Workforce Profile at SSA Baltimore

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the status of African-American employees at the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Baltimore, Maryland, area operations. GAO noted that: (1) in September 1994, African-Americans constituted nearly 44 percent of the workforce in the Baltimore SSA operations, which was about 0.8 percent lower than in September 1989; (2) African-American women constituted 36 percent of the workforce and African-American men almost 8 percent; (3) about 34 percent of grades 9-12 employees and about 14 percent of grades 13-15 employees were African-American; (4) African-Americans accounted for 34 percent of the fiscal year (FY) 1994 new hires, 53 percent of the promotions, 31 percent of the separations, 42 percent of award recipients, 37 percent of persons given training opportunities, and 57 percent of disciplinary actions; and (5) in FY 1989, the percentage of African-Americans for new hires was 61 percent, promotions 49 percent, separations 52 percent, award recipients 37 percent, training opportunities 36 percent, and disciplinary actions 55 percent.