Equal Employment Opportunity and the Early Career in Federal Employment

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Abstract
Using a one percent sample of federal personnel records, this article examines entry levels and advancement rates during the first eight years of the federal career for white and minority males and females who entered the civil service shortly after leaving school. Once educational levels and major fields of study are controlled for, the four groups have remarkably similar entry levels, sug gesting that race and gender have little direct impact on placement levels. Men do have markedly higher early advancement rates than women, however, pulling ahead of comparable women at the rate of better than one-tenth of a grade per year. The implications for equal employment oppor tunity policy are discussed.