Chart 2. PERCENT OF PROFESSIONALS IN EACH GRADE LEVEL WHO ARE BLACK, BY GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION,

PERCENT

19

Comparing the average salary for blacks to that for

all employees discloses the extent to which blacks are

under-represented in the higher professional grades.

Black male professionals earn 12 percent less than all male professionals and a slightly smaller disparity prevails

Conse

for black females compared to all female professionals. However, the lower salaried women comprise a larger segment of black professionals than of all professionals. quently, the overall underutilization of blacks is reflected by the average salary of blacks being 15 percent below the average for all professionals.

underutilization.

(Table 2, p. 252).

Examining the status of blacks in the National Office and the Field discloses two nearly opposite patterns of The National Office has a sizable representation of blacks in professional positions, 19 percent, compared to the Field where blacks comprise only 10 percent of the professional workforce. This representation exists among both black men and women. But in contrast to their poor representation, black professionals in the Field are distributed much more equitably than they are in the National Office. Their average salary in the Field is 90 percent

of that for all professionals there, while in the National Office blacks earn 81 percent of the average salary for

all professionals.

women.

This pattern applies to both men and

However, it is especially evident for black males who earn 93 percent of the average for all professionals in the Field, but only 82 percent of the average in the National Office. As a result of this pattern, black professionals in the Field are paid more than those in the National Office even though all professionals in the Field earn less than their counterparts in the National Office. (Chart 2, p. 19; and Tables 11 and 20 pp.258 and 261).

Underutilization in administrations and regions

To analyze the status of minorities and women in each administration, this study developed a "use index." This index is composed of the minority or female representation as a percent of their goal, multiplied times the percent which their average salary comprises of that for all pro

fessionals. Use indices are calculated for the National

Office and Field units of an administration, and then com

bined into a Nationwide index for that administration./

8/See p.220 for an explanation of the use index.

The use indices for each administration can be combined

to form a composite use index for all of DOL. In effect, the use indices measure the extent to which the Department has successfully achieved the standards of minority employment set in the "Goals and Timetables" section--an equitable representation and distribution of all employees in the National Office and Field units of every administration. It should be recalled that the Department-wide analysis understated the total amount of underutilization since the

good employment situation in some administrations was allowed to compensate for the bad record of others. On the other hand, the use indices reflect the full amount of underutilization in the Department. A use index of .80 indicates that an administration or region is four-fifths of the way toward achieving parity. Full parity is shown by a use

index of 1.0.

The use indices disclose that all administrations

significantly underutilize blacks, but the underutilization

is substantially greater in some administrations than in Manpower has the best index for the utilization

others.

of blacks, .89, while ESA, BLS, and SOL all have indices

below .70. The composite use index which reflects the total amount of underutilization in the Department is .75, meaning the Department is only three-quarters of the way toward achieving the full utilization of blacks. (Chart 3, p. 24). Although the National Office taken as one unit meets the criteria for the representation of blacks, the analysis by administration reveals that the National Office units of BLS and SOL do not have an equitable representation of blacks. In the Field, only MA and LMSA have a sufficient representation of blacks in the professional ranks. In addition, blacks are inequitably distributed in every administration in the National Office and the Field (with the

possible exception of MA in the Field where the average salary of black professionals is .97 of that for all professionals). The most inequitable distributions of these employees are found in the National Office units of LMSA and SOL where the salary differences between black and all professionals are 34 percent and 38 percent, respectively. (Charts 3-5, pp. 24-26).

Two regions, Philadelphia and Chicago, demonstrate a reasonably good utilization of blacks in their professional