Summary: This article appeared in the GAO Review, Vol. 15, Issue 3, Summer 1980. GAO employs Hispanic Americans and works on national issues which affect Hispanics, such as bilingual education. It has a special emphasis program to hire Hispanics, which is not a quota system or job giveaway program, but an outreach effort to get more Hispanics to seek employment with GAO. GAO Hispanic employment is far below the proportion of Hispanics in the population of business graduates. Other Government agencies have been more successful in their efforts to attract Hispanic employees. Recent civil service reform changes in minority recruitment, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) rating of managers, and GAO commitment to EEO give reasons for optimism in future improvement. Recent GAO reviews with special relevance for Hispanics have included those on the illegal flow of drugs and people from Mexico, the status of Puerto Rico, and the Panama Canal Treaty. The Hispanic staff, with their unique linguistic and cultural insights, can enrich GAO work in these areas.
