EEOC: Federal Affirmative Planning Responsibilities

GAO discussed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) role in creating a federal workforce that is discrimination free and reflects the nation's population. GAO noted that: (1) EEOC must work with federal agencies to better identify employment barriers for women and minorities; (2) the representation of women and minorities in the federal workforce has increased between 1982 and 1993; (3) some groups are not fully represented in the federal workforce as a whole; (4) black women are better represented in the federal workforce than in the civilian labor force; (5) many agencies have submitted affirmative employment plans late and often do not perform work-force analyses as required; (6) EEOC does not encourage federal agencies to analyze trends in hiring, training and development, promotion, and separation that would be useful in achieving affirmative employment goals; (7) EEOC does not collect information on the minority and gender composition of the applicant population that would assist recruitment activities and increase work-force diversity; and (8) EEOC must provide stronger leadership in assisting agencies in affirmative employment planning and achieving a representative workforce at higher grade levels.