- 2

Column II

Indicate the highest degree earned and enter the appropriate code according to the list below:

If an individual has completed enough education to list a major or field of study, indicate the appropriate code as shown below. When an individual has an advanced degree indicate the code for the major or field of study of the advanced degree rather than that of the undergraduate degree. If the major or field of study in the personnel record does not correspond exactly to the list below, select the category which most closely approximates the one given in the personnel record.

May 5, 1971

S

McKersie Comparison of DOL

The Undersecretary

The McKersie method of measuring minority employment status was developed by Professor Robert McKersie of the University of Chicago. The method is based upon two standards, the penetration ratio and the occupation ratio. The penetration rate is équivalent to the minority's percent representation in the establishment's workforce, and the penetration ratio is the ratio of the establishment's penetration rate to a particular benchmark penetration rate (usually the average penetration rate of all establishments in the recruitment/labor area). There is a penetration gap if, for example, an establishment has one percent minority employment (penetration rate = .0100) as compared with five percent minority employment (penatration rate = .0500) in the recruitment/labor area. In this case the penetration ratio is one to five, or .2000. The occupa tion ratio is a measure of the occupational status of minorities within the establishment. That is, the distribution of minorities across the various occupations is compared with the occupetion distribution of all employees in the establishment.

There

is an occupation gap if, for example, the minority average wage based on minority occupation distribution is twenty percent lower than the total average wage based on the occupation distribution

of all employees.

In this case, the occupation ratio is .8000.

This is a crucial measure, for suppose that an establishment has minority employment of twelve percent in a locale where that minority comprises twelve percent of the population. Based on penetration alone, that establishment meets minimum standards. Yet, if all the minority employees in this establishment are technicians, laborers, and secretaries and none are professionals or officials and managers, then that minority is a victim of underutilization (assuming availability of minority professionals and officials and managers) due to disproportionate occupation distribution. This type of discrepancy would be reflected in the occupation ratio. (When the minority occupation distribution is representative of the occupation distribution of all employees, the occupation ratio is 1.0000.) Both of the McKersie measures, the penetration and occupation ratios, or analagous measures, are essential to any realistic assessment of minority employment status. The utilization ratic is an attempt to combine the penetration and occupation ratios into one measure of overall minority employment status; it is Formed by taking the product of the two ratios.

Looking specifically at the status of blacks in the Department of Labor, two comparisons will be made: the DOL national office with private industry in the Washington, D.C. SMSA and the DOL nationwide with private industry nationwide.

The first comparison is between the October 1970 status of blacks in the DOL national office with the December 1966 status (given by 1967 EEO-1 data) of blacks in private industry in the Washington, D.C. SMSA. The status of blacks in the DOL national office is given by the following statistics:

Looking at the penetration ratio (which is equivalent to looking at the penetration rate, as all industries are compared to the same penetration benchmark of .2400), nine of the fifty industries located in the Washington area at that time had higher black penetration than DOL has now. All nine of these industries also had higher occupation ratios. Altogether,

forty-five industries had higher occupation ratios, and five were lower. It is reasonable at this point to question the fairness of comparing the DOL national office with private industry in Washington, inasmuch as the Labor Department is a national recruiter with a requirement for mostly professional personnel and clerical support. To this point, included in those with higher occupation ratios were industries that are national recruiters and have a large demand for professionals. Consider, for example, legal services, banking, educational services, communication, insurance, and medical and other health services. It should be noted, however, that of the above named