Summary

This testimony focuses on the representation of women and minorities in law enforcement jobs in the Justice Department, Treasury Department, and U.S. Postal Service. Although the number of women and minorities in these occupations has increased in general since 1987, this gain did not always translate into a larger percentage of an agency's law enforcement jobs. Full representation is not yet a reality in many instances. Furthermore, when women and minority profiles in 1991 were compared against women and minority profiles in relevant civilian labor force data from the 1990 census, women and minorities were often underrepresented in the occupations GAO reviewed. The percentage of women in the major law enforcement occupation--criminal investigation--is relatively slight, and no women are in criminal investigation jobs at the executive level in the Justice and Treasury Departments.