Gender, Race and Promotion in the U.S. Civil Service: A Comparative Study of Two Cohorts of Employees Entering the Civil Service in 1978 and 1988

This paper reports the results of a study of promotions and salary outcomes in the U.S. Federal Civil Service using a Logit model and OLS regression analysis.The analysis finds that while women have a higher probability of promotion than men, they start on lower salaries and gain less from promotions than men. This could well be due to the negative influence of clerical occupations for women and the positive impact of professional and administative jobs for men. Whites have a higher probability of promotion than blacks, start on higher salaries and gain more from promotion (in monetary terms). Blue-collar and technical occupations contributed to the race effect. The longer the duration of service and, by 1988,the more educated the employee the higher the probability of promotion and the higher initial salary and salary gain. Age, while having a positive impact on salaries, had a negative impact on promotion probability.