Underutilization in administrations and regions

The poor representation of women professionals in the

Field, and the poor distribution of these employees in both the National Office and the Field that occurs in every administration is reflected in a set of very low use indices. Only BLS has a use index for women over .70. The composite use index for the Department is only .55 which implies that the Department is just over half-way toward achieving parity for women. (Chart 12, p. 40).

In the National Office, only LMSA has a poor representation of women, but in only BLS and SOL are the average salaries of female professionals at least 85 percent of

that for all professionals.

In the Field, BLS is the only

administration where the representation of female profes

sionals is at least 25 percent, and where the average salary of these professionals is over 80 percent of that for all

New York is the only region which is at least half-way toward achieving parity for women. The poor use indices for women are culminated in the Philadelphia and Kansas City regions where women comprise only 10 percent and 5

Chart 12. RANKING OF ADMINISTRATIONS AND REGIONS BY USE INDEX FOR WOMEN PROFESSIONALS, NATIONWIDE,

Source:

0

.20

.83

.40

.60

.80

1.0

.52

.20

.40

.60

.80

1.0

Chart 13. PERCENT OF PROFESSIONALS WHO ARE FEMALE, BY ADMINISTRATION AND GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION, MARCH 31, 1971

Chart 14. AVERAGE SALARY OF FEMALE PROFESSIONALS AS A PERCENT OF THAT FOR ALL PROFESSIONALS, BY ADMINISTRATION AND GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION, MARCH 31, 1971

percent, respectively, of the professional workforce.

(Chart 12, p. 40).

d. Summary

This study has disclosed pervasive and substantial underutilization of minorities and women in the Department. This underutilization is evident by examining the status of these employees Department-wide. Blacks and females are inequitably distributed Nationwide and under-repre

sented in the Field. The nonblack minorities are under

represented Nationwide, but most acutely in the National Office. Moreover, examining the status of minorities in

each administration reveals that underutilization in DOL

is more severe than that shown by the Department-wide analysis.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCC)

uses a method of measuring minority employment status developed by Professor Robert McKersie of the University of Chicago. The method focuses on two basic statistics, the

penetration and occupation ratios, to describe minority

employment in an establishment.

The penetration ratio