White Males Still Hold Most High-Paying Jobs in Local Governments

Despite a decade of affirmative-action hiring, white men still hold a disproportionate share of local government jobs in Ventura County, especially those that pay the most.

Since 1980, women and minorities have been hired at unprecedented rates in several local cities and by the county.

But figures show that white men still hold at least two-thirds of the top administrative posts in all but one city government, Oxnard’s, and in the county government. And Latinos remain the most underrepresented ethnic group in local government.

“It’s pathetic,” activist attorney Carmen Ramirez said of minority hiring by Ventura County, the largest local-government employer in the area.

Though Latinos make up 26.5% of Ventura County’s population, they comprise 19.6% of employees in county government. And of the area’s 10 cities, only Camarillo has a higher percentage of Latino workers than Latino residents.

Representatives from the county and several cities say they continue to aggressively recruit minorities and women. They cite gains, particularly the strong hiring of women in Ventura, Thousand Oaks, Santa Paula and at the county.

But they acknowledge that they have fallen far short of parity when hiring minorities, with large inequities remaining not only at top administrative levels but in jobs such as engineering and police and fire protection.

“It’s an area where we really have to work hard,” said Richard Wittenberg, the county’s chief administrative officer. “But affirmative action, which is receding in many places, is not receding at the county. We continue to work toward hiring a balanced work force.”

Officials in Fillmore, Ojai, Moorpark and Port Hueneme said they do not specifically recruit minorities and women, and give no hiring preference to such candidates.

“Our goals are to recruit from all segments and to hire the best individual for the job,” said Roy Payne, city manager in Fillmore. The city’s affirmative-action policy states that job preference based on race or sex is “discrimination in reverse.”

That rejection of preferential hiring reflects a major nationwide debate about whether affirmative-action programs unfairly penalize whites, especially white men.

President Bush has rejected a new civil rights bill because he sees job quotas in it. And black Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas has said he thinks affirmative action is racially divisive and makes it appear that minorities need handouts.

A recent national Gallup Poll found that three-fourths of white respondents opposed racial preference in hiring, while half of blacks felt the preference helps make up for past discrimination.

Several personnel directors in Ventura County cities said a preference for minority or women applicants is built into their hiring processes. That is true at Ventura County and in Santa Paula, Oxnard, Ventura and Simi Valley, officials said.

But they said the practice is understood, not written, in both Simi Valley and Ventura.

“We don’t have a hard-and-fast policy. But when all things are considered equal, we certainly consider our affirmative-action goals,” said Stephen Dunn, personnel officer in Ventura. “I think affirmative action is necessary.”

Likewise, in Simi Valley, city officials are told of affirmative-action goals when recruiting and interviewing applicants. “They’re very sensitive to our goals,” said Nona Young, assistant personnel administrator.

Thousand Oaks, however, abandoned numerical goals for hiring women and minorities two or three years ago.

“You mean quotas,” said Grant Brimhall, city manager in Thousand Oaks, referring to the goals.

Brimhall said the city has achieved a balanced work force and has moved to worker-training programs that discourage discrimination or harassment on the job. Thousand Oaks’ workers are 86% white, while the city is 84% white. Women made up 27% of the city’s work force in 1980 but 47% today--the biggest gain in the county.

“We were very aggressive on that,” Brimhall said. Administrators who were reluctant to hire women were counseled, he said, “and the message got around.”

Despite its steps toward a balance of employees, none of Thousand Oaks’ 14 top administrators is a minority, and just two are women.

Most local cities have achieved nothing close to parity for minorities and women. And some have a lower percentage of minority workers today than a decade ago, despite surges in Latino and Asian populations countywide. In Ojai, 25 of 26 employees are white, and four of five top administrators are white men.

“We don’t have numerical goals or quotas,” said City Manager Andrew Belknap. City Clerk Cindi Reynolds added: “It’s funny how you never think of it that way, you just take the best person who applies. We’re so small, we very rarely have an opening.”

In Port Hueneme, 69% of workers are white, 5% higher than in 1980 although the city has steadily lost white residents for a decade.

“We try, but it’s kind of difficult,” City Manager Richard Velthoen said. “We don’t have enough money to do some of the specialty stuff sometimes.”

In Moorpark, 27 of 32 employees are white, and all five minority workers are office clerks or maintenance men.

“You can look out my door and see our ethnic work force,” said Richard Hare, deputy city manager. “We haven’t had any problems and no complaints.”

Almost to the man or woman, city and county officials said that balancing a government work force among racial and sexual groups is no simple matter.

Even in cities with strong affirmative-action programs, parity is elusive.

Ventura, which is unusually sophisticated in analyzing the makeup of the countywide work force, employs 10% more women today than a decade ago. But its percentage of minority workers is the same today as in 1981, despite an influx of thousands of Latino residents.

Oxnard’s affirmative-action program is probably the strongest in the county. City policy generally requires that women and minorities receive preference over an equally qualified white candidate.

And under a new policy, administrators hiring police officers and firefighters are allowed to select anyone who meets minimum qualifications for a vacant job, not just the top three candidates, said Assistant Personnel Director Lino Corona. This allows more minorities to be considered, he said.

Yet, while Oxnard’s population was increasing from 44% Latino to 54% in the 1980s, the percentage of Latinos on the city payroll inched up 2.4% to 33.5%.

And in Oxnard’s police and fire departments, the percentage of minority officers actually dropped from 29% to 27% over the last decade. The city’s 92-person Fire Department includes three women, none of whom is a firefighter, Corona said. Though pull-ups are no longer required of applicants, strength tests continue to deter prospective women firefighters, he said.

Corona cited gains for women employees--up 5.4% to 30.7% of workers in a decade--as an Oxnard success. And the city has 3% more minority workers than 10 years ago. But 64% of the city’s top administrators are white and 54% are white men.

“No, we’re not satisfied,” Corona said. “That’s why we’re continuing to update our plan to reflect the fact that we need more change.”

Ventura County, whose 6,453 workers make it the behemoth of local-government employers, maintains that it too is fighting for more racial and sexual balance on the job.

Though top county administrators are still 88% white, officials argue that the situation is changing. White men held 77% of the top jobs in 1981, but only 66% this year, figures show.

More women are now top bosses, and among a second echelon of county managers, women even outnumber men 1,268 to 942.

“That’s the key,” Wittenberg said. “Usually you hire people at the mid-level, and it’s just a matter of time before they get to the highest echelons.”

Most women employees, however, are not in line for a swift ascent to the top. At the county, and to an even greater extent in most local cities, a majority of women hold traditional office, clerical and support positions.

The same is true for minority employees at the cities and the county. Most work at the lowest-paying jobs. Just 16 minorities, or 12%, are among the 136 top bosses at the county. And just 18% of the second-echelon county managers are minorities.

There have been complaints that the lack of minority movement up the county ladder is not just a matter of qualifications and waiting in line.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Kenton W. Rainey, the highest-ranking black in that department, and several black deputies have filed claims of racial bias against the department. About 86% of sheriff’s employees are white, despite gains in recent years.

Nor is Perez, executive director of Channel Counties Legal Services Agency, pleased with Ventura County’s efforts to hire more minorities. She is aware, she said, of several cases where highly qualified minorities have been passed over for promotion at the county.

“On our Board of Supervisors we have four women and one man, and it looks really good,” Perez said. “But there’s more diversity to this county than just men and women.”

City/County Employees by Race and Sex

Total % % % % % Population Employees White Latino Black Asian Women White Camarillo 106 67.0% 27.4% 2.8% 2.8% 30.2% 80% Fillmore 28 67.9 32.1 0 0 35.7 39 Moorpark 32 84.4 15.6 0 0 43.8 70 Ojai 26 96.2 3.8 0 0 50.0 85 Oxnard 1,033 54.3 33.5 5.1 7.1 30.7 32 Port Hueneme 84 69.0 28.6 2.4 0 32.1 58 Sata Paula 93 63.4 33.3 0 1.1 28.9 39 Simi Valley 549 80.7 10.2 3.8 4.2 33.5 80 Thousand Oaks 403 85.9 8.9 .2 4.7 47.1 84 Ventura 685 79.3 16.9 1.6 1.9 32.8 77 Ventura County 6,453 71.6 19.6 3.6 4.8 56.1 66