News Release

OPM Hosts Meeting of the Interagency Task Force on Hispanic Employment in the Federal Government

President George W. Bush
September 13, 2002

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Office of Personnel Management held its first meeting of the Interagency Task Force on Hispanic Employment this New Year, opening a discussion on the efforts that have been made to create a work force that "looks like America."

During her opening remarks, OPM Director Kay Coles James thanked all of the attendees (representatives from across the federal government) for their focus on Hispanic employment and for helping achieve the positive results "the president expects."

A few of the positives mentioned during the meeting included an increase in the percentage of Hispanics in the federal work force (6.7 percent as of September 30, 2001, to 6.9 percent as of September 30, 2002); an increase in the percentage of new hires during the first six months of FY 2002 of 8.3% (significantly above the 6.7% Hispanic on-board percentage), and an increase in the number of Hispanics hired.

Despite the positive strides, Director James reminded the representatives that there is "much more work to be done," and that "one of the things I think we have to keep in mind is that we are going to have to work harder and harder to get the best and brightest from this community into public service. In the old days, the federal government was one of the few places they could get a fair chance at a job. Today, top Hispanic candidates are being heavily courted from all sectors."

Some of the steps that OPM plans to take include initiating a pre-SES candidate development program to help employees prepare for executive and leadership positions; updating OPM's Diversity Guide to include the most up-to-date strategies and incorporate the Human Capital framework and metrics into agency plans; developing targeted Spanish-language recruiting material that can be used alone or with agency-specific information, and recruiting Hispanic candidates for the Presidential Management Intern (PMI) program.

Information on OPM programs may be found at www.opm.gov.

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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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