OP ED JORGE PONCE: LATINO REPRESENTATION IN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS LACKING

In June, the Office of Personnel Management released the Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program report for fiscal year 2011. 

As the acronym implies, the report painted a “FEO” or “ugly” picture of the representation of Hispanics in the federal government.  

After three years of no growth from 2008 through 2010, the latest report showed that the Hispanic representation in the federal workforce increased by only  0.1% from FY 2010 to FY 2011. 

In four years, from 2008 through 2011, the representation of Hispanics in the federal workforce increased by a mere 0.1 percent and currently stands at 8.1 percent, while the representation of Hispanics in the civilian labor force increased from 13.2 percent in 2008 to 13.6 percent in 2011. With this rate of increase, the federal government might as well close up shop and go home.   

Now, there are those who want to make the best out of a bad situation. They say that the total number of Hispanics actually increased by nearly 4,000 in FY 2011.  

But to assess the progress made, one cannot look at just the numeric increase; one needs to look also at the percentage increase. A 0.1 percent increase in four years does not justify a fireworks celebration – not if you want to avoid a call to testify at a congressional hearing.  

Next, they say that the Hispanic representation increased in the professional category by 764 and by 1,828 in the administrative category in FY 2011.