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A revealing look at racial diversity in the federal government

As leaders in the Biden administration move to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in government, they need a clear picture of the racial and ethnic makeup of the federal workforce.

While the federal government uses a merit system of nine principles to ensure fairness and equity in hiring, pay and promotions, the latest data make it clear that underrepresented groups still face a biased system and structural inequality in the workplace.

At first glance, the civil service appears to be racially unbiased. People of color make up about 40% of the U.S. population and about 38% of the full-time federal workforce. A closer look at the data, however, shows that this group holds a disproportionately small percentage of senior-level positions.

As of March 2021, people of color represent 47% of all full-time, entry-level employees but only 33% of senior-level positions. And within the Senior Executive Service—the elite corps of experienced civil servants responsible for leading the federal workforce—the disparity is even wider. Only 23% of all career SES members are people of color.

Government is not just failing to promote employees from underrepresented groups, it is failing to hire them into professional positions in the first place. Black and other employees of color make up 53% of clerical positions but only 32% of the professional workforce, according to OPM’s FedScope data.

People of color also aren’t equally represented across the executive branch. For example, white people make up 76% of the Office of Management and Budget, a federal agency that has significant impact on policy and the nation’s financial resources, while people of color are the majority at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an important organization but one with significantly less influence.

Overcoming racial injustice in the United States must include a transformation of the workforce that serves our collective interests. The good news is that many federal agencies are making progress. The Coast Guard, Farm Credit Administration, Government Accountability Office and Intelligence Community are including diversity, equity and inclusion into their strategic plans, and paying attention to issues ranging from how they recruit diverse groups of employees to how they retain and develop them.

Federal leaders should look to these examples and commit to transforming their agencies into diverse, equitable and inclusive organizations—not for a checkbox, but as a matter of justice, and for more effective and representative government for the people of this country.

More blog posts that take a closer look at the federal workforce include:

• You don’t have to go to D.C. to see our government in action
• Celebrating the work of civil servants who safeguard our nation

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