Senior Executive Service: Diversity Increased in the Past Decade

This report analyzes the gender and racial/ethnic diversity in the career Senior Executive Service (SES) governmentwide. GAO examines (1) whether the composition of the career SES changed during the 10-year period ending in fiscal year 1999 to include more minorities and women, (2) what proportion of women and minorities were appointed to the career SES annually during this 10-year period and whether the appointments reflected the SES "pipeline"--the group from which new SES members were generally appointed, and (3) how the representation of women and minority employees in the career SES as of fiscal year 1999 compared with other labor forces. GAO found that the representation of women and minorities in the career SES steadily increased during the 1990's, with the proportion of women going from 10 percent in 1990 to 22 percent in 1999. Similarly, the percentage of minority members went from seven percent to about 13 percent. The vast majority of these appointments came from within the ranks of GS-15 employees. Women and minorities had a somewhat lower representation in the SES when compared to other labor forces.