Thread: Disputing Citizenship's Role for Hispanics in Gov. Service

Hispanic leaders, however, said the GAO had gone down the wrong track with its analysis. Democratic and Republican presidents have called for a government that reflects the diversity of the nation, they said, and the goal should be a federal workforce that matches the percentage of Hispanics in the population, not the percentage who are citizens.

Disputing Citizenship's Role for Hispanics in Government Service

By Stephen Barr
Monday, September 25, 2006; Page D04

Federal employment reports have consistently described Hispanics "as underrepresented in the government compared to the civilian labor force."

The Office of Personnel Management, in a report on fiscal 2005 employment patterns, said Hispanics make up 7.4 percent of the federal workforce, compared with 12.6 percent of the nation's labor force

But a study by the Government Accountability Office, the congressional auditing agency, questions whether such a gap exists.

The GAO constructed a statistical model, using 2000 census data, to determine whether citizenship and education help explain the disparity in Hispanic workforce representation. The GAO found that:

· After accounting for citizenship, Hispanics were nearly as likely as non-Hispanics to be employed in the federal workforce.

· When comparing citizens with similar levels of education, Hispanics were 16 percent more likely than non-Hispanics to be employed in the federal workforce as opposed to other sectors in the labor force.

The GAO selected the two factors because a 1976 White House order and congressional directives restrict hiring for civil service jobs to U.S. citizens (though there are exceptions for some positions) and because the federal workforce contains a larger percentage of occupations that require higher levels of education.

Hispanic leaders, however, said the GAO had gone down the wrong track with its analysis. Democratic and Republican presidents have called for a government that reflects the diversity of the nation, they said, and the goal should be a federal workforce that matches the percentage of Hispanics in the population, not the percentage who are citizens.

Brent A. Wilkes , national director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, called the GAO report "very disappointing." He said, "It has given the folks in the government who have been reluctant to reach out and hire Hispanics the ammunition not to do so by focusing on citizenship."

Hispanic groups have noted that lack of citizenship is not a bar to military service. According to the Pentagon, about 35,000 green-card holders and other noncitizens serve in the military. About 8,000 permanent resident immigrants enlist every year.

Manuel Mirabal , president of the National Puerto Rican Coalition, said: "What this report will accomplish, unfortunately, is that federal agencies will take it to mean that they don't have to do anything, that it is okay. It is not okay."

Gilbert Sandate , who heads the Coalition for Fairness for Hispanics in Government, said the GAO report "minimizes the magnitude and impact of the Hispanic employment crisis and fails to provide a clear assessment of the problems affecting Hispanic employment in the federal workforce."

The GAO, Sandate said, did not consider discrimination as a factor in Hispanic employment. Too many Hispanics in government are clustered at the lowest grade levels, and the percentage of Hispanics at the top of the career civil service appears to be declining, he said.

Last year, the government employed 125,419 Hispanics in full-time civil service jobs, with 557 in "senior pay" positions, according to the OPM. Customs and Border Protection officer and customer-service representative were among the leading occupations in government for Hispanics, data collected by the GAO showed.

In its report, the GAO said it did not analyze whether discrimination against or attitudes toward Hispanics affected workforce representation. The analysis also did not seek to explain differences by grade, pay level, agency and other categories, the GAO said.

A part of the GAO report focused on how the OPM, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other agencies make workforce comparisons. The databases used by those agencies do not divide the nation's labor force into citizens and noncitizens and, as a result, do not show how citizenship affects federal employment practices, the GAO said.

The GAO recommended that the OPM and the EEOC include citizenship in their annual comparisons on the demographics of the federal workforce and the nation's labor force. In their reviews of the report, the GAO said, the EEOC and the OPM did not comment on that recommendation.

John M. Palguta, vice president for policy at the Partnership for Public Service, will discuss the challenges of federal recruitment on Federal Diary Live at noon Wednesday on washingtonpost.com. My e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00696.html

Hispanic leaders, however, said the GAO had gone down the wrong track with its analysis. Democratic and Republican presidents have called for a government that reflects the diversity of the nation, they said, and the goal should be a federal workforce that matches the percentage of Hispanics in the population, not the percentage who are citizens.

He who has the most babies, the tax payers foot the bill for, wins? I don't think so. Object for the government is for the best interest for all.....not just their group. And it's very quickly being shown that anyone who isn't Hispanic isn't going to have a voice at all under their rule.

This seriously needs to be looked at...and plans need to be put into place so that this CANNOT happen! We know what their agenda is ... so this needs to be taken care of also!

I have a dumb question.

Federal employment reports have consistently described Hispanics "as underrepresented in the government compared to the civilian labor force."

After accounting for citizenship, Hispanics were nearly as likely as non-Hispanics to be employed in the federal workforce.

When comparing citizens with similar levels of education, Hispanics were 16 percent more likely than non-Hispanics to be employed in the federal workforce as opposed to other sectors in the labor force.

Supposing those three things are indeed irrefutable, then does it not imply that there are certain jobs that legal hispanics will not do, as they accuse the rest of us in regards to working on farms and such?

I mean a job is a job regardless if it's "civilian" or not, right?