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Federal Service equal opportunities.-Government policy prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Executive Order 11478, and implementing regulations and instructions issued by the Civil Service Commission, call for the application of this policy as an integral part of personnel administration. During 1971, 14,936 Federal employees and applicants contacted equal employment opportunity counselors for advice and assistance.

The head of each Federal executive department and agency is charged with establishing and maintaining an affirmative program of equal employment opportunity in his agency.

Agency programs are documented in written plans of action, with many including the use of numerical goals and timetables as an effective affirmative personnel management tool. Careful consideration is also given to assure that recruitment activities reach all sources of job candidates, that present employee skills are fully utilized, and that upward mobility programs and opportunities are provided.

Outlays for Federal civil service equal employment opportunity programs will increase by 16% in the 2 years, 1971 to 1973, to $32 million. Man-years will increase by 336 to 2,455. Although firm projections on the results of these increased efforts are difficult to make, the favorable trends observed in recent years should continue.

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212

THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 1973

As of May 31, 1971, nearly one-fifth (19.5%) of Federal employees were members of minority groups. Despite a decrease in overall Federal employment, there has been a continuing trend of more minorities in Federal service and increased opportunities for minorities in the middle and upper grade and pay levels. (See chart 2.) Under general schedule and similar pay plans, more than 13,000 minority employees were hired between November 1969 and May 1971, and minority increases in the middle and upper grade levels occurred at much faster rates than for nonminorities. As of October 31, 1970, women occupied 33.2% of Federal white-collar positions. Five thousand more women held positions at GS-7 through GS-12 than in the previous year. At the same time, the number of women holding positions at levels GS-13 and above increased by 7%.

Two special programs have been set up to address the problems observed in implementing equal employment goals in the Federal Government. Within the overall equal employment opportunity program, the Federal women's program addresses the particular employment needs and problems of women, and the Spanish-speaking program implements a 16-point Presidential mandate on opportunities for Spanish-speaking citizens.

The placement of 621 women in middle-management executive jobs (GS-13-GS-15) between April and December 1971, and of 1,151 Spanish-speaking Americans to Federal jobs, between May 1970 and May 1971 is largely attributable to the special efforts of these programs. Additional progress was evidenced by the appointment of 79 women and 23 Spanish-speaking Americans since 1969 to the highest executive positions in the Federal structure ($28,129 to $42,500), many of which had never been held by either a minority employee or a woman before.

Military services equal opportunities.—Each of the military services have placed equal opportunity officers and their staffs at various levels within their individual command structures. They guide, monitor, and evaluate all matters pertaining to the equal opportunity and treatment of military personnel and their dependents and are responsible for and participate in race relations councils, seminars, and training. In 1973, outlays for providing equal opportunities for members of the armed services will increase 38% to $28.3 million. An additional 550 man-years will be devoted to these efforts.

The Defense Race Relations Institute, located at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., trains officers and enlisted men for service with their units as instructors. Training and education in race relations are also included in service schools ranging from basic training to the senior service colleges. Special programs are also designed to increase minority participation in skilled jobs, examine current testing procedures for cultural bias, and to develop race relations handbooks. Recruiting efforts are increasing to insure balanced minority participation in the military services. All services have increased the

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percentage of minority recruiters. In the service academies, an example of success can be found in the current school year freshman class. The enrollment of 126 black freshmen exceeds the number of minority graduates for the preceding decade, and total black student population has risen from 128 in 1969 to 299 in 1971.

Private employment.-Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin by either employers, unions, or employment agencies. Executive Order 11246, as amended, requires Federal Government contractors to provide similar opportunities. The agencies charged with these responsibilities, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Justice Department, and the Office of Federal Contracts Compliance and 15 cooperating agencies will receive $66.3 million in resources in 1973, an increase of 33%.

The 1973 budget of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will allow it to increase the size of its regional office staff and increase investigations and conciliations. Projected cash benefits resulting from Commission conciliations will grow from $2.2 million in 1969 to $18.9 million in 1973. The Commission will double in 1973 the amount of its grants to State and local agencies responsible for the administration of State and local equal employment opportunity laws from $1.5 million to $3 million. These additional resources will allow such agencies to expand their capabilities, particularly on those cases referred by the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Enforcement of title VII is the responsibility of the Justice Department which enters into litigation to secure compliance with the law where it finds patterns or practices of employment discrimination in labor unions, companies, or industries. In 1973, expenditures in this area by the Justice Department will increase by 35% and enable the Department to initiate additional cases. The effectiveness of this program can be measured by the numerous favorable court decisions and consent decrees and their results: a significant increase in the number of jobs opened to minority persons and women. The rate of corrective consent decrees obtained by negotiation in employment pattern and practice cases has more than doubled in the first 6 months of 1972, compared with 1971.

Executive Order 11246 prohibits the practice of discrimination in Federal contracts, subcontracts, and on federally assisted construction projects. Nondiscrimination assurances cover construction as well as industrial work forces and require affirmative action on the part of recipients of Federal contract moneys to promote the equal employment of minorities and, under recently revised guidelines, women. Approximately 300,000 new hires and promotions have been promised in such action plans. In 1973, those Federal agencies responsible for implementing this order will spend $33.7 million, more than double the 1971 outlay of $16.4 million. The number of compliance reviews performed under this program will also continue to increase-12,300 (1969); 22,500 (1971); and 52,000 (1973).

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Twenty-five "citywide" plans for affirmative action in the construction industry, including the well-known "Philadelphia plan," have either been signed or imposed setting goals and timetables for the employment of 28,000 additional minorities by craft. By the end of 1973, these plans should be operating in 100 cities.

Efforts begun in 1972 to increase the effectiveness of both title VII and Executive Order 11246 will be continued. Such efforts include the implementation of a performance management system 2 in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and improved techniques of compliance review and management in contract compliance agencies.

Other highlights include:

The Federal Communications Commission, an independent regulatory agency, will spend $0.3 million in 1973 to investigate complaints of employment discrimination by broadcasters and common carriers and to review licensees' annual reports of empioyment patterns.

• The Department of Labor will spend $1.8 million in administering the Equal Pay Act. In 1971, $15 million in back wages was found owed to 35,000 women as a result of such efforts.

2 Under this system, managers define explicit program objectives, establish time-phased performance targets consistent with available resources, and then periodically must report comparisons of accomplishments against targets.

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Equal educational opportunity.-The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Justice Department have primary responsibility for assuring equal educational opportunity in public schools for all citizens on a nondiscriminatory basis and to assure that there is no discrimination against either faculty or administrators. In 1973, education programs in support of these goals will be funded for $1.1 billion, including capital assistance to predominantly black colleges (developing institutions and land-grant colleges). Outlays will grow by 179% to $455 million.

To enforce Federal laws requiring equal educational opportunities for public school students, the Justice Department will spend $2.5 million in the coming year, 39% more than in 1971. Though substantial compliance with the contitutional mandate has been achieved in recent years, the Justice Department continues its enforcement supervision in 255 cases involving 530 school systems.

The desegregation of schools is progressing nationwide. On a national scale, the number of black students in all black schools has decreased from 40% in 1968 to an estimated 12% in 1971 and, in the South, from 68% in 1968 to an estimated 9% in 1971.

Currently, the Federal Government is also taking steps to end the discrimination against Spanish-speaking and other non-Englishspeaking pupils through the provision of bilingual and bicultural education programs.

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