Latinos Still Underrepresented In Federal Employment System
A report released by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), this week found some gains in the number of minorities being hired to federal positions. The report, “Annual Report on the Federal Work Force Part II: Work Force Statistics, Fiscal Year (FY) 2010,” took into account employment numbers at 64 federal agencies.
When it came to Latinos in the report, of 2.8 million people in the employ of the federal government, 7.9% were Latino. Specifically, this means that there are about 133,100 Latinos and about 92,000 Latinas working for the federal government.
The report noted that Latinos were among the groups that made the most gains in the last 10 years, in as far as securing senior-level positions, about 52%, while the overall increase of Latino federal employees was about 50%. Breaking this down into numbers, this means there are 389 Latinos and 130 Latinas who qualify as “senior pay level” employees for the federal government.
Latinos still remain underrepresented in the federal employment system, as compared to their population in the country as a whole, about 16% as of the 2010 Census. Other groups that were underrepresented included women, multiracial men and white women.
In a statement, EEOC Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien said these numbers showed that there is room for improvement in the federal hiring system. She noted that, “The EEOC will continue to work with federal government leaders to identify and remove barriers to equal employment opportunity and promote diversity and inclusion in the federal workplace.”
Some more figures on the 2.8 million people employed by the federal government by race include:
- 65.4% were White,
- 17.9% were Black or African American,
- 7.9% were Hispanic or Latino,
- 5.9% were Asian,
- 1.6% were American Indian or Alaska Native,
- .08% were persons of two or more races, and
- .04% were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
