Evening star., 1945-02-21
Negro Workers Hold
Il Pet. Of Federal
Jobs, FEPc Reports

1914, the Presidents Fair Employ.
ment Practices Committee esti.
mated today on the basis of sur.
vey which included IS per cent Of
all fultime workers in the executive
branch of the Government.
Gains by Negro workers, both ir
numbers and in quality of their serv'
ice, reached their peak principally
in the war agencies, the study shows
But it was also pointed out tha
since many of these agencies will bt
abolished or sharply reduced in sizt
after the war the situation sug.
geSts that the postwar classification
picture of Negro Federal employe.
as a whole will not be as bright as
1t is now"
Negroes numbered 273971, or 11.s
per cent of all Federal employees re-
ported in the study. In the depart.
mental service, CmoStly in the Dis
tricD they totaled Al $50, or 1872 pei
cent, and in the field service they
numbered 232,4l5 or 11.2 per cent
of the total surveyed.
Whereas 94 per cent of all Fed
eral employees were in departmental
service, with the remaining 91.6 per
cent in the field, 1872 per cent OF
the Negro Federal employees were
in the departmental serviee, with
84.3 per cent in field.
AS a, general rule, the report said
In agencies and groups Of agencies,
proportlonate Negro employment in
the field was much lower than in
departmental service.
81 Agencies Covered.
Covering 81 Government agencies
and departments, the survey was
by Malcolm Ross, FEPC chairman,
to be the most comprehensive type
ever made by the committee. 1t
was compiled by Cornelius L. Co.
lightly and Mrs. India Hemphill of
the committees Division of Review
and Analysis, under supervision OF
the division director, John A. Davis.
The study includes every major
agency in the executive branch of
the Federal Government except the
Departments of Agriculture, Labor
and Justice, and the field service
of the Post Office. The District gov
ernment is excluded.
The report covers 2,295,614 full
time employees, who constituted IS
per cent of the 2,699,946 full-time
workers on the Federal payroll as
of March 81, 1914. That date was
selected as a point when there was
the least seasonal fluctuation in
Federal employment.
Interpreting the 55-page docu-
ment, an FEPC press release ex-
planned that definite gains by
Negro workers in clerical, admins
trative and fiscal work are noted
in the study, especially in the de-
partmental service"
Comparison of the report with a
study of Negro Federal employment
In the District in 1888 shows that
the proportion of Negroes in GUS
todial jobs in departmental service
has declined from 80 per cent to
396 per cent. Consequently, the
statement said, there was a de
crease of more than SO per cent in
the less desirable jobs and an in
crease of more than 900 per cent in
the higher-paid and more desirable
positions"
Some Jobs to End.
Nevertheless, the report points out,
many of the numerical gains have
been in jobs, skilled and unskilled
that have little or no chance of con-
tinuing after the war. These in
clude jobs in Navy shipyards and
Army munitions depots, arsenals,
and airhelds.
Negroes, in comparison with all
workers." the study finds, were dis
nroportionally concentrated in the
lower grades" showing "'some
discrimination against the Negro"
The study listed chief reasons for
gains by Negroes in classified Fed
eral employment during the war as
follows: Replacement of white work
erS who found better paying jobs in
private industry, the filling of lower
grade vacancies left by promotion of
white workers, and the efforts of
various Government agencies to
discrimination.
In this connection, the commit
tee pointed out that 1t is the policy
of the United States, reaffirmed by
both the President and the Congress,
that there shall be no diScrimina-
ton in Government employment by
reason of race, creed, color, or ma
tional origin
possibly affecting the position of
Negro Federal workers after the
war. Among these were: Curtail-
ment of Government employment,
alienation of labor shortages, desire
of white workers to return to Gov
'ernment service, extent of continual
ton of nondiscrimination policy in
employment, efficiency ratings of
Negro workers Ga decisive factor in
determining the order of layoffs'D +,
extent to which Negroes qualify in
open competitive examinations
when civil service resumes the prac-
lice, and nondiscriminatory opera
ion of the so-called rule of three"
equation of civil service governing
lection of employees.
"a Per Cent in War Agencies.
The war agencies group, number
ing 81 individual agencies. accounted
lor "a per cent of all Federal work.
ers covered in the study, and for 84.5
Der cent of all Negro workers
.overed. These 81 agencies have a
ombined employment of 1,928,216,
+ whom 231 ,458 were colored.
The concentration" of Negroes In
he war agencies was said to be
most apparent in the field service,
here war agency workers copsti-
tuted 88.6 per cent of all workers
md 93.6 per cent of all Negro
workers.
The War and Navy Departments
we're the chief employers of Negroes
l!IlIN1I11I1I1aIlI1IaI1 I1I1I9I1I9I9Ir
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