Women and minority employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) were promoted within the organization at higher rates than their representation within the bureau workforce, according to a annual report by the bureau’s Office of Women and Minority Inclusion provided to Congress.
Women make up 48.7 % of the bureau’s workforce, the report said, and received 50% of promotions. Additionally, minority employees make up 39.6% of the workforce and received 42.7% of promotions.
In other figures, however, the report shows that mission-critical occupations of Economist and IT show low numbers of employees from underrepresented demographic groups. It also cites a “substantial” challenge in the bureau’s ability to identify and engage large minority- and women-owned businesses (MWOBs). “Governmental procurement systems are geared towards identifying and tracking small businesses, not large,” it states. “The systems do not provide categories for large MWOBs. As a result, the Bureau and other agencies seeking to include larger MWOBs in their contracting opportunities have to manually identify these potential contractors.”
The bureau has four Mission Critical Occupations (Examiners, Miscellaneous Administration and Program Series, General Attorneys, and Economists) that comprise some of the largest occupational categories, so the report says CFPB is committed to ensuring diversity in these jobs. As of FY 2018, the percentages of permanent minority and women employees in the four mission critical occupations in FY 2018 were as follows:
- Miscellaneous Administration and Program Series: 47.3% minorities, 57.7% women;
- Economists: 26.7% minorities, 26.7% women;
- Examiners: 42.4% minorities, 32.2% women;
- General Attorneys: 26.3% minorities, 53.7% women.
The report shows that for the Miscellaneous Administration and Program Series, there are 300 permanent employees, which is 30 fewer than calendar year 2017. “Overall, across pay bands, the percentages of minorities and women were higher at the lower pay bands and decreased at higher pay bands when compared to Whites and men respectively,” the report says. “The percentage of minorities increased from calendar year 2017 by approximately 1%. The percentage of women increased by approximately 9% since calendar year 2017.”
The report is the first to be provided on a fiscal-year basis, so the information from the months of October 2017 through December 2017 overlap with the previous, calendar year report.
The report shows that 142 permanent employees separated from the bureau in FY 2018. “Of the permanent employees separated in FY 2018, there were slightly more men (53.5%, 76 permanent employees) than women (46.5%, 66 permanent employees). There was a much lower percentage of minorities who separated than White employees (34.5% compared with 65.5%, respectively).
A hiring freeze implemented by then-Acting Director John (“Mick”) Mulvaney in late 2017 remains place, the report states.
FY 2018 Office of Minority and Women Inclusion annual report to Congress