Hispanic underrepresentation not government’s fault, GAO finds

Disappointing Hispanic groups, government auditors concluded that a lack of citizenship and education are the primary drivers behind underrepresentation of Hispanics in the federal workforce -- not neglect or discrimination on the government's behalf.

In a long-anticipated report (GAO-06-932) released Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office found that when accounting for citizenship and education, Hispanics were actually 16 percent more likely than similarly educated non-Hispanic citizens to hold jobs in the federal government.

In 2005, Hispanics made up 12.6 percent of the civilian labor force but only 7.4 percent of the federal workforce, following a long trend of underrepresentation in government. But federal jobs, unlike some private sector opportunities, require U.S. citizenship and, often, higher degrees.

For years, Hispanic groups have decried the gap in private-public Hispanic employment. They argue that it leads to poor policy decisions, less federal money and fewer quality jobs for the Hispanic population.

In August, a coalition of 40 Hispanic groups, called the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, released its own report accusing the Office of Personnel Management of a failure in leadership and an unwillingness to hold agencies accountable for the gap. Two years ago, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus asked the GAO to investigate the disparity.

"We just thought there could be a more thorough study of it, and of course the gold standard usually would be the GAO," Rep. Charles Gonzalez, D-Texas, told Government Executive in June. "It's not that anyone sets out to discriminate; it's just that certain practices and such don't address that particular population."

The NHLA eagerly awaited the GAO's findings.

"We had expected that the report was going to provide once and for all a sweeping look, a broad approach look, to the problems or the issue surrounding this question of Hispanic representation in the federal workforce," said Gilbert Sandate on behalf of the NHLA.

But the GAO's primary recommendation for OPM, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the agencies they oversee, was to take citizenship into account when crunching diversity numbers. Such a move could take pressure off agencies to recruit more Hispanics.

"The GAO report … minimizes the magnitude and impact of the Hispanic employment crisis," Sandate said. "Most importantly, it fails to provide solutions to address this crisis."

He said the report's focus on two variables is not comprehensive enough. For example, it did not evaluate discrimination as a variable.

"The report does not clarify where Hispanics stand in the federal workforce today," Sandate said. "The statistical model merely estimates the odds of a likely outcome given a set of controlled variables. The GAO has not concluded in its report that Hispanics are underrepresented, are at parity or are overrepresented in today's federal workforce."

He said the coalition likely will ask the caucus to push for congressional hearings on the matter.