News Release

Washington, DC – U.S. Office of Personnel Management Deputy Director Dan Blair urged participants in the Asian Pacific American Federal Career Advancement Summit today to do a better job of reaching out to the “outstanding talent found in the Asian-Pacific American community.” While representation of Asian and Pacific Americans in the Federal workforce has increased this past year, more efforts are needed to attract Asian and Pacific Americans into the senior executive ranks said Blair.

Blair delivered the opening remarks at the second annual Asian Pacific American Federal Career Advancement Summit, an event co-sponsored by OPM and the U.S. Department of Labor. The conference serves as a forum to emphasize the commitment and resolve of President George Bush and OPM Director Kay Coles James to eliminate barriers to minorities and women in public service. OPM is leading the Governmentwide effort to transform human capital management practices as part of the President’s Management Agenda.

During his remarks, Blair pointed out that for fiscal year 2001 Asian Pacific Americans comprised approximately 4.4% of the Federal workforce with 7.1% of Asian Pacific Americans representing Federal employees in professional occupations. The figure for fiscal year 2002 shows a slight increase to 4.5% of Asian and Pacific Americans in the federal workforce and 7.3% employed in professional occupations. “This is good news – it shows that progress is being made - but there is still room for improvement,” said Blair.

According to Blair, an innovative way to improve these numbers is through the Senior Executive Service (SES) Candidate Development Program (CDP) recently developed by OPM. The SES CDP presents competitive programs designed to create pools of qualified executives for SES positions. Through the CDP, participants are certified and may be selected for an SES position anywhere in the federal government, without further competition. “The CDP offers a viable entry mechanism for high potential candidates who need additional training and experience for the SES corps,” said Blair.

Attending this year’s summit were approximately 700 Federally employees, ranging from grades 11 up through the senior executive ranks, including Human Resource personnel, EEO managers and counselors.

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OPM oversees the federal work force and provides the American public with up-to-date employment information. OPM also supports U.S. agencies with personnel services and policy leadership including staffing tools, guidance on labor-management relations and programs to improve work force performance.

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