actual amount of underutilization is generally more severe than that shown Department-wide since the goals for minority and female employment apply to each National Office and Field unit of every administration. The Department may meet a goal at the Department-wide level, but may fail to meet that same goal in a particular administration. criteria for minority and female employment used in this report do not allow for an administration with an equitable employment situation to compensate for the failings of

another administration.

The

The section discussing underutili

zation in each administration supplies the full picture of underutilization in the Department. The extent of underutilization in each administration will be shown by a "use

index."

In addition, the section on the underutilization of blacks presents a historical perspective of their employment status. The data were not available to conduct this

type of analysis for nonblack minorities or women.

a.

Status of blacks

Department-wide

The proportion which blacks comprise of the Department's

professional workforce, 14 percent, meets the minimum cri

teria that we established for their representation on a Nationwide basis. Black males constitute 8 percent and

black females 6 percent of all professionals.

p. 252).

(Table 1,

The basis on which blacks are underutilized in the

Department, Nationwide, is in terms of their distribution within the professional classification.

Examining the

proportion of professional employees who are black at each grade discloses that they make up a very large segment of the grades GS 5, 7, 9, and 11--45 percent, 20 percent, 26 percent, and 17 percent, respectively in each grade. On the other hand, blacks comprise at most 10 percent, but generally less than this proportion of the employees in each grade above GS-11 (with the exception of GS-18 where

two of the eight employees at this level are black).7/

This same pattern prevails among black men and women. For example, black males account for 5 percent of all male GS-16's and GS-17's. (Chart 2, p. 19 ).

1/The ADP records for GS-18 are not correct.

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 com8/

bined into a Nationwide index for that administration.

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