Federal Government Leading Employer Of Women
The Federal government is an employer of choice for women says U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Associate Director, Marta Brito Perez, citing 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.
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.
