BACKGROUND 

This Administration has an unequivocal commitment to a Federal workforce that reflects the greatness of our nation’s diversity.  To date, that commitment has not been fully met.

According to the latest census, Hispanics represent over 12.5 percent of the general population.  They also represent 11.8 percent of the national civilian labor force (CLF), the measure used to determine whether groups are adequately represented in the Federal ranks.  However, only 6.6 percent of permanent Federal employees1 are Hispanic. They are the only underrepresented minority group in the Federal workforce.  Reports from several Federal agencies, including OPM, the General Accounting Office (GAO), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MPSB) have confirmed this fact. 

Executive Order 13171 of October 12, 2000, affirms ongoing policies and establishes additional policies designed to improve Hispanic representation in the Federal service. The Executive Order assigns major responsibilities to Federal agencies as well as to OPM.  Each Federal agency is required to take steps to establish and maintain a program for the recruitment and career development of Hispanics in Federal employment.  These agency programs must reflect a continuing priority for eliminating Hispanic under-representation in the Federal workforce and incorporate actions under the Order as strategies for achieving workforce diversity goals in the agency's Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Annual Performance Plan.  

OPM's responsibilities under the Executive Order are twofold: 

1.      Establish and chair an Interagency Task Force with representation at the level of Deputy Secretary or equivalent to carry out the various goals and responsibilities outlined in the Order, and  

2.      Issue an annual report to the President beginning on October 12, 2001, with findings and recommendations on the progress made by agencies on matters related to this Order.  

Under the leadership of the Director of OPM, the Interagency Task Force was established and convened on October 4, 2001.  This is the first annual report to the President.  In addition, an interagency Working Group was established to assist OPM in implementing the Executive Order.

 The Working Group determined that it was essential to survey all Federal agencies to obtain critical information to meet the requirements of the Executive Order and to help OPM prepare its report to the President.  Specifically, agencies were asked to provide: 

1.      A list of specific practices that had worked best for improving the agency's recruitment, retention, and promotion of Hispanics, and how these aligned with the agency’s Annual Performance Plan under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA).

2.      The number of hiring opportunities the agency projected or had identified for Fiscal Year 2002.

1 This is based on OPM' s Central Personnel Data File (CPDF), which collects information from most Executive Branch agencies (except the Postal Service, the Postal Rate Commission, and the intelligence agencies) and a few Legislative Branch agencies.

Download 127k PDF Version of this Report