higher grades having a greater turnover rate than all employees in these grades. The time-in-grade analysis, however, specifies that promotions and hires, themselves, were not sufficient to gain parity for minorities and women, assuming that they had the same turnover as all profession

als.

In terms of availability, the time-in-grade data show that there are significant numbers of blacks in both the National Office and the Field having the time-in-grade which enables most employees to advance. Having a significant amount of time-in-grade does not imply that an employee is qualified to be promoted, but it does mean that the lack of experience at a particular grade would not present an obstacle to his advancement. However, even though

a significant number of blacks in the higher grades have the experience in grade to advance, a relatively larger number of white professionals have this experience. inasmuch as entries into each grade can be said to be a

Thus

function of the length of time-in-grade of employees in the preceeding grades, the entry rate of blacks in each of the higher grades will be lower than the rate for whites.

This

situation, together with the absence of significant gains for blacks in progressing to higher grades over the last year further illustrates the need for affirmative action. (Tables 19-90, pp. 433-68 ).

One additional factor to consider is the very substantial time-in-grade of the lower grade professionals. Forty-eight percent of GS-5's, 30 percent of GS-7's, and 49 percent of GS-9's have time-in-grade of over one year although professionals were supposed to be promoted each year through these grades to GS-11. In addition, there are 87 professionals in grades GS-6, 8, and 10, even though professionals are not supposed to occupy these grades. Either these employees with more than one year of time-in-grade or in grades GS-6, 8, or 10 were denied career ladders or they were incorrectly classified as professionals. spotcheck of these individuals disclosed that some were doing professional work whereas others were nonprofessionals incorrectly classified as professionals. (Table 16,

24/

A

p. 431; Table 5, p. 2541.

24/

See p. 221, part d, of the statistical appendix, and p.118 of the upgrading section for a more complete discussion of this.

In pursuing the implications of possibly having em

ployees listed as professionals who were, in fact, nonprofessionals, the Task Force developed a set of data which removed all of these questionable employees from the pro

fessional classification. 25/ The status of minorities and

women in this revised set of data changes somewhat, but does not differ substantially from the previous findings. In comparison with these results, the new set of data show that blacks and women professionals have a slightly lower representation, and that the difference between their average salary and that of all professionals decreases a little. In addition, the length of service for black and female professionals declines a little, while educational

attainment increases somewhat. We find that even if all the

professionals who might possibly be nonprofessionals were listed as such, the results of the statistical study re26/

main basically unchanged.

25/

Professionals in grades GS-5, 7, and 9 with more than eighteen months of time-in-grade, and professionals in grades GS-6, 8, and 10 were listed as nonprofessionals.

26/

The set of data excluding all the professionals who might possibly be nonprofessionals from the professional classification is available in the EEO office.

Women

In terms of mobility the time-in-grade data disclose

that, over the last year, female professionals in the De

partment have been entering the higher grade positions at There was no progress

a slower rate than all professionals.

for women in the National Office or the Field toward achiev

ing parity, or even an equitable distribution. and 18, pp. 65-66).

(Charts 17

The overall pattern of time-in-grade for female professionals is very similar to that for male professionals. A slightly larger proportion of women professionals in the higher grades have more than a year of time-in-grade. Certainly the absence of sufficient time-in-grade would not present any obstacle to women having a greater entry rate than all professionals. (Tables 19–90, p. 433-68).

Nonblack minorities

The time-in-grade data do not disclose any new information concerning the status of the nonblack minorities.

This is because most of the underutilization of the nonblack

minorities is in terms of their under-representation in the professional ranks, rather than according to their distribution

This section has analyzed the nature of various factors that determine an employee's status and has examined how these explanatory factors are related to the underutilization of minorities and women. This analysis has disclosed several main points. The explanatory factors account for some of the underutilization of minorities and women. However, this represents a small portion The major part of their underutilization remains unexplained by factors other than race or sex. The correlation analysis will specify this further. In addition, present rates of hiring and promoting

of the underutilization.

minorities and women are not sufficient to overcome their

underutilization within a decade.

2.

Correlation Analysis on Salary

In previous sections, we considered whether the potentially explanatory factors of age, education, and

length of government service could account for the differences in average salaries between minorities and all em

ployees and between women and all employees. Each of these