Pay plan and grade

CHANGE IN FULL-TIME FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT UNDER GENERAL SCHEDULE AND SIMILAR PAY PLANS, NOV. 30,1971 TO NOV. 30, 1972

713 (100.0)

(.6)

(34.0)

(.3)

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN THE FEDERAL SERVICE

Mr. ROBISON. I would be happy, Mr. Roybal, to yield to you now on that point, if you would like me to, for I know that you have a special interest in it.

Mr. ROYBAL. Yes. I am particularly concerned about your statement with regard to equal employment opportunities in Federal service.

You say that the Commission regards the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 as a clear and positive statutory charter to assure that equal employment opportunity becomes a consideration in its management and direction of the Federal personnel system.

I was under the impression that the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 was actually a mandate that equal employment opportunities become a reality in the direction of the Federal employment system, not just a consideration.

Mr. HAMPTON. That would be a more precise construction. In all decisions that management makes and in their program direction, equal employment opportunity is one of the aspects that is used in making a decision.

Mr. ROYBAL. I know you have to consider these things first, but it seems to me that that has been taken verbatim, and, as a matter of fact, throughout the Service, and that only considerations are given to certain problems with regard to the problem of the minority.

I am particularly interested in one minority, even though I feel that all minorities should have equal consideration. I applaud the Service for the work that it has done in the black community of the United States, but last year and the year before, and probably the year before that, I called the Service's attention to the fact that the Mexican American, and Spanish-speaking community as a whole, was not faring very well, in fact, not very well at all.

I tried to get some late figures from your department just this morning. I realize that I was late in trying to get them, but the truth of the matter is that I don't have the latest figures at this time.

Can you at this time tell the committee whether or not you have made any progress with regard to the Spanish-speaking and, if you have, how much?

PROGRESS WITH EMPLOYMENT OF SPANISH-SPEAKING

Mr. HAMPTON. Yes, I think we have those figures.
May I go back to the question of consideration?

Mr. ROYBAL. I wish you would, because that disturbs me greatly. Mr. HAMPTON. What we are saying is that management makes decisions that affect people. They make decisions when they recruit someone to be placed on a job, when they select someone to be trained that leads to a promotion, when they make a promotion, or any kind of an action dealing with the conditions of their employment.

What we are saying is, "Mr. Manager, when you make those decisions one of the things that you should always consider is the equal employment opportunity aspects of that decision. In other words, when you recruit and select somebody, did you consider minorities? Did you go out and recruit them? Did you give them a fair opportunity in the process of their selection? When you selected someone for training, did you do this on an equal basis?"

That is what we mean by consideration. We feel that the term equal opportunity is synonymous with the American principle that should govern the selection of people in the Federal service, and we agree very much with you that the Spanish surname was not treated with equality, and that resulted in our 16-point special emphasis program for Spanish-surnamed Americans.

We do have statistics. Mr. Kator has them with him. Do you have the nationwide figures, the latest figures?

Mr. KATOR. Yes. I can just cite some that would indicate the type of progress that we have been making, Mr. Roybal, in connection with the employment of Spanish-speaking in the Federal service. For example, going back to November, 1969, and moving the figures up to just May, 1972, there was an overall decrease in Federal employment of approximately 60,000 and an increase in Spanishspeaking employment in that period of time of somewhat under 5,000. Despite a decrease in the overall Federal employment, the percentage of Spanish-speaking in the Federal Government has been, certainly in the last few years, consistently moving up at each time we've taken a survey, and has moved up percentagewise from 2.7 or 2.8 in November 1969 to 3.1 percent, as of November 1972.

From November 1971 to November 1972 there was an increase in the General Schedule alone of 2,700 Spanish-speaking, and that is 12.3 percent of the total increase in the General Schedule during that period.

In addition, in the middle and higher grade levels, the Spanishspeaking persons and other minorities are moving up at a faster rate than nonminority employees.

For example, in grades 9 to 11, and this is again from November of 1971 to November of 1972, there was a decrease in total employment in grades 9 to 11 of 44 jobs, but minority employment increased by 2,600 jobs.

NEW HIRES OF SPANISH-SPEAKING EMPLOYEES

Mr. ROYBAL. What does minority employment mean?

Mr. KATOR. Minority employment means black, Spanish-speaking, Indian, Oriental.

Mr. ROYBAL. But of those how many were Spanish-speaking?
Mr. KATOR. I have that by grade level and grade grouping.

In grades 5 to 8, for example, and again November 1971 to November 1972, there were an additional 709 Spanish-speaking employees, which is 11.2 percent of the total increase at those grade levels.

In grades 9 to 11 there was an increase of 582 Spanish-speaking persons during that same period, and that's an increase of 11.3 percent of the total at those grade levels.

In grades 12 and 13 there was an increase of 253 jobs, which is 35 percent of the total increase at those grade levels.

Mr. ROYBAL. What you're saying then is that of all the new positions in those grades that you have mentioned, 35 percent of all the jobs went to Spanish speaking?

Mr. KATOR. That's right, at grades 12 and 13. There's a total increase of 713 jobs. Of those, 253 went to Spanish-speaking persons. Mr. ROYBAL. That means, again repeating, that 35 percent of all the people that you hired in those grades went to Spanish speaking? Mr. KATOR. Not of all that we hired, but of the net difference.

Mr. ROYBAL. I want to know about what you hired, not the net difference.

Mr. KATOR. We have the net change from one year to the next, after all the hires and separations are added and subtracted. You see, we've hired many people during the year, and many were separated, and I can't give you those figures until we get our new statistical system working, which will give us the actual number of hires there were, and the actual number of separations. But we are giving you the important figure; the net increase in the number of Spanish-speaking employees on the payroll.

Mr. ROYBAL. Then you're not giving us the percentages of Spanishspeaking people hired within that period?

Mr. KATOR. I can't tell you that, Mr. Roybal. I don't have that. But what I can tell you is the net increase from one period to the next. I can tell you the percent of that increase. We can tell you the overall numbers too.

RECENT INCREASES IN EMPLOYMENT OF SPANISH SPEAKING

Mr. ROYBAL. I will agree that there has been some effort and that this effort is perhaps being rewarded. The mere fact that you have these percentages to quote would indicate that.

What I am interested in is what is the end result? You gave figures a little while ago that went from 2.7 to 3.1 percent. The actual fact is that you went from 2.9, 4 years ago to 3, which is the great increase of one-tenth of 1 percent.

Mr. KATOR. No, we were at 3.1, Mr. Roybal, as of November 1972. Mr. ROYBAL. Even if you're 3.1, that only adds another tenth of 1 percent. If that is a real accomplishment, looking at this picture from an overall standpoint for a period of the last 10 years, I would say that this is not an accomplishment at all.

On the other hand, if you go back just 1 year, then I will agree with you that an effort is being made and that an improvement is noticeable. Mr. HAMPTON. I agree, from the overall point of view historically, if you look back. But what we are trying to do is affect what's going to happen from now on.

Mr. ROYBAL. During the campaign last year the Madison Avenue technique was used widely in the Spanish-speaking community, using some of the figures that I heard here today.

The truth of the matter is that over a period of several years, going back even to the Kennedy administration, the Johnson, and also the present administration, we find that the Spanish speaking have made very, very little progress, and that one-tenth of 1 percent increase or even two-tenths in overall employment is definitely, at least in my opinion, a most disgraceful record. On the other hand, other minorities have reached parity, and there is at least one minority that is way above parity. The tremendous increase in the employment of that particular group is most commendable. But nevertheless, the Spanish speaking have not been given equal consideration.

The only thing I'm saying is that I agree with the concept of equal employment opportunities, but for all, and when we get to the point where we just start favoring one particular group over another then

we are wrong.