OPM’s most recent data showed that the federal workforce differs from the American labor pool in several significant ways in terms of demographics, and also has differing patterns even internally depending on job level.
According to the Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program report issued nearly a year ago and covering fiscal 2012, the federal workforce was 65.4 percent white, compared with the 68.5 of the general workforce. Among minorities, blacks/African Americans make up 17.9 percent compared with 10.1 percent overall, with Asian/Pacific Islanders at 5.8 vs. 4.9 percent, Native Americans at 1.7 vs. 0.9 percent; Hispanics are the only under-represented minority group overall, 8.2 vs. 14.2 percent.
Men make up 56.5 percent of the federal workforce (compared with 53.7 percent of the overall workforce) but 10 percentage points more in the SES. The percentage of the SES cadre that is white stood at 80.6 percent. Among minority groups, Hispanics are the most under-represented in executive ranks compared with their presence in the federal workforce in general, at 4.1 percent.
There have been efforts going back many years to improve opportunities for women and minorities to advance into the executive ranks.
