Summary: GAO discussed the results of its investigation concerning the hiring, promotion, and retention of women and minorities in the federal government. GAO found that: (1) the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requires federal agencies to prepare multiyear plans and to update them and report accomplishments annually; (2) women and minorities were often underrepresented, especially at higher grade levels; (3) agencies varied greatly in the degree of overall progress they made; (4) 27 agencies complied with the EEOC requirement that they identify major occupations in their affirmative employment plans; (5) agencies could conduct additional analyses of numerical data to develop representation indexes and estimates of the number of additional individuals needed to attain full representation in major occupations; and (6) by not identifying major occupation representation levels by grade level, agencies are unable to determine whether women and minorities were concentrated at certain grade levels.
