By Alyssa Rosenberg arosenberg@govexec.com
April 4, 2008
Lawmakers sharply criticized the Office of Personnel Management and agencies for failing to advance diversity in the Senior Executive Service at a joint hearing of the House and Senate's federal workforce subcommittees on Thursday.
"Despite the outreach and federal requirements, agencies just haven't been up to the task of promoting diversity in the senior ranks in a way that is convincing," said Rep. Charles Gonzalez, D-Texas. "Members of our communities can no longer wait for agencies to wake up and discover that they need to include diversity in their succession planning. Agencies by themselves cannot and will not do it."
The lawmakers expressed dismay at a Government Accountability Office report that found the number of African-American men in SES positions fell from 5.5 percent in October 2000 to 5 percent in September 2007. The same report found that the representation of women and minorities in the SES, and in General Schedule levels 14 and 15 -- employees most likely to become senior executives -- had increased since 2000.
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