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The information the government collects on promotions in the federal workforce is incomplete and inconsistent, making it of only limited use in analyzing trends, GAO has said.
GAO researched promotions data during its work on a recently published report on differences in pay by gender, a report that concluded that the pay gap between men and women has narrowed in recent years. GAO was looking to see if higher rates of promotions for women was a contributing factor, along with other factors including a leveling off of factors tied to higher pay rates such as levels of education and years of experience.
It found that women on average experience slightly higher annual salary growth but that it was unclear to what extent that was due to promotions versus other increases such as merit-based pay raises without changing jobs. In examining data that the EEOC collects annually from federal agencies on promotions—which EEOC and agencies use to identify potential barriers to career advancement by gender and race and ethnicity—GAO said that of the 51 data tables it requested, 35 had missing or incomplete data.
“EEOC officials said this is partly due to promotion applicants not being required to provide demographic information. However, EEOC has not fully assessed the reliability of these data and generally does not follow up with agencies about missing data between technical assistance visits,” the report said.
Other issues it cited with promotions data include that different agencies use different data sources and software; that HR and EEO offices “may not always coordinate well with each other to share information needed to complete the report”; high turnover in HR offices leading to inconsistency in reporting from one year to the next; and lack of resources to devote to the effort, especially among smaller agencies.
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