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News Release
Monday, April 5, 2004
Tel: 202-606-2402
OPM Associate Director says Federal Government is a Leading Employer of Women
OPM report shows federal government leads private sector in giving women opportunities on the executive levels
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Associate Director, Marta Brito Perez addressed over 600 Federal employees, managers and military service members at the Baltimore Federal Executive Boards' Federal Women's Conference with the message that the Federal government is an employer of choice for women. Perez cited the high scores governmentwide and findings from the recent OPM Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program (FEORP) report which revealed increased representation of women as Federal executives and managers in the Federal workforce.
"Federal agencies are continually reaching out to traditionally underrepresented groups to make this workforce as diverse as possible," Perez said on behalf of OPM Director Kay Coles James. "While the advancement of women shown in the FEORP report is noteworthy, there is still work to be done. However, the data clearly shows that women all across America are finding the Federal government as a viable and competitive option to the private sector as they plan their careers. This is great news during Women's History Month."
The FEORP report notes women are climbing the Federal ladder in significant numbers. In the highest pay levels of government, the number of women represented in the general schedule pay system increased by 4.5 percent and the number of women represented in the senior pay levels increased by 2.5 percent.
According to the OPM report, women are moving out of traditionally clerical roles into careers which lead to higher grades. Overall gains made by women in professional and administrative positions rose 9,395 (2.6 percent), from 356,289 in 2002 to 365,684 in 2003. Women in professional occupations in the Federal workforce increased by 2.4 percent, and women in technical occupations represented 61.1 percent of the workforce in that category.
Occupational trends also show the percentage of women in the top three grades of the General Schedule (GS-13 to GS-15) through the Senior Executive Service and other executive levels jumped by 4,976 from 109,819 (32.4 percent) in 2002 to 114,795 (33.0 percent) in 2003.
Statistics contained in the FEORP report are used by agencies to determine whether disparities exist in minority and non-minority employment.
During Women's History Month, OPM continued its aggressive program and outreach campaign to recruit a more diverse Federal workforce. Recruitment teams were deployed to women colleges and universities across the nation. The agency staffed recruitment booths at Trinity College in Washington, DC; Lexington College in Chicago, IL; Wesleyan College in Macon, GA; Bennett College in Greensboro, NC; and College of Notre Dame in Baltimore, MD and demonstrated the www.usajobs.gov website, the highly successful one stop resource to gain access to the many opportunities available in the Federal government. Since its launch in August 2003, the on-line one stop service for Federal vacancies currently boasts almost 40 million unique visitors and almost half a million new resumes have been posted online by job candidates.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the leader in workforce management for the federal government. Our agency builds, strengthens, and serves a federal workforce of 2.2 million employees with programs like hiring assistance, healthcare and insurance, retirement benefits, and much more. We provide agencies with policies, guidance, and best practices for supporting federal workers, so they can best serve the American people.