LABOR : Uncle Sam Sets Poor Example for Equal Opportunity in Jobs

The federal government may be the No. 1 enforcer of the nation’s equal employment opportunity laws, but Uncle Sam still has a long way to go before becoming a model employer himself.

When it comes to women and minorities, the federal work force shows many of the unequal characteristics that mark the American work force as a whole. Significant disparities exist in hiring, pay and opportunities for promotion, government statistics show.

BACKGROUND: Women held 43% of all federal jobs in 1989, but they were concentrated in the lowest echelons, figures from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management show. They held only 3% of the top-level GS-13 through GS-15 jobs, but they made up 85% of all federal clerical workers.

Members of minority groups held slightly more than 28% of all jobs in the federal government, but only 7.5% of senior-level jobs. Great disparities exist in pay also: The average salary for male federal workers was $34,430 in 1989, compared to $25,015 for women.

Nor has the last decade seen any breakthrough in the “glass ceiling” on top managerial positions for minority members and women. Between 1982 and 1989, the percentage of women employed in the Senior Executive Service rose by only half a percent a year.

Figures compiled by the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission show that the situation for members of minority groups is even worse: In the same period, minority representation in the Senior Executive Service has grown by one-sixth of a percent a year.

“Basically, the old boy’s network is still very much in effect,” said Evan Kemp, chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC was itself criticized in a government report for not being aggressive enough in promoting affirmative action in government agencies.

IMPACT: Not only is the federal government responsible for enforcing equal employment laws, but it also is the nation’s largest employer. What Uncle Sam does has a major impact on what goes on in the work force as a whole.

Jean Christiansen, president of Federally Employed Women, charges that the problem in the government is much the same as it is in private industry: Inertia is standing in the way of progress.

“It seems there is not the commitment at the top toward changing,” Christiansen said. “Independent government agencies are not following through and are not committed.”

She and several government officials blame the EEOC, contending that it has not enforced equal employment laws vigorously enough.

Bernard Ungar, a General Accounting Office analyst, contends that the EEOC has been lax in enforcement and unclear on federal policies.

For example, Ungar notes that the agency requires government agencies to calculate the number of women and members of minority groups who are employed in “major occupations.”

The goal of this directive was to track women and minority members in jobs that lead to senior-level positions. Yet, because of ambiguity in the wording, most agencies list the jobs with the most employees--not necessarily those with advancement potential.

Ungar charged also that the EEOC is not doing enough to hold government officials accountable for the lack of women and minority members in senior-level positions in their agencies.

Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, agrees. Glenn noted at a hearing recently that the EEOC did not complete its plan for reducing discrimination in the federal workplace until 1990--two years after its deadline.

CAUSES: The EEOC’s Kemp said he is “embarrassed” by his agency’s failure to finish its anti-discrimination plan on time. But he said the panel lacks the resources needed to monitor individual agencies closely. And he blames Congress for not appropriating enough money.

“You people up here hold the purse-strings,” he chided Glenn. “If you really wanted to do something about it, you would hold this hearing at the Appropriations Committee, not here.”

But Christiansen said: “The problem is that there’s no teeth in this.” Government agencies “are simply being asked to comply, but nothing happens if they don’t.”