Washington, D.C. - The Federal government's effort to improve Hispanic recruitment is producing results. According to a recent report submitted to President George W. Bush by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Kay Coles James, Hispanics are entering the civil service in increasing numbers. The report, Statistical Information on Hispanic Employment in Federal Agencies, covers data from FY 2003 by providing an accounting of the outreach efforts of each Cabinet-level department and major agency.

"The Bush Administration's commitment to address diversity issues in the Federal workforce has never been stronger," James noted. "At OPM, we will continue to provide guidance and proactive support to help agencies establish new strategies and best practices in this area. I also challenge stakeholder organizations to work alongside OPM to more aggressively spread the word about the tremendous opportunities that exist to serve America."

In her transmittal letter to the President, which accompanies the report, OPM Director Kay Coles James said, "Over the past three years that this report has been generated, governmentwide data clearly indicates that Hispanic representation in the Federal workforce has increased overall. OPM is committed to build upon these results and we encourage all members of the Federal team to seek out excellence and to target recruitment efforts to all sectors of society."

Several noteworthy aspects of the new FY2003 report:

• The number of Hispanic new hires increased in FY2003 in the mid-management and senior management grade levels.
• Hispanics represented 9.7% of the permanent new hires to the Federal government in FY2003.
• The overall number of Hispanics in the Federal workforce has increased about 2% from FY2002. In FY2003, there were 115,600 Hispanics in the permanent Federal workforce.
• The percentage of Hispanic new hires into professional and administrative positions increased from 7.3% in FY2002 to 7.8% in FY2003.
• Hispanics in the Senior Executive Service (SES) and other senior pay levels rose from 504 in FY2002 to 524 in FY2003, a 4% increase.

As a key component of the President's Management Agenda, OPM holds agencies accountable for establishing processes for outreach and for recruiting and retaining a diverse, high quality workforce, including in mission-critical occupations and leadership positions.

OPM has demonstrated its commitment to Hispanic outreach and recruitment by the government through a series of eleven job fairs, held in major metropolitan cities across the country. Those cities included Miami, Los Angeles, New York City, Albuquerque, Phoenix and San Diego. Director James is also Chair of the Interagency Task Force on Hispanic Employment. The task force, which met recently and will meet again this month, was established by Executive Order 13171, and focuses on best practices, key areas of recruitment and removing barriers to advancement governmentwide.

For a copy of the report, contact the OPM Office of Communications and Public Liaison at 202-606-2402.

Our mission is to ensure the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce. OPM 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.