Federal Daily - February 14, 2008
Federal Work Force Study Shows Mixed Picture
The annual Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program (FEORP) report released Feb. 12 by the Office
of Personnel Management (OPM) shows a mixed picture of federal workforce diversity in comparison with
the private sector, with some minorities represented in larger proportions in the federal work force,
and others lagging. Black workers made advances in the year, representing 17.8 percent (301,176) of
the federal work force in 2007, compared to 17.6 percent (296,351) in 2006. Black representation in
the Civilian Labor Force (CLF) was 10.1 percent in 2007, the same as in 2006. Hispanic workers, however,
remain underrepresented in the federal work force. Hispanics represented 7.8 percent of the federal
work force, compared to 13.3 percent of the CLF. Also, the federal government is slightly behind the
CLF in the employment of women; who represent 43.9 percent of the federal work force, compared to 45.7
percent of the CLF, the report said. Overall, the report showed the total number of permanent federal
workers grew fractionally in Fiscal Year 2007—just 0.6 percent. The work force added only 9,792
workers, to reach 1,696,009.
www.opm.gov/feorpreports/2007/feorp2007.pdf.
:: Back to Top ::
NTEU Gives Panel Poor Review of Alternative Pay Systems
The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) urged lawmakers to put the brakes on the growing proportion
of federal employees who are being compensated outside the General Schedule (GS) pay system. In testimony
Feb. 12 before a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee, NTEU President Colleen Kelley
characterized a number of federal pay-for-performance systems as failed experiments. While such systems
must be open, credible and fair to succeed—and managers must be well trained in how to compensate
employees, Kelley said, many of the existing alternate systems fail by these standards. Kelley gave
as an example the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which recently agreed with an NTEU demand to drop
its alternate pay system for the 2007 rating period when confronted by a majority of employees who
disapproved of it. “It is a mystery to me where the evidence is that these systems have produced
successes to justify putting them in place throughout the federal government,” Kelley said. To
see more, go to: www.nteu.org.
:: Back to Top ::
Army, VA Sign Agreement for Wounded Vets
The Army announced Feb. 12 that it had signed a Mutual Support Agreement (MSA) with the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) to help wounded servicemembers and their families as they transition through
the military’s Disability Evaluation System (DES). The MSA formalizes the current arrangement
in which the Army provides nurse case managers, legal assistance, physical evaluation board liaison
officers, primary care managers and other service-specific support, the Army said in a statement. For
its part, VA will continue providing information on how medical evidence is used in VA evaluation of
disabilities, as well as assistance for servicemembers as they prepare documentation for VA benefit
claims. “By providing VA support to soldiers, this agreement formalizes a resource that will
help them get the health care and benefits they earned with their service,” said Army Secretary
Pete Geren. To see more, go to: www.army.mil/-newsreleases/2008/02/12/7414-army-va-sign-mutual-support-agreement.
:: Back to Top ::
|
