U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Statistical Information on Hispanic Employment in Federal Agencies

Report To The President
June 2003

    (571.3 KB)

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The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I am pleased to present the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's (OPM's) semi-annual report on Statistical Information on Hispanic Employment in Federal Agencies.

Over the past two years, Governmentwide data show that Hispanic representation in the Federal workforce has increased in overall representation and, notably, increased as a percentage of new hires. Specifically, in fiscal year 2002, Hispanics represented nearly 10 percent of all Federal new hires with Federal hiring from the Hispanic community increasing 58.1 percent over fiscal year 2001.

I am optimistic that these positive trends demonstrate a turning point. In addition to providing statistical information, this report examines three agencies, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Social Security Administration, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, whose effective practices have achieved positive results. The report also highlights the recruitment and retention strategies and hiring flexibilities that have proven most useful to agencies in attracting Hispanics.

OPM looks for opportunities to support agency recruitment efforts and has implemented several initiatives designed to help increase the representation of Hispanics in the Federal workforce which include:

• Enhancing the USAJOBS Employment Information System by adding job-information fact sheets in Spanish;
• Implementing an outreach strategy to Hispanic media outlets nationwide; and
• Launching a Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program Governmentwide which should, among other things, improve Hispanic representation within our leadership ranks.

As part of the OPM reorganization, we have integrated our strategic diversity efforts with other human capital programs to ensure a seamless and integrated approach to hiring and retaining a truly diverse Federal workforce. As an example of my personal commitment to this issue, over 18 percent of my political staff and senior leadership team are Hispanic, more than 4 percent over the national average.

In accordance with the goals set forth in your Management Agenda, this report focuses on results, and how to achieve them. Our commitment to increase diversity within the Federal workplace has never been stronger and we will continue to reach out to the many talented and skilled citizens within the Hispanic community who are responding to the call to serve.

                                        Respectfully submitted,

Kay Coles James Director

 

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Executive Summary

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One of America's greatest strengths is that we welcome and celebrate diversity. President George W. Bush has said: "As entrepreneurs and public servants, scholars and artists, Hispanic Americans have provided wisdom, energy, and leadership to our communities and to our country."  The President has charged that agencies will build, sustain, and effectively deploy a skilled, knowledgeable, diverse, and high-performing workforce. To meet these objectives, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's Director, Kay Coles James, pledged to submit semi-annual, statistically-based reports to track agency progress in increasing the representation of Hispanics in the Federal workforce.

Although progress has been made, Hispanics remain the most underrepresented group in the Federal Government. In addition to statistical data, this report offers effective practices that any agency might employ to make improvements to Hispanic recruitment and representation.

Results

Statistics show that Governmentwide, Hispanic representation in the Federal workforce is increasing, and at a faster pace than previously. As of September 30, 2002, the permanent Federal workforce included 113,418 Hispanics (6.9 percent), as compared to 107,267 Hispanics (6.6 percent) a year earlier, representing an increase of 6,151 (5.7 percent). The Federal Government hired 13,385 Hispanics in FY 2002, compared to 8,466 in FY 2001, an increase of 4,919 employees or 58.1 percent. Hispanic new hires represent 9.5 percent of FY 2002 new hires throughout Government, up from 8.2 percent the previous year.

While the overall increase is significant, results vary by agency. The majority of agencies have a larger percentage of Hispanics among new hires than among the on-board workforce, a sign that Hispanic representation is improving.

This report offers a snapshot of how agencies compare in their efforts to recruit and retain Hispanics and offers valuable examples that agencies can adopt to enhance human capital management.

What We Learned

Hispanic representation in the Federal workforce continues to expand. However, while agencies are using the hiring flexibilities available to them, some can do better.

Agency managers can learn from the successes of their colleagues. Successful practices include:

• Visible top leadership commitment;
• Assuring management accountability by linking diversity to performance standards;
• Use of bilingual competency (Spanish) if mission-critical;
• Use of in-house Hispanic and/or Spanish-speaking recruiters;
• Extensive community outreach;
• Partnerships with Hispanic-serving institutions as well as colleges and universities with large Hispanic student populations;
• Use of the full range of available hiring flexibilities; and
• Mentoring opportunities for Hispanic employees.

We encourage agencies to use the information in this report to strengthen their Hispanic employment initiatives. The President's vision of celebrating diversity by increasing the representation of Hispanics in the Federal workforce is an achievable goal. Through unwavering commitment and sustained effort, the Federal Government can and will continue to attract talented Hispanics to work for America.

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Introduction

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The U.S. Office of Personnel Management's (OPM's) Report to the President on Statistical Information on Hispanic Employment in Federal Agencies provides a semi-annual accounting of Hispanic representation throughout the Government and discusses individual agency initiatives to improve Hispanic representation. As part of our commitment to improving Hispanic representation, OPM Director, Kay Coles James, initiated semi-annual statistical reports on Hispanic employment to measure progress and to promote greater agency accountability for results.

Through his Management Agenda, the President has made workforce diversity a critical component in meeting Federal human capital objectives. Agencies are expected to demonstrate that they have a truly diverse workforce. In achieving this expectation, agencies have committed to actions that should result in an increase in the number of Hispanics in the Federal Government.

Consistent with the President's Management Agenda, these statistical reports focus on results. The first semi-annual statistical report in June 2002 compared annual data from Fiscal Year (FY) 1995 and FY 2001 and established a baseline for future comparisons. This report provides a comparison between FY 2001 and FY 2002 data.¹

Specific Agency Strategies and Results

In addition to the statistical data, this report also focuses on agencies that have shown particular success in improving Hispanic representation. We asked these agencies to describe what they did to achieve such notable results, and a summary of their effective practices is provided as a supplement to the Governmentwide data.

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¹ Agency employment statistics may vary widely from one six-month period to another, due to seasonal and other factors (such as program and budget cycles). Thus, while this is a six-month report, it examines and aggregates Hispanic employment data for all of Fiscal Year 2002 in order to take these fluctuations into account. The Appendix  provides statistical data for the second half of FY 2002. The December 2002 semi-annual statistical report provided first half data for FY 2002.

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Governmentwide Data on Hispanic Employment

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The data for this report are derived from OPM's Central Personnel Data File (CPDF), and compare FY 2002 to FY 2001 data with respect to Hispanics as a percentage of:

• The Federal Government's "permanent" workforce;²
• Employees newly hired to the permanent workforce (new hires);
• Employment in select critical occupations in the permanent workforce; and
• Employees appointed to the permanent workforce under special hiring authorities and flexibilities.

Hispanic Representation in the Federal Workforce is Improving

The number and percentage of Hispanics in the Federal workforce increased steadily over the course of FY 2002. As detailed in Table 1, the Federal workforce included 113,418 Hispanics (or 6.9 percent) as of September 30, 2002, as compared to 107,267 Hispanics (or 6.6 percent) a year earlier. This represents an increase of 6,151 or 5.7 percent.

Results are even better among newly hired employees. In FY 2002, Federal agencies hired 13,385 Hispanics, or 9.5 percent of all employees hired into the Federal workforce that year, compared to 8,466 Hispanics (or 8.2 percent) hired in FY 2001. This represents an increase of 4,919 (or 58.1 percent) among newly hired career and career-conditional employees. Thus while FY 2002 results varied by agency, overall indicators remain positive. This is especially the case with the new employees - the percentage of Hispanic new hires actually exceeded the current percentage of Hispanic representation in the Federal workforce.

While we can be pleased with these results, it is important that we continue to focus on this critical Presidential priority. At 6.9 percent, Hispanics are still underrepresented when compared to the civilian labor force at 12.2 percent, and it is imperative that we continue Governmentwide efforts to improve.

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² The "permanent" Federal workforce, hereafter referred to as the Federal workforce, is defined as the total number of career and career-conditional employees, regardless of work schedule, on Federal agency employment rolls or hired by Federal agencies as of a particular date or time frame. It does not include employees in temporary positions. Unless otherwise indicated, this definition applies to all further references to Federal employment or Federal new hires within this Report.

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Table 1.  Hispanic Representation in the Federal Workforce (On-Board and New Hires), as of September 30, 2002

AGENCY	Hispanics On-Board FY2002		Hispanic New Hires Number			Hispanic New Hires Percent
	Number	Percent	FY 2001	FY 2002		FY 2001	FY 2002
Justice	17,704	14.2	1,591	UP	2,381	22.2	UP	29.5
Social Security	6,999	11.1	826	DOWN	549	23.8	DOWN	18.0
EEOC	351	12.8	25	DOWN	3	10.2	UP	17.6
Transportation	7,372	7.3	175	UP	4,860	4.3	UP	11.1
Treasury	12,623	8.9	1,697	DOWN	1,639	10.1	DOWN	9.2
Agriculture	5,234	5.8	457	DOWN	398	8.3	DOWN	7.3
EPA	831	4.8	28	UP	38	4.9	UP	7.3
GSA	708	5.0	42	UP	49	6.8	UP	7.1
Education	180	4.2	25	DOWN	8	11.7	DOWN	7.0
Labor	1,081	6.8	63	DOWN	54	7.3	DOWN	7.0
Air Force	10,356	7.3	526	UP	609	5.9	UP	6.6
Army	13,316	6.3	707	UP	831	5.7	UP	6.5
Defense Activities	4,886	5.5	227	DOWN	204	5.1	UP	5.9
Energy	894	5.7	62	DOWN	42	7.7	DOWN	5.9
NASA	906	4.9	56	DOWN	30	6.6	DOWN	5.9
Veterans Affairs	12,755	6.3	886	DOWN	608	5.9	SAME	5.9
HUD	689	7.0	23	UP	27	9.4	DOWN	5.6
Health & Human Services	1,869	3.4	150	UP	208	4.4	UP	5.4
State	719	4.4	38	UP	89	5.1	UP	5.2
OPM	139	3.9	9	UP	14	3.4	UP	4.7
Commerce	1,235	3.4	153	DOWN	112	5.9	DOWN	4.4
Navy	7,733	4.4	395	UP	454	4.7	DOWN	4.3
Interior	2,953	4.9	150	DOWN	121	5.0	DOWN	3.9
All Other Agencies	1,885	4.2	155	DOWN	57	5.8	DOWN	4.4
Governmentwide	113,418	6.9	8,466	UP	13,385	8.2	UP	9.5

 

Hispanic Representation Among Newly Hired Employees, by Pay Grade

Table 2 compares Governmentwide Hispanic hiring in FY 2001 and FY 2002, by General Schedule (GS) and related grade level; it also includes data from other non-GS pay plans. Note that the Federal Government includes a variety of such pay plans. OPM's CPDF organizes the pay plans into the categories listed in the table below. The GS category covers white-collar occupations and includes General Schedule pay plans and pay plans that are comparable to the General Schedule. The category designated "other white-collar" includes alternative and agency-determined pay plans, such as those established by the Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Security Administration, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, that are separate from the General Schedule.

FY 2002 results are notable. As stated above, Federal agencies hired 13,385 Hispanics, or 9.5 percent of all employees hired into the Federal workforce that year, exceeding the current percentage of Hispanic representation in the Federal workforce. This compares favorably to 8,466 Hispanics (or 8.2 percent) hired in FY 2001 and amounts to an increase of 4,919 (or 58.1 percent) among newly hired career and career-conditional employees. In addition, Hispanic hiring increased substantially at the higher entry (GS 5-8), GS-15, and Senior pay levels and increased slightly in blue-collar positions. Many of our new Hispanic employees were hired by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Table 2. Hispanic Representation Among Newly Hired Employees, by Pay Grade, from FY 2001 to FY 2002

GRADE LEVEL	FY 2001 New Hispanic Hires		FY 2002 New Hispanic Hires		Difference in Hispanic Hires FY 2001 to FY 2002
	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Numerical	Percentage
GS 1-4	1,860	8.7	1,706	8.3	-154	-8.3
GS 5-8	4,505	11.8	5,131	13.2	+626	+13.9
GS 9-12	990	4.9	964	4.8	-26	-2.6
GS 13	127	3.4	108	3.0	-19	-15.0
GS 14	43	3.4	37	2.6	-6	-14.0
GS 15	43	3.7	48	4.4	+5	+11.6
Senior Pay (SES, SL)	11	5.9	21	3.9	+10	+90.9
Blue-Collar	666	5.4	680	6.2	+14	+2.1
Other White-Collar	221	4.4	4,690	10.5	+4,469	+2,022.2
Total	8,466	8.2	13,385	9.5	+4,919	+58.1

 

Hispanic Representation in the Federal Workforce

Table 3 shows a general increase in Hispanic representation in the Federal workforce. In FY 2002, Hispanics increased in both number and percentage in all areas of the workforce, except in blue-collar positions and at the GS 1-4 level. Again, the increase in Hispanic representation in "other" white-collar positions is attributed to the Department of Transportation.

Table 3. Hispanic Representation in the Federal Workforce, by Pay Level, from FY 2001 and FY 2002

GROUP	Total Federal Employment		Total Number of Hispanic Employees		Percentage of Hispanic Employees		Difference in Hispanic Employment FY 2001 to FY 2002
	FY 2001	FY 2002	FY 2001	FY 2002	FY 2001	FY 2002	Numerical	Percentage
GS 1-4	59,430	56,433	4,833	4,478	8.1	7.9	-355	-7.3
GS 5-8	369,727	363,742	31,348	32,003	8.5	8.8	+655	+2.1
GS 9-12	543,033	547,089	36,966	38,284	6.8	7.0	+1,318	+3.6
GS 13	188,010	192,974	8,371	8,892	4.5	4.6	+521	+6.2
GS 14	88,735	91,298	3,339	3,495	3.8	3.8	+156	+4.7
GS 15	53,596	55,083	1,813	1,878	3.4	3.4	+65	+3.6
Senior Pay	14,552	15,221	441	504	3.0	3.3	+63	+14.3
Blue-Collar	200,149	193,530	14,862	14,288	7.4	7.4	-574	-3.9
Other White-Collar	99,124	139,917	5,294	9,596	5.3	6.9	+4,302	+81.3
Total	1,616,356	1,655,287	107,267	113,418	6.6	6.9	+6,151	+5.7

 

Hispanic Hiring in Professional and Administrative Occupations

In addition to improvements overall and among new hires, we also saw increases in Hispanic representation in the Federal Government's professional and administrative occupations. These occupations typically have higher pay grades and levels, including most of the Federal Government's management and Senior Executive Service (SES) employees, and offer greater opportunity for advancement. In FY 2002, the Federal Government hired 21,576 new professional employees (or 15 percent of all new hires), with Hispanics comprising 4.7 percent of those new employees. An additional 25,534 (or 17.8 percent) of all new employees were hired into administrative occupations; 9.7 percent of those were Hispanics. Tables 4 and 5 identify those professional and administrative occupations, respectively, that had the most new hires overall, as well as the number and percent of Hispanics entering those occupations.

The ten professional occupations shown in Table 4 represent 46.7 percent of all professional hiring in FY 2002, and they encompass 49.0 percent of all Hispanics hired into permanent professional positions during that period. The percentage of newly hired Hispanics among these professional occupations ranges from 3.6 percent among nurses (the GS-0610 occupational series), general attorneys (GS-0905) and mechanical engineers (GS-0830), to 7.0 percent among auditors (GS-0511).

Table 4. FY 2002 Hispanic Hiring in Major Professional Occupations

Occupation Series (code)	Governmentwide Total	Hispanic Number	Hispanic Percent
All Professional Occupations	21,576	988	4.7
Nurse (GS-0610)	2,359	85	3.6
Contracting (GS-1102)	1,184	61	5.2
Electronics Engineering (GS-0855)	1,135	75	6.8
Medical Officer (GS-0602)	1,019	55	5.4
General Attorney (GS-0905)	975	35	3.6
Mechanical Engineering (GS-0830)	870	29	3.6
Auditing (GS-0511)	716	45	7.0
General Education and Training (GS-1701)	646	32	5.0
Civil Engineering (GS-0810)	627	31	5.0
General Engineering (GS-0801)	561	37	6.9
Total for Top Ten Professional Occupations with the Most New Hires	10,092	485	4.9

 

The ten administrative occupations shown in Table 5 represent 41.0 percent of all hiring in administrative occupations in FY 2002, and they include 33.5 percent of all Hispanics hired into permanent administrative positions during that period. The percentage of newly hired Hispanics in these administrative occupations ranges from 3.6 percent among management and program analysts (in the GS-0343 occupational series), to 21.2 percent in social insurance administration (GS-0105) occupations.

Table 5. FY 2002 Hispanic Hiring in Major Administrative Occupations

Occupation Series (code)	Governmentwide Total	Hispanic Number	Hispanic Percent
All Administrative Occupations	25,534	2,439	9.7
Miscellaneous Administration and Program (GS-0301)	2,105	101	4.8
Air Traffic Control (GS-2152)	1,544	45	5.9
Customs Inspection (GS-1890)	1,444	253	17.5
Management and Program Analysis (GS-0343)	1,332	47	3.6
Criminal Investigating (GS-1811)	915	67	8.6
Social Insurance Administration (GS-0105)	913	194	21.2
Computer Specialist (GS-2210, formerly GS-0334)	909	38	4.2
Veterans Claims Examining (GS-0996)	585	27	4.6
Intelligence (GS-0132)	473	28	6.1
Transportation Specialist (GS-2101)	260	17	6.5
Total for Top Ten Administrative Occupations with the Most New Hires	10,480	817	7.9

 

Hiring Flexibilities

There are a number of special hiring programs, authorities, and flexibilities that are available to agencies. Many agencies have learned how to use them effectively, including to improve Hispanic representation.

Student Career Experience Program

The Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) allows agencies to hire students in their academic field of study and non-competitively convert them to term, career, or career-conditional appointments in the Federal service once they complete their educational coursework and meet specific work requirements.

Table 6 shows how Federal agencies have effectively used SCEP to improve the representation of Hispanics in the Federal workforce. For example, in FY 2002, 4,986 employees were hired under SCEP (compared to 5,326 in FY 2001), but the percentage of Hispanics increased from 7.9 to 8.1 percent.

Table 6.  Hispanic New Hires under the Student Career Experience Program

AGENCY	FY 2001			FY 2002
	All Hires	Hispanics Number	Hispanics Percent	All Hires	Hispanics Number	Hispanics Percent
Justice	128	30	23.4	136	32	23.5
EPA	41	1	2.4	28	5	15.6
Treasury	224	31	13.8	188	28	14.9
GSA	205	23	11.7	153	18	13.8
HHS	55	5	9.1	45	6	13.3
FDIC	55	3	5.5	48	6	12.5
SSA	95	6	6.3	27	3	11.1
Interior	377	42	11.1	336	34	10.1
Energy	80	7	8.8	60	6	10.0
Agriculture	767	96	12.5	839	82	9.8
VA	302	21	7.0	224	22	9.8
NASA	271	32	11.8	182	17	9.3
Air Force	435	32	7.4	581	41	7.1
State (preliminary data)	46	2	4.4	28	2	7.1
Labor	45	5	11.6	58	4	7.0
Army	746	37	4.9	601	40	6.7
Transportation	78	0	0	72	4	5.6
Commerce	62	5	8.1	75	3	4.0
Navy	1,028	23	3.1	1,061	35	3.4
Defense-Other	174	6	3.5	141	3	2.3
NLRB	47	5	10.6	17	0	0
Education	1	0	0	2	0	0
Other agencies	64	3	4.7	84	6	7.1
Total	5,326	415	7.9	4,986	397	8.1

Note: “All Hires” include hires of individuals who did not identify themselves by a specific race, national origin category.

 

Bilingual/Bicultural Program

The Luevano Consent Decree established the Bilingual/Bicultural Program. Agencies can only use this program consistent with the requirements of the Decree.

Table 7 shows the use of the Bilingual/Bicultural Program by individual Federal agencies in FY 2001 and FY 2002.

Table 7.  New Employees (Including Hispanics) Hired Under the Bilingual/Bicultural Program, FY 2001 to FY 2002

AGENCY	FY 2001			FY 2002
	All Hires	Hispanics Number	Hispanics Percent	All Hires	Hispanics Number	Hispanics Percent
SSA	283	238	84.1	137	105	76.6
Justice	42	29	69.0	84	61	72.6
Treasury	4	4	100.0	6	6	100.0
HHS	2	2	100.0	3	3	100.0
HUD	0	0	0	2	2	100.0
Army	34	0	0	51	1	2.0
Agriculture	1	1	100.0	0	0	0.0
Air Force	1	0	0	0	0	0.0
Commerce	9	6	66.7	0	0	0.0
Interior	10	1	10.0	0	0	0.0
Labor	15	10	66.7	0	0	0.0
Other agencies	3	2	66.7	8	2	25.0
Total	404	293	72.5	291	180	61.9

 

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Specific Agency Strategies and Results

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While previous reports have focused only on Governmentwide data extracted from the CPDF, this report contains additional information highlighting results of agencies successful in Hispanic hiring. We closely examined the various strategies employed by these agencies in an effort to highlight those that may be adopted by others.

U.S. Department of Justice

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is consistently among the top agencies in hiring and in overall Hispanic representation. In FY 2002, DOJ hired 2,381 Hispanics, accounting for 29.5 percent of DOJ's new hires. DOJ's FY 2002 results for Hispanic hires are the highest among all Federal agencies. DOJ is also at the top of the list for hiring Hispanic students.

The following table shows DOJ's Hispanic employment data for FY 2001 and FY 2002 by occupational category. The majority of DOJ's occupations are white-collar.

U.S. Department of Justice Hispanic Representation, Including New Hires from FY 2001 to FY 2002, by Occupational Category

Occupational Category	On-board Hispanics Percentage		FY 2001			FY 2002
	FY 2001	FY 2002	Total Hires Number	Hispanic Hires Number	Hispanic Hires Percentage	Total Hires Percentage	Hispanic Hires Number	Hispanic Hires Percentage
Professional	5.4	5.5	459	33	7.2	443	38	8.6
Administrative	10.9	11.2	1,131	172	15.2	1,971	384	19.5
Technical	14.2	14.3	453	62	13.7	510	69	13.5
Clerical	11.7	12.4	890	161	18.1	880	179	20.3
Other White-Collar	24.1	26.8	3,978	1,130	28.4	4,080	1,676	41.1
Blue-Collar	12.0	11.8	255	33	12.9	194	35	18.0
Total	13.5	14.2	7,166	1,591	22.2	8,078	2,381	29.5

 

Social Security Administration

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is also consistently among the top Federal agencies in the employment of Hispanics. From 1998 through 2002, SSA hired 3,228 Hispanic employees, which accounted for 22.1 percent of all SSA hires. In FY 2002, SSA hired 549 Hispanics, which accounted for 18.0 percent of new hires. Hispanic representation in SSA's workforce increased from 8.2 percent in 1998 to 11.1 percent at the end of FY 2002. This representation approaches the percentage of Hispanics in the civilian labor force.

SSA uses a number of hiring flexibilities to achieve these results. Hispanics accounted for 11.9 percent of the 394 student hires, and 76.6 percent of the 105 new hires under the Bilingual/Bicultural Program.

The following table shows SSA's Hispanic employment data for FY 2001 and FY 2002 by occupational category. Note that the majority of SSA's occupations are white-collar.

Social Security Administration Hispanic On-board Representation, Including New Hires from FY 2001 to FY 2002, by Occupational Category

Occupational Category	On-board Hispanics percentage		FY 2001			FY 2002
	FY 2001	FY 2002	Total Hires number	Hispanic Hires number	Hispanic Hires percentage	Total Hires number	Hispanic Hires number	Hispanic Hires percentage
Professional	3.7	3.6	136	7	5.1	144	4	2.8
Administrative	10.2	10.6	1,266	329	26.0	1,080	202	18.7
Technical	13.5	13.8	1,522	446	29.3	1,480	322	21.8
Clerical	7.0	5.5	428	38	8.9	317	17	5.4
Other White-Collar	11.0	12.9	97	6	6.2	28	4	14.3
Blue-Collar	3.5	3.4	23	0	0	8	0	0
Total	10.8	11.1	3,472	826	23.8	3,057	549	18.0

 

U.S. Department of the Treasury

The U.S. Department of the Treasury also achieved significant results in FY 2002. Treasury hired 1,639 Hispanics in FY 2002, which accounted for 9.2 percent of new hires, despite personnel reductions in some of its bureaus. Hispanic representation remained steady from FY 2001 to FY 2002, at 8.9 percent.

Treasury uses a number of hiring flexibilities to improve Hispanic representation. Hispanics accounted for 14.9 percent of the 188 new hires under the Student Career Experience Program.

The following table shows Treasury's Hispanic employment data for FY 2001 and FY 2002 by occupational category.

U.S. Department of the Treasury Hispanic Representation, Including New Hires from FY 2001 to FY 2002, by Occupational Category

Occupational Category	On-board Hispanics percentage		FY 2001			FY 2002
	FY 2001	FY 2002	Total Hires number	Hispanic Hires number	Hispanic Hires percentage	Total Hires number	Hispanic Hires number	Hispanic Hires percentage
Professional	4.8	4.8	772	44	5.7	806	32	4.0
Administrative	9.7	10.0	1,907	251	13.2	2,391	333	13.9
Technical	9.3	9.3	3,134	318	10.1	2,115	197	9.3
Clerical	9.8	9.1	10,760	1,049	9.7	12,257	1,035	8.4
Other White-Collar	10.1	8.7	265	34	12.8	242	33	13.6
Blue-Collar	8.1	7.8	46	1	2.2	56	9	16.1
Total	8.9	8.9	16,884	1,697	10.1	17,867	1,639	9.2

 

U.S. Department of Transportation

The U.S. Department of Transportation also achieved significant results in FY 2002, hiring over 4,860 Hispanics and increasing its overall Hispanic representation to 11.1 percent - approaching civilian labor force levels. Most of this hiring can be attributed to the establishment of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Because TSA is not covered by the title 5 authority available to most other agencies, we did not review their hiring practices for this report.

U.S. Department of Transportation Hispanic On-board Representation and Permanent New Hires in FY 2001 and FY 2002 by Occupational Category

Occupational Category	On-board Hispanics Percentage		FY 2001			FY 2002
	FY 2001	FY 2002	Total Hires Number	Hispanic Hires Number	Hispanic Hires Percentage	Total Hires Number	Hispanic Hires Number	Hispanic Hires Percentage
Professional	4.8	4.9	783	23	2.9	690	35	5.1
Administrative	4.9	5.9	2,276	110	4.8	7,149	908	12.7
Technical	5.3	10.2	427	14	3.3	35,596	3,892	10.9
Clerical	6.1	6.2	284	13	4.6	304	15	4.9
Other White-Collar	8.8	9.1	137	6	4.4	89	8	9.0
Blue-Collar	5.5	5.6	174	9	5.3	85	2	2.4
Total	5.0	7.3	4,081	175	4.3	43,913	4,860	11.1

 

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Effective Practices and Next Steps

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These agencies established the benchmark for others in FY 2002. Through discussions with key representatives, we have identified practices that helped them achieve their success. The strategies used by DOJ, SSA, and Treasury are summarized below. We focused on these three of the four agencies because the Transportation Security Administration, within the Department of Transportation is not covered by title 5 of the United States Code.

• Each agency underscored the critical importance of a firm commitment to diversity and support from the highest levels of agency leadership.
• SSA developed a Future Workforce Transition Plan (FWTP) to help predict and meet the needs of the agency. One focus of this plan is to target recruitment efforts on bilingual and diverse candidates from diverse backgrounds. All components of SSA are responsible for implementing the FWTP, including among other things, identifying additional sources of Hispanic candidates to secure new talent for the agency.
• Each agency examined had identified a mission-critical need for specific bilingual skills (fluency in Spanish). In order to meet this need, the agencies targeted recruiting efforts to reach bilingual applicants. Agencies should review their mission critical need for any bilingual requirements that have not yet been identified.
• DOJ, SSA, and Treasury use Hispanic and/or Spanish-speaking recruiters to communicate effectively and attract applicants of similar backgrounds. For example, 11 percent of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recruiters are Hispanic as are 20 percent of U.S. Customs Service recruiters.
• All agencies conduct targeted Hispanic recruitment and outreach. This includes recruiting at colleges and universities with large Hispanic student populations and participating in Hispanic job fairs as well as community events.
  • Treasury conducts off-site testing in targeted communities and distributes Public Notices and flyers in Hispanic communities. The IRS has Adopt-a-School Programs and works with Hispanic organizations such as the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in sponsoring fundraisers for scholarships for local students. In conjunction with the Future Citizens Program, Hispanic Employment Program members work with Hispanic American students from local schools, tutoring them to build English literacy and self-esteem. Translation services are also provided to parents and school staff to help students stay in school to complete their education. Scholarship information is shared with various community organizations.
  • All agencies leverage relationships with national and local Hispanic organizations. For example, Treasury is working with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) to establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to enhance outreach and recruitment efforts. The MOU is designed to expand educational opportunities and increase participation of Hispanic Serving Institutions in department and bureau programs and activities.
• SSA and Treasury advertise in publications that target Hispanic audiences. For example, SSA placed a recruitment advertisement and advertorial spotlighting the careers of three Latina SSA executives in a national magazine for contemporary Hispanic women.
• All agencies used the various appointing authorities and hiring flexibilities available to them to recruit candidates, including Hispanics. For example, to increase the number of Hispanics available to be recruited and hired, Customs developed the National Intern Program through the Student Career Experience Program and uses the Federal Career Intern Program hiring authority. In FY 2002, Customs hired 62 Hispanics.
• Treasury and SSA established, developed, and coordinated a national recruitment strategy. Treasury's strategy encourages field offices with low Hispanic representation to participate in recruitment events in geographic areas with high Hispanic representation. SSA developed a series of bilingual recruiting materials to attract Hispanics and people with Spanish-language skills.
• SSA chartered a Hispanic Affairs Advisory Committee (HAAC) and uses it to advise the Commissioner on issues concerning employment and promotional opportunities for Hispanic employees and their Spanish-speaking customers.
• DOJ and Treasury held managers accountable by including a diversity element in their executive and managerial performance appraisal systems. SSA and Treasury established mechanisms to monitor promotion and hiring.
• Mentoring opportunities for Hispanic employees contributed to retention and improved performance, and cultural awareness.

Statistics show that the number and percentage of Hispanics Governmentwide have increased in the Federal workforce, particularly as a percentage of new hires. Results vary by agency but the majority have a larger percentage of Hispanics among their new hires than in their existing workforce, a sign that Hispanic representation is improving. In this regard, Governmentwide statistics also show that while agencies are using the hiring flexibilities available to them, some could make better use of them. Effectively using available hiring flexibilities could lead to an even greater improvement in Hispanic representation in the Federal workforce. To support this need, OPM will offer training to Federal agencies in the areas of diversity and recruitment and retention to help organizations develop effective diversity strategies and to better utilize human resource flexibilities in planning and managing the workforce.

OPM has announced a Governmentwide Senior Executive Service (SES) Candidate Development Program (CDP). A key goal of this program is to increase the number of women, minorities and people with disabilities in the executive ranks. As with the SES CDP, OPM will continue to look for opportunities to support agency recruitment efforts and champion initiatives to help agencies increase the representation of Hispanics. OPM will continue to review Governmentwide progress and hold agencies accountable for results. Agencies should consider learning more about the practices we found at the U.S. Department of Justice, the Social Security Administration, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury to assess whether those practices would be effective at their own agencies. We encourage agencies to design and implement proactive programs to develop a diverse cadre of twenty first century leaders.

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Appendix

Governmentwide Data from the Second Half of F Y 2002

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Governmentwide Data from the Second Half of FY 2002

Table 1 compares Hispanic representation in the workforce at the end of FY 2002 (9/30/02) and at the end of the first half of FY 2002 (3/31/02).

• Generally, Hispanic representation in the workforce increased in the second half of FY 2002.
• The majority of agencies either increased the percentage of Hispanics in their workforce or the percentage remained steady.

Table 1. Comparison of Hispanic On-Board Numbers and Percentages, End of First-Half of FY 2002 and End of FY 2002 in Major Agencies

AGENCY	Number of On-Board Hispanics			Percent of On-Board Hispanics
	3/31/02	9/30/02		3/31/02	9/30/02
Agriculture	5,047	UP	5,234	5.7	UP	5.8
Air Force	10,449	DOWN	10,356	7.3	SAME	7.3
Army	13,221	UP	13,316	6.3	SAME	6.3
Commerce	1,209	UP	1,235	3.4	SAME	3.4
Defense - Other	4,989	DOWN	4,886	5.4	UP	5.5
Education	180	SAME	180	4.1	UP	4.2
EEOC	354	DOWN	351	12.7	UP	12.8
Energy	860	UP	894	5.5	UP	5.7
EPA	809	UP	831	4.6	UP	4.8
GSA	692	UP	708	5.0	SAME	5.0
HHS	1,729	UP	1,869	3.3	UP	3.4
HUD	682	UP	689	7.1	DOWN	7.0
Interior	2,945	UP	2,953	5.0	DOWN	4.9
Justice	16,994	UP	17,704	13.8	UP	14.2
Labor	1,091	DOWN	1,081	6.9	DOWN	6.8
NASA	898	UP	906	4.9	SAME	4.9
Navy	7,600	UP	7,733	4.4	SAME	4.4
OPM	131	UP	139	3.8	UP	3.9
Social Security	6,823	UP	6,999	10.9	UP	11.1
State (preliminary data)	700	UP	719	4.6	UP	5.2
Transportation	3,493	UP	7,372	5.3	UP	7.3
Treasury	14,644	DOWN	12,623	9.1	DOWN	8.9
Veterans Affairs	12,696	UP	12,755	6.3	SAME	6.3
All Other Agencies	1,829	UP	1,885	4.1	UP	4.4
Governmentwide	110,065	UP	113,418	6.7	UP	6.9

 

Table 2 compares Hispanic hires in the second halves of FY 2001 and FY 2002.

• Generally, Hispanic representation among new hires increased in the second half of FY 2002.

Table 2. Comparison of Hispanic New Hires in Major Agencies

AGENCY	Number of Hispanic Hires			Percent of Hispanic Hires
	FY 2001 Second Half	FY 2002 Second Half		FY 2001 Second Half	FY 2002 Second Half
Agriculture	276	DOWN	200	8.3	DOWN	6.4
Air Force	300	DOWN	284	6.0	UP	7.0
Army	407	UP	513	5.5	UP	7.2
Commerce	70	DOWN	62	5.9	DOWN	5.1
Defense - Other	121	DOWN	82	5.0	DOWN	4.4
Education	12	DOWN	5	13.6	DOWN	8.6
EEOC	21	DOWN	1	10.4	UP	12.5
Energy	33	DOWN	26	7.3	DOWN	6.6
EPA	4	UP	24	2.2	UP	7.9
GSA	22	UP	26	6.2	UP	6.5
HHS	64	UP	110	4.0	UP	5.4
HUD	9	UP	20	14.3	DOWN	4.9
Interior	99	DOWN	55	5.4	DOWN	3.3
Justice	845	UP	1,402	22.9	UP	30.4
Labor	34	DOWN	30	6.4	UP	7.4
NASA	24	UP	26	6.2	UP	8.7
Navy	214	UP	276	4.4	UP	4.5
OPM	7	SAME	7	4.5	UP	5.0
Social Security	728	DOWN	523	23.9	DOWN	19.8
State (preliminary data)	20	UP	58	2.5	UP	3.5
Transportation	100	UP	4,504	4.0	UP	11.2
Treasury	495	DOWN	312	12.1	DOWN	9.9
Veterans Affairs	416	DOWN	337	5.3	UP	6.0
All Other Agencies	83	DOWN	82	5.6	UP	5.9
Governmentwide	4,389	UP	8,916	8.3	UP	10.2

 

Table 3 compares the percentage representation of Hispanics in the workforce to the percentage representation of Hispanics among new hires. One key indicator of progress is hiring a greater percentage of Hispanics than is currently represented in the workforce.

• Generally, in the second half of FY 2002 agencies hired a greater percentage of Hispanics than represented in their workforce at the end of FY 2002.

Table 3. Comparison of Hispanic New Hires to Agency On-Board Percentage

AGENCY	Hispanic On-Board Percentage (9/30/02)	Percent of Hispanic New Hires (3/31/02 - 9/30/02)
Agriculture	5.8	UP	6.4
Air Force	7.3	DOWN	7.0
Army	6.3	UP	7.2
Commerce	3.4	UP	5.1
Defense - Other	5.5	DOWN	4.4
Education	4.2	UP	8.6
EEOC	12.8	DOWN	12.5
Energy	5.7	UP	6.6
EPA	4.8	UP	7.9
GSA	5.0	UP	6.5
HHS	3.4	UP	5.4
HUD	7.0	DOWN	4.9
Interior	4.9	DOWN	3.3
Justice	14.2	UP	30.4
Labor	6.8	UP	7.4
NASA	4.9	UP	8.7
Navy	4.4	UP	4.5
OPM	3.9	UP	5.0
Social Security	11.1	UP	19.8
State (preliminary data)	3.8	DOWN	3.5
Transportation	7.3	UP	11.2
Treasury	8.9	UP	9.9
Veterans Affairs	6.3	DOWN	6.0
All Other Agencies	4.2	UP	5.9
Governmentwide	6.9	UP	10.2

 

Table 4 compares the Governmentwide hiring of Hispanics into permanent positions, for the second halves of FY 2001 and FY 2002.

• Hispanic hiring increased at all levels except GS 1-4.
• The "other white-collar" group experienced the greatest increase.

Table 4. Governmentwide Hispanic Permanent New Hires by General Schedule and Related Grade and Other Groups

Grade Level	FY 2001 (Second Half) Hispanic Hires		FY 2002 (Second Half) Hispanic Hires		Difference in Hispanic Hires FY 2001 (Second Half) to FY 2002 (Second Half)
	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
GS 1-4	533	7.7	421	7.5	-112	-21.0
GS 5-8	2,768	12.6	3,105	14.6	+337	+12.2
GS 9-12	525	4.7	526	4.8	+1	0.0
GS 13	47	2.5	62	3.2	+15	+31.9
GS 14	20	3.1	22	2.8	+2	+10.0
GS 15	14	2.3	25	4.3	+11	+78.6
SES/Senior Pay	7	4.5	8	3.6	+1	+14.3
Blue-Collar	358	5.3	367	6.6	+9	+2.5
Other White-Collar	117	4.0	4,380	10.8	+4,263	+3,643.6
Total	4,389	8.3	8,916	10.2	+4,527	+103.1

 

Table 5 shows Federal agency use of the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) in the second halves of FY 2001 and FY 2002.

• Governmentwide, agency use of SCEP increased 36.4 percent.
• Hispanic representation among SCEP hires increased 50.4 percent.

Table 5. New Hires under the Student Career Experience Program

Agency	FY 2001 (Second Half)			FY 2002 (Second Half)
	All Hires	Hispanics number	Hispanics percentage	All Hires	Hispanics number	Hispanics percentage
Agriculture	503	57	11.3	839	82	9.8
Air Force	300	21	7.0	581	41	7.1
Army	564	26	4.6	601	40	6.7
Commerce	41	3	7.3	75	3	4.0
Defense - Other	136	6	4.5	141	3	2.3
Education	0	0	N/A	2	0	0.0
Energy	65	4	6.2	60	6	10.0
EPA	25	1	4.0	28	2	7.4
FDIC	37	1	2.7	48	6	12.5
GSA	163	14	8.9	153	18	13.8
HHS	28	3	10.7	46	6	13.3
Interior	237	29	12.2	336	34	10.1
Justice	79	16	20.3	136	32	23.5
Labor	30	4	13.3	58	4	7.0
NASA	148	17	11.5	182	17	9.3
Navy	719	15	2.2	1,061	35	3.4
NLRB	35	4	11.4	17	0	0.0
SSA	89	6	6.7	27	3	11.1
State (preliminary data)	18	2	11.8	28	2	7.1
Transportation	56	0	0.0	72	4	5.6
Treasury	144	19	13.2	188	28	14.9
VA	187	14	7.5	224	22	9.8
Other Agencies	52	2	3.8	83	9	10.8
Total	3,656	264	7.3	4,986	397	8.1

Note: "All Hires" include individuals who did not identify themselves by any specific race or national origin (RNO) category; Hispanic percentage calculations exclude them.

 

Table 6 shows the use of the Bilingual/Bicultural Program by individual Federal agencies in the second halves of FY 2001 and FY 2002.¹

• Governmentwide, use of the Bilingual/Bicultural Program decreased 30.0 percent.
• Hispanic representation among Bilingual/Bicultural hires decreased 47.7 percent.

Table 6. Governmentwide New Hires under Bilingual/Bicultural Program

Agency	FY 2001 (Second Half)			FY 2002 (Second Half)
	All Hires	Hispanics number	Hispanics percentage	All Hires	Hispanics number	Hispanics percentage
Agriculture	1	1	100.0	N/A	N/A	N/A
Air Force	1	0	0.0	0	0	0.0
Army	5	0	0.0	50	1	2.0
Commerce	9	6	66.7	0	0	0.0
Education	2	2	100.0	0	0	0.0
EEOC	1	0	0.0	0	0	0.0
HHS	1	1	100.0	2	2	100.0
HUD	0	0	0.0	2	2	100.0
Interior	6	1	16.7	0	0	0.0
Inter-American Foundation	0	0	0.0	4	1	25.0
Justice	30	19	63.3	42	29	69.0
Labor	8	6	75.0	0	0	0.0
SSA	269	226	84.0	133	102	76.7
Total	333	262	78.7	233	137	58.8

Note: "All Hires" include individuals who did not identify themselves by any specific race or national origin (RNO) category; Hispanic percentage calculations exclude them.

Note: N/A - Not Applicable

 

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¹ Agencies can only use this program consistent with the requirements of the Luevano Consent Decree.