ladder. Out of 1304 clerical employees in MA, 26 have participated in the program since it was announced in 1967, and ten of them have completed it.

The Career Opportunity Program in the Bureau of Labor

Statistics was announced in 1967 as a result of the FSEE

waiver.1/

Unlike the MUST program in ESA and COP in MA,

In

which were announced through merit staffing, this program was announced through a memo from the Commissioner. order to be considered as a participant, the applicant had to be recommended by his supervisor. The target positions were Social Science, Research Analyst, Statistician and

Economist. Five clericals were selected to participate in the program out of a target population of approximately

500.

There has been a total of 45 participants in these upward mobility programs over the past five years. They represent 1.3% of the target population of 3500 nonprofessionals in Grades 1-7. (See Appendix B-1)

2.

Program participants

In order to determine how the programs worked in

1/The nonprofessionals who were otherwise qualified

to move into professional positions were not required to pass the FSEE.

reality rather than how they looked on paper, the Task

Force interviewed 14 of the participants.

We found that on the average they had had 20 years

of government service and had entered at the GS-3 level.

Of those interviewed the following grades had been attain

ed: one GS-6, five GS-7's, six GS-9's and two GS-11's. We also discovered that three of the participants already had college degrees prior to entering the programs.

One "overqualified" regional participant informed us that her duties have not changed substantially and that she found herself in the position of having to train her newly appointed supervisor and the other professionals in her

unit in the functions of the office.

Although the participants were very much interested

in being upgraded, a surprising number of them were unclear as to what to expect from the programs.

Indeed, a

few of them were even unaware that they were in the pro

grams.

The counseling that was provided by the training officers, supervisors and other professionals was generally done on a rather haphazard basis. Moreover, one of the counselors was unclear as to her role in counseling

the program participant assigned to her. As a result, the participants themselves often decided the kind of formal training necessary to perform their duties, without being aware of what training may have been more beneficial, or of the kinds of training opportunities available to them.

One of the comments often heard during our interviews was that greater efforts should be made to identify and upgrade the nonprofessionals who are overqualified for their current positions so that they too would have the opportunity to advance.

3. Other upgrading activities

In addition to the programs described above, there have been other efforts directed toward upgrading nonprofessionals.

The Career Assistance Program (CAP), an experimental program in the National Office of the Manpower Administration, was announced in November 1970. Through this program nonprofessionals can obtain training to prepare them for professional positions in the Manpower Administration. The training schedule consists of college courses which are financed by the Department. The schedule is

mapped out by the employee with the assistance of the training officer and does not have to be approved by the supervisor. Unlike the programs described above, no job is guaranteed at the end of the training period, but the employee is qualified to compete for the target positions that are announced through merit staffing. So far sixtyone employees out of a total of 783 have been given counseling and 23 are currently in the program. The fact that this program was not very well publicized accounts for the low number of responses.

OASA has identified a number of career ladder positions in its organization which can be used for upward This upgrading activity is currently

mobility purposes.

in the process of further development.

ESA established 138 technician positions through occupational analysis and job restructuring to promote clerical employees. The positions thus created prepare the incumbents for greater responsibility and can serve as bridges to higher level jobs.

BLS recently upgraded 12 positions in the Office of

Data Collection and Survey Operations.

All but one of

these positions were filled by employees currently working

in that office.

The Bureau of Employees Compensation uses a modular appraoch to upgrading in its district offices. Employees in Grades 3-9 throughout the Department can compete for any newly announced position in this office for which they are qualified. The duties and responsibilities at each grade level prepare the employees for the next higher level and provide for cross mobility among the different Conceivably, a GS-3 clerk-typist could progress all the way up to a GS-11 supervisory claims examiner. There are no career ladders associated with

units in BEC.

these positions so that each promotion is competitive. However, by encouraging promotion from within the organization, BEC has created an atmosphere in which the employees have some hope for career advancement.

These upgrading activities represent very limited attempts to provide upward mobility for lower grade employees. There is no assurance that some of these newly established positions will not also become dead-ended. Nevertheless, the need to continue these activities is