Chart 15. AVERAGE LENGTH OF GOVERNMENT SERVICE BY GS GRADE, RACE, AND SEX, NATIONWIDE, MARCH 31, 1971

Source: Table 1, p. 424.

Based on these findings and the substantial time-ingrade of employees in the lower professional positions, the Task Force investigated these jobs and the individuals occupying them. A more detailed explanation is given in the time-in-grade section and in the statisti

cal appendix of this report. 15 The two main conclusions

reached are that some of the professionals in the lower grades are in technical or nonprofessional jobs and that some are in fact professionals who have been stagnated in their jobs because they were denied career ladders.

Another possible explanation, which this study was unable to explore, of the substantial service of employees in the lower professional positions is that some of the employees in these jobs had advanced there from the nonprofessional ranks.

An additional method of investigating the extent of underutilization that could be associated with length of service is to examine the average salary of black professionals compared to all professionals who have the same amount of service. The average salary of black professionals with less than one year of service was compared

15/p. 221, part d.

This

to the average salary of all professionals with less than one year of service, and this comparison was continued for two year intervals up to 40 years of service. analysis discloses that length of service does not explain any of the underutilization of blacks. Comparing the average salary only between black professionals and all other professionals who have the same length of service shows that blacks earn 85 percent of the average for all employees. It may be recalled that the examination of underutilization which did not take length of service into account also showed that the average salary of black professionals was 85 percent of that for all professionals. Thus the difference between the average salary of blacks and that for all professionals remains the same whether or not length of service is taken into account. ently, length of service does not explain the inequitable distribution of black professionals. Among males and females in both the National Office and the Field, the difference in average salary between black professionals and all professionals is every bit as large standardizing for length of service as a straight comparison that ignores

Appar

this factor. (Table 6, pp. 247; and Tables 10-12, pp. 428

-29).

The differences noted above in average salary between black professionals and all professionals having equivalent government service are not constant over all levels of service. Rather the differences are smaller for professionals with low government service, and the disparity becomes greater as government service increases. This pattern indicates that the underutilization of black professionals in the Department occurs as they do not progress into the higher grades after gaining the experience which enables most professionals to enter these positions.

(Tables 10-12, pp. 428-29 ).

Examining length of DOL service sheds some additional light on the status of blacks in the Department. Black professionals tend to have government experience outside DOL to a greater extent than all professionals, especially among men in the Field. Apparently, a substantial proportion of the black professionals hired by the Department over the last six years came from other government agencies. Some of their underutilization appears to have occurred in these agencies. However, the relationship between govern

ment service and their underutilization also applies for Professionals in the lower grades have very

DOL service.

substantial DOL service and this is especially true for blacks. Grade does not rise for black professionals as

DOL service increases to the extent that it does for all

professionals.

The difference in average salary between

black professionals and all professionals with equal DOL service is nearly as large as a straight comparison that

does not take DOL service into account.

Nonblack minorities

16/

The average length of service of nonblack minority professionals is 12 years. This is 11⁄2 years less than the average for all professionals 13/21⁄2 years. This differ

-

ence prevails through grades GS 5-15. Except for males in the Field, the nonblack minorities have been able to overcome their less service and earn the same salary as all professionals.

(Tables 1-3, pp. 424-25).

Comparing the average salary of nonblack minority professionals to all professionals with equal service

16/

A series of tables using DOL service is available in the EEO office.