evident in view of the fact that virtually nothing has been accomplished in this area in the past. It should also be recognized that in the long-run these efforts could result in a real breakthrough for nonprofessionals by demonstrating the extent to which these employees are being underutilized in the Department.

Administrative personnel seemed to realize that there should be more concern for the plight of the nonprofessionals, but they stated that there are many problems associated with upward mobility programs.

Top-level management and first-line supervisors

appeared not to place the necessary priority on upgrading activities. This is evidenced by the lack of training opportunities available to the nonprofessionals in addition to the small number of supervisors willing to assume the task of establishing training slots in their offices.

In only one A&O did we find that the lack of training funds posed a problem.

While we could not ascertain the

exact percentage of training funds allocated to the clerical

staff, we did learn that it was a disproportionately small

amount. There appeared to be no problem, however, for professionals to obtain funds for their own self-advancement. For example, the Department has often financed

graduate studies to enable professionals to attain their Master's or Doctorate degrees, even though training funds are not designated for this purpose.

Widespread job restructuring and occupational anal

ysis require a considerable amount of work and staff time. Since top priority to upward mobility has not been forthcoming from management, little effort has been directed toward this activity. In addition, personnel offices have been generally unresponsive to the needs of both the nonprofessionals and those supervisors who are interested in upgrading their nonprofessional staff.

Little has been

done to make these supervisors aware of the resources which can be used for this purpose. Since supervisors are often unaware of the various methods by which upgrading can be accomplished, they are limited in what they

can achieve.

One problem that is being given consideration to a very limited degree is that artificial barriers often

impede the career advancement of nonprofessionals to professional positions. For example, a college degree is many times not necessary to perform professional jobs in the Department. Except for highly technical fields, such as economics, statistics, and accounting, experience in a particular area is the primary qualification. This factor is usually overlooked as a basis for promoting lower grade employees. In addition, an effective method of upgrading is to place nonprofessional employees in positions in which they can gain the experience necessary for advancement.

From the nonprofessional's point of view, an upward mobility policy in the Department of Labor appears to be practically nonexistent.

To be judged solely on the basis of one's merit is not a reality for the minorities and women who comprise 97 percent of the clerical workforce. To these employees, discriminatory practices still exist. They feel that they have no allies in administrative and managerial positions and, as a result, have no one to turn to for counsel and help. The absence of minorities and women in high level

positions serves to reinforce the idea that these groups

will not be treated fairly.

Many nonprofessionals have over twenty years of service and have been dead-ended for so long that they have given up all hope of promotion.

Although they are

often as qualified as those persons who do advance, they have come to the conclusion that the merit staffing system is a farce. They no longer even bother to apply for jobs that are posted because they feel that the candidates

probably have been preselected.

The following examples indicate the frustration experienced by lower grade employees. One black female with two years of college, a business school certificate and 17 years of Government service is a GS-4 statistical clerk. She is overqualified for her job and has no expectations of career advancement. The other example is a white female GS-7 statistical assistant who has 20 years

of Government service and who has taken 22 hours of eco

nomics and 6 hours of statistics. She is qualified to become an economist, but it appears that her supervisor was not concerned or interested enough to have her job

reclassified and she felt that Personnel had given her the

usual run-around.2/

An extremely sensitive area and one which causes a great deal of resentment is the fact that sometimes the lower grade employee has to train his newly appointed supervisor who is brought in from the outside to fill a job for which his own qualifications have been ignored.

As has been mentioned before, training opportunities, except in clerical skills, for nonprofessionals are very limited. One of the employees we interviewed stated that she wanted to take an English course after hours which was approved by her supervisor. The training officer, however, felt that since the course was not job-related she should be denied the training. This incident occurred despite the fact that the Government Employees Training Act states that training which is related to the work of the agency is permissible and does not have to be directly related to the job.

The Task Force also found that the working conditions

2/

Nonprofessionals often found that Personnel was unresponsive in providing career guidance and counseling.