVING A REPRESENTATIVE FEDERAL WORKFORCE: ADDRESSING THE BARRIERS TO HISPANIC PARTICIPATION

tion in the Federal workforce as a whole unless

offsetting gains are made elsewhere.

To reiterate, the rapid growth of Hispanic representation in the civilian labor force at a time when

the Federal workforce is shrinking and the future

of many Federal programs is in doubt complicates

the problem of overcoming Hispanic underrepresentation. With Federal hiring on the decline and

the threat of further cuts looming, many agencies

are reluctant to hire for long-term, career-oriented,

developmental programs. Yet, for the Federal

workforce to match the growing presence of

Hispanics in the CLF, more hiring, rather than

less, is required.

Citizenship requirements in the

civil service. Another obstacle

to reaching full representation

of Hispanics is citizenship

requirements. A legally mandated eligibility requirement for

employment in Federal civil

service positions is U.S. citizenship. While limited exceptions

are made for individuals with

specialized skills that are in

short supply, noncitizens are

generally barred from civil service employment.

This requirement means that the Hispanic employment pool from which Federal agencies may

recruit is substantially smaller than that available

to non-Government employers. While 2.9 percent

of non-Hispanics in the civilian labor force were

not citizens in 1990, 35.0 percent of Hispanics

were not citizens,26 and thus, were effectively

barred from civil service employment.

Although the citizenship requirement certainly

affects the size of the pool of Hispanics from

which Federal employers are permitted to hire, the

requirement alone is not an insurmountable barrier

to Hispanics achieving full representation in the

Federal workforce, particularly where there are

offsetting factors. For example, Asians are fully

Table 6. Permanent Employees in the Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government

As of

Sept. 30:

No. of

Hispanics

No. NonHispanic

Minorities No. of Whites Total Employees

Percentage of Hispanics

in the Workforce

1991 105,678 426,955 1,433,940 1,966,573 5.4

1992 106,482 428,878 1,423,619 1,958,979 5.4

1993 104,660 422,261 1,373,329 1,900,250 5.5

1994 103,736 413,045 1,319,472 1,836,253 5.6

1995 103,073 402,027 1,266,643 1,771,743 5.8

1996 102,734 389,602 1,221,646 1,713,982 6.0

% change

1991-1996 -2.8 -8.7 -14.8 -12.8 +11.1

Source: Office of Personnel Management, Central Personnel Data File

Table 7. Civilian Labor Force 1980-2005 (projected, yearly averages)

1980 1990 1995 2000 2005

Total persons in CLF (millions) 106.9 125.8 132.3 140.0 147.1

No. Hispanics in CLF (millions) 6.1 10.7 12.3 14.3 16.3

Percentage of Hispanics 5.7 8.5 9.3 10.2 11.1

Note: The 1995 figures are not strictly comparable to previous years due to changes in methodology.

Source: Sta tistical Abstract of the United States: 1996, table 615

26 Bureau of the Census, Persons of Hispanic Origin in the United States, 1990 CP-3-3, 1990 Census of Population, U.S. Government Printing

Office, Washington, DC, August 1993.
A REPORT BY THE U.S. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD 15

represented in the Federal workforce even though

a higher percentage of them are noncitizens (38.6

percent) than are Hispanics. In this case, a significant offsetting factor is the educational attainment

of Asians. In 1990, 44.9 percent of Asian men and

35.4 percent of Asian women had completed 4

years of college or more (versus 9.8 percent for

Hispanic men and 8.7 percent for Hispanic

women).27

The principal prohibition on the hiring of noncitizens is Executive Order 11935, issued in 1976. An

additional prohibition on the hiring of noncitizens

is contained in traditional boiler plate language

in annual appropriations measures passed by

Congress. This language typically disallows the

27 Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1996, table 242; 1990 is the most recent year for which the Bureau of the Census has published this

information on Asians.

use of the funds being appropriated to pay noncitizens. These prohibitions expire with each fiscal

year, but Congress has repeated the prohibition in

each years appropriations bills.

The prohibition on the hiring of noncitizens does

not extend to all areas of Federal employment.

Executive Order 11935 is limited to the competitive service; that is, permanent, tenured civil

service positions. The appropriations prohibitions

cover only those agencies for which the specific

appropriations are made. It should be noted that

the largest civilian Federal employer outside the

competitive civil service, the U.S. Postal Service,

has no prohibition on hiring noncitizens.
16 ACHIEVING A REPRESENTATIVE FEDERAL WORKFORCE: ADDRESSING THE BARRIERS TO HISPANIC PARTICIPATION
A REPORT BY THE U.S. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD 17

To learn how agencies are monitoring and allocating their resources to meet the challenge of increasing Hispanic representation, we sent questionnaires

to the directors of EEO at the 23 largest Federal

departments and agencies,28 focusing specifically on

how they apportioned resources to various elements of their affirmative action programs and to

Hispanic recruitment in fiscal year 1996. We

addressed our questionnaire to the EEO directors

because they are the central point for affirmative

action planning and reporting in their agencies.

We asked agencies to tell us about the use of any

special strategies to increase Hispanic recruitment

and also requested that they quantify the following:

n The resources expended to recruit Hispanics

and to recruit other minorities;

n The number of internship, co-op, and other

student positions filled by Hispanics, other

minorities, and nonminorities;

n The resources spent on direct agency employment programs under the executive orders

for Historically Black Colleges and Universities

and Hispanic-Serving Institutions at the college

and university level; and

n The resources expended to attract Hispanics

under the Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program.

We received responses from 15 of the 23 departments and agencies from which we solicited

information. Among the responding agencies, four

were unable to provide us with summaries of

resources expended for Hispanic recruiting activities. That and all other aspects of our efforts to

obtain the solicited information gave us a number

of insights into Federal agencies Hispanic recruitment programs.

Availability of Program Information

The first insight from our questionnaire came not

from any statistics the agencies provided but from

the process of attempting to gather the information. It appears that information tracking the

major aspects of agencies Hispanic program

activities is not readily available and is difficult to

assemble. For the most part, the agencies were not

able to provide timely and comprehensive responses to our questions. In most agencies, responsibility for Hispanic program activities is dispersed

within department and agency subelements, and

information that might be useful in managing an

agency-wide recruitment program is not centrally

maintained. In addition, many of the recruiting

activities for targeted populations are handled by

the agencies human resources staffs, which are

organizationally isolated from the EEO function,

so the recruiting programs are not necessarily

coordinated with other aspects of the agencies

diversity programs.

The lack of readily available information at the

departmental and agency headquarters level

suggests that the success of Hispanic employment

programsor lack of itis not being closely

monitored by agencies top management. Typically, if agency leaders focus on a program, staffs

CHAPTER 5

Agencies Actions: Current Status and Potential Strategies

28 These are named in footnote 9.
18 ACHIEVING A REPRESENTATIVE FEDERAL WORKFORCE: ADDRESSING THE BARRIERS TO HISPANIC PARTICIPATION

tend to follow through on related activities and

report regularly on their efforts. The activity in

Hispanic employment programs is apparently not

monitored very closely overall. Three of the

departments and agencies that answered our

questionnaire explained that little focus on Hispanic recruitment activity occurred in FY 1996

because of hiring freezes.

Allocation of Program Resources

A total of 12 departments and agencies reported on

expenditures for minority recruitment (three of the

agencies that responded did not have these data

available).29 For non-Hispanic recruitment, agencies reported using 396 work years of employee

time and $6.14 million in other expenditures in FY

1996. For Hispanic recruitment, they reported 515

work years of employee time and $2.16 million in

other expenditures for the same year.

Federal departments and agencies are also required,

by specific executive orders, to provide special

support to the educational programs of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)30

and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) of

Education.31 These executive orders require that

Federal departments and agencies report annually

on their activities in support of HBCUs and

HSIs. We asked agencies to tell us how much

they spent on direct agency employment of

college-level students under these two executive

orders. A total of eight departments and agencies

reported dollar amounts. Another five told us that

the figures were not available, and two said that

they had spent no money on direct agency employment because of hiring freezes. The eight

agencies that reported said that in FY 1996 they

had spent a total of $11,694,671 for HBCUs and

$2,669,707 for HSIs.

In examining the information submitted by the

responding agencies, we found no clear indication

that they are funding their outreach efforts in a

response proportionate to the degree of Hispanic

underrepresentation in the workforce, nor do they

take into account the severity of the obstacles to

full Hispanic representation. The level of underrepresentation and the significance of the obstacles

to higher Hispanic employment are factors that

should play a part in agency decisions about how

the scarce (and possible dwindling) recruiting

resources are allocated. Monitoring the resources

being channeled into special-emphasis recruitment

and considering apportionment of resources based

upon the magnitude of the underrepresentation

problem will become more important as agencies

face more staff and budget cuts.

Special Program Placements

One of the strategies agencies have successfully

employed to place minorities in Federal jobs is the

use of internships and other student programs.

These programs acquaint the employee with the

work of the organization, allow the agency to get

to know the employee, and may permit the agency

to place the employee in a permanent position,

normally at entry level, when all program requirements have been met. When we asked departments and agencies about the results of their

student programs for FY 1996, a total of 13 of

them reported placing 1,166 Hispanics, 3,254 other

minorities, and 6,522 nonminorities in student

programs. In this group of agencies, 10.7 percent

of the individuals placed in student programs were

Hispanic, a percentage somewhat higher than the

representation of Hispanics in the overall civilian

labor force.

While Hispanic placements in student programs in

the 13 reporting departments and agencies represent a significant percentage of all such placements,

the agencies reported that only 95, or 8.1 percent,

of Hispanics placed through student programs

were placed in permanent Federal jobs. The

agencies also reported that 217 or 6.7 percent of

non-Hispanic minorities in student programs were

placed in permanent Federal positions. At least in

the current employment climate, with many

agencies still downsizing, it appears that relatively

few participants in student programs, regardless of

race or ethnicity, are placed in permanent jobs.

29 The agencies that responded were: the Departments of the Air Force, Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, the Interior, Justice, Labor, the Navy,

State, and the Treasury; the Environmental Protection Agency; NASA; the Office of Personnel Management; the Small Business Administration;

and the Social Security Administration.

30 Executive Order 12876, November 1993. 31 Executive Order 12900, February 1994.
A REPORT BY THE U.S. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD 19

Nevertheless, student employment programs

remain an excellent way to acquaint Federal

employers with the abilities of Hispanic workers

and to expose Hispanic students to potential

Federal job opportunities.

Another approach to hiring at the entry level is the

establishment of training positions. Often these

positions are centrally funded and provided by

agencies to their field installations for the purpose

of training and orienting newly hired employees in

the agencies principal occupations. A feature

common to such programs is the organizational

and geographic movement of the incumbents at

the end of the training period. Concentrating such

training positions in States with the highest Hispanic populations would increase the pool of wellqualified Hispanics available for selection. Further, placing Hispanics in training positions that

require geographic mobility will assist in dispersing

Hispanics throughout the civil service workforce.

In fact, there is some evidence to suggest that once

in civil service careers, Hispanics may be more

likely than other groups to be mobile. In surveying Federal managers in connection with the

Boards previously mentioned report on minority

employment, we found that a greater percentage of

Hispanic respondents than any other racial grouping said they were willing to move to another

geographic area for career advancement.32 This

suggests that if more career-entry and developmental positions are designated in those States with

large Hispanic populations, placement of Hispanics

in these positions will be a good strategy for

dispersing Hispanics within the Federal civil

service workforce in other geographic areas.

To learn whether this approach is currently being

pursued, we asked EEO directors if their agencies

had taken action to increase the number of entrylevel career jobs in States with large Hispanic

populations. The departments and agencies that

responded reported no significant use of this

approach. Nevertheless, this is an approach that

agencies should consider seriously. California

alone has over a third of the entire Hispanic

population of the United States, and recruiting for

trainee positions in such States would, without

extraordinary efforts, give agencies access to large

pools of Hispanic candidates.

Recruiting for the Shifting Civil Service

Workforce

As our analysis has shown, the Federal civil service

job mix has been shifting substantially. Professional and administrative jobs now constitute over

one-half of all permanent jobs. Thus, to improve

the representation of Hispanics it will be necessary

to focus on recruiting them for professional and

administrative jobs, and most candidates for these

jobs will be people with education at the college

level who are not current employees.

In this connection, one of the provisions of Executive Order 12900 on enhancing educational attainment of Hispanics directs OPM to develop a plan

to promote recruitment of Hispanic students for

part-time, summer, and permanent positions in the

Federal Government.33 In response to this

requirement, OPM published its plan, Pursuing

Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans:

strategies for increasing recruitment of Hispanic

students, in September 1995. The plan recounts

appointment authorities and cites available hiring

flexibilities such as outstanding scholar appointments.

In our inquiry to agency EEO directors we included a question on the specific actions the agency

had taken to implement the OPM plan. While

many agencies reported individual activities that fit

under one or more of the categories listed in

OPMs plan, none reported a systematic set of

actions in response to the plan. We conclude that

while the OPM plan was intended to stimulate

systematic action by agencies, it has not done so.

This reinforces the need for agencies to develop

plans for such action.

Program Leadership

It is, perhaps, axiomatic that for any program to

meet with real success, commitment of some

influential person to the program and its underly32 Fair and Equitable Treatment: A Progress Report on Minority Employment in the Federal Government, p. 25.

33 Executive Order 12900, sec. 7, February 1994.
20 ACHIEVING A REPRESENTATIVE FEDERAL WORKFORCE: ADDRESSING THE BARRIERS TO HISPANIC PARTICIPATION

ing principles is essential. This is particularly true

when program success means overcoming powerful obstacles, as is the case with increasing Federal

employment of Hispanics. Senior-level leadership

is critical to this undertaking.

This is borne out by information we obtained in

our interviews with Federal officials in California.

One of the reasons given for the success of one

large agency in increasing Hispanic representation

in California was the presence of Hispanic executives, who clearly cared about the program. By

making the recruitment of Hispanic professionals a

priority, these senior managers have communicatedin a way that an agencys written policy

statements cannotthat diversity is considered

important to all managers effectiveness. Senior

managers must provide the leadership, so that line

managers, in turn, are motivated to pursue this

goal.

This notion is further supported by research

conducted by the U.S. General Accounting Office

(GAO), which examined a number of best practices used in the Federal and private sectors to

recruit, hire, and retain Hispanic employees.

GAO found that in general, the Federal units and

private companies that had been successful in

hiring and retaining Hispanics had senior-level

managers who were visibly committed to achieving

a diverse workforce. According to one of these

organizations, senior-level management sets the

tone for an organization and in demonstrating a

clear commitment to workforce diversity, senior

leaders convey to other managers the message that

diversity is necessary.34

34 U.S. General Accounting Office, Hispanic Employment: Best Practices Used by Selected Agencies and Companies, GAO/GGD-97-46R,

Washington, DC, Mar. 10, 1997, p. 8. Although not intended as a comprehensive survey of Federal and private organizations, GAOs report

provides a useful starting point for agencies to identify practices that will produce superior results.
A REPORT BY THE U.S. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD 21

Underrepresentation of Hispanics in the Federal

workforce is inconsistent with the statutory goal of

a workforce representative of all segments of

society. It is also inconsistent with the requirements of the Congressionally-mandated Federal

Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program. Further, as the Board has noted previously, the Federal

Government, as the Nations largest employer and

enforcer of laws, has a special obligation to be fair

and inclusive in all its employment practices.

Thus, it is appropriate for Federal agencies to

vigorously pursue the goal of assuring that Hispanic men and women are employed by the

Government in the same proportions as they

participate in the civilian labor force.

The obstacles that Federal agencies face in increasing Hispanic employment are complicated. And

not all of them are within the power of Federal

managers and supervisors to change. All the more

reason, then, for the Government to pay special

attention to the problem, and to make sure that all

its managers and supervisors are sensitive to the

issues and are doing everything they can to improve the situation. Rather than viewing these

challenges as a deterrent, Federal managers should

see these as reasons to exert even more effort to

increase Hispanic representation in the Federal

workforce.

Recommendations

1. Federal departments and agencies should

develop integrated strategies for increasing the

representation rate of Hispanics in the workforce.

The strategies should be implemented and moniCHAPTER 6

Conclusions and Recommendations

tored in a systematic manner, and should include

measures such as:

n Establishing entry-level positions in principal agency occupations at locations with large

Hispanic populations in order to increase the

Hispanic applicant pool from which candidates

for employment are drawn.

n Increasing the number of Hispanic managers in order to provide more mentors for

Hispanic employees within the agency and a

greater connection with Hispanic communities.

n Emphasizing the importance of senior level

leadership in efforts to achieve a fully diverse

workforce so that line managers, in turn, are

motivated to pursue the goal of full representation of Hispanics in the workforce.

2. Federal departments and agencies should assure

that their managers and supervisors have comprehensive and accurate information about the current

representation of ethnic and minority groups in

the agencys workforce and are committed to

doing their part towards achieving the statutory

goal of full representation.

3. Because Hispanics remain the only significantly

underrepresented minority group in the Federal

workforce and the obstacles to full Hispanic

representation are particularly severe, agencies

should devote a greater proportion of their recruitment resources to hiring well-qualified Hispanic

men and women.