Federal Publications

Counting Regulations: An Overview of Rulemaking, Types of Federal Regulations, and Pages in the Federal Register

Maeve P. Carey — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:04:11 PDT

[Excerpt] This report serves to inform the congressional debate over rulemaking by analyzing different ways to measure federal rulemaking activity. The report provides data on and analysis of the total number of rules issued each year, as well as information on other types of rules, such as “major” rules, “significant” rules, and “economically significant” rules. These categories have been created by various statutes and executive orders containing requirements that may be triggered if a regulation falls into one of the categories. When available, data are provided on each type of rule. Finally, the report provides data on the number of pages and documents in the Federal Register each year and analyzes the content of the Federal Register.

U.S. Household Savings for Retirement in 2010

John J. Topoleski — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:36:13 PDT

[Excerpt] This report provides data on a variety of household wealth measures in 2010 from the Federal Reserve’s triennial Survey of Consumer Finances. Although the amount of retirement assets is the primary focus of the report, other measures of wealth (such as the amount of total assets, financial assets, total debt, net worth, and housing equity) are also included. The report classifies the amount of assets and debt by the age of the head of the household for both single and married households. In general, the amount of household wealth is higher for married households than for single households. Household wealth generally increases as the age of the head of the household increases, although some measures decrease for those households in which the head of the household is aged 75 or older. In general, the median values are less than the average values, which is an indication that some households hold relatively large amounts of wealth compared with most households.

Untangling the Web: A Guide To Internet Research

National Security Agency — Fri, 10 May 2013 11:20:34 PDT

[Excerpt] Untangling the Web for 2007 is the twelfth edition of a book that started as a small handout. After more than a decade of researching, reading about, using, and trying to understand the Internet, I have come to accept that it is indeed a Sisyphean task. Sometimes I feel that all I can do is to push the rock up to the top of that virtual hill, then stand back and watch as it rolls down again. The Internet—in all its glory of information and misinformation—is for all practical purposes limitless, which of course means we can never know it all, see it all, understand it all, or even imagine all it is and will be. The more we know about the Internet, the more acute is our awareness of what we do not know. The Internet emphasizes the depth of our ignorance because "our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite." My hope is that Untangling the Web will add to our knowledge of the Internet and the world while recognizing that the rock will always roll back down the hill at the end of the day.

Survey of Federal Whistleblower and Anti-Retaliation Laws

Jon O. Shimabukuro et al. — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:04:25 PDT

This report provides an overview of federal whistleblower and anti-retaliation laws. In general, these laws protect employees who report misconduct by their employers or who engage in various protected activities, such as participating in an investigation or filing a complaint. In recent years, Congress has expanded employee protections for a variety of private-sector workers. Eleven of the forty laws reviewed in this report were enacted after 1999. Among these laws are the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

The report focuses on key aspects of the federal whistleblower and anti-retaliation laws. For each law, the report summarizes the activities that are protected, how the law’s protections are enforced, whether the law provides a private right of action, the remedies prescribed by the law, and the year the law’s whistleblower or anti-retaliation provisions were adopted and amended. With regard to amendment dates, the report identifies only dates associated with substantive amendments. For enactments after 2001, the report provides information on congressional sponsorship and votes.

Shutdown of the Federal Government: Causes, Processes, and Effects

Clinton T. Brass — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:49:48 PDT

[Excerpt] When federal agencies and programs lack appropriated funding, they experience a funding gap. Under the Antideficiency Act, they must cease operations, except in certain emergency situations or when law authorizes continued activity. Failure of the President and Congress to reach agreement on interim or full-year funding measures occasionally has caused government shutdowns, the longest of which lasted 21 days, from December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996. Government shutdowns have necessitated furloughs of several hundred thousand federal employees, required cessation or reduction of many government activities, and affected numerous sectors of the economy. This report discusses the causes, processes, and effects of federal government shutdowns, including potential issues for Congress.

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Reform: An Overview of Proposals to Reduce the Growth in SSDI Rolls

William R. Morton — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:38:59 PDT

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program provides benefits to insured workers with disabilities under the full retirement age and their dependents based on an individual worker’s earnings and work history in covered employment. Recently, some Members of Congress and the public have expressed concern over the financial sustainability of the SSDI program. Between 1980 and 2011, the number of disabled-worker beneficiaries grew 196.6%, whereas the number of workers insured for disability increased 50.9%. This increase in the ratio of disabled-worker beneficiaries to insured workers, or prevalence rate, has placed pressure on the Disability Insurance (DI) trust fund, which the Social Security Board of Trustees projects will be exhausted in 2016.

Some of the increase in the SSDI prevalence rate stems from changes in the demographic characteristics of the insured-worker population. According to the Social Security Board of Trustees, the aging of the baby boom generation and a sharp rise in the number and incidence rate of female insured workers helped to propel the prevalence rate upward between 1980 and 2011. However, other factors may have also contributed to the growth in SSDI rolls. For example, instances of high unemployment and the increasing relative value of SSDI benefits to low-income workers may have induced more individuals to apply to the program. In addition, inconsistency in the determination and adjudication process might have increased the likelihood of denied claimants being awarded SSDI on appeal. Moreover, changes to federal policy that relaxed certain program eligibility criteria and increased the value of disability benefits relative to retirement benefits may have played a role in increasing the SSDI prevalence rate.

To assist lawmakers in addressing the sustainability of the program, this report provides an overview of reform proposals designed to mitigate the growth in SSDI rolls. Most of the proposals discussed in this report focus on reducing the inflow (incidence) of new beneficiaries into the program. These proposals include implementing stricter SSDI eligibility criteria, improving consistency in the disability determination and adjudication process, and incentivizing employers to provide supported-work services for employees following the onset of disability (i.e., rehabilitation, workplace accommodation, and a partial wage replacement). On the other hand, some of the proposals seek to increase the outflow (termination) of beneficiaries from the program. Proposals to reduce the current beneficiary population entail providing stronger incentives for beneficiaries with some residual functional capacity to return to the labor force, as well as increasing the number of continuing disability reviews (CDR) performed by the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Unemployment Compensation (Insurance) and Military Service

Julie M. Whittaker — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:23:17 PDT

The Unemployment Compensation (UC) program contains several provisions relevant to current and former military service personnel and their families. The UC program does not provide benefits for military servicemembers on active duty. However, former active duty military personnel (and certain reservists) separated from active duty may be eligible for Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers (UCX).

Spouses of military service personnel who voluntarily quit a job to accompany their spouses on account of a military transfer may be eligible for UC benefits, based on the laws of the state where the civilian spouse was employed.

Military service of business owners, employees, and employees’ spouses may impact the state unemployment tax rate that certain employers face. States may choose to create provisions that remove or limit these tax increases in certain situations.

Inflation-Indexing Elements in Federal Entitlement Programs

Dawn Nuschler — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:12:43 PDT

[Excerpt] In recent years, various proposals have been discussed in the context of ways to reduce federal budget deficits. One of the proposals, for example, is the use of a different measure of consumer price change to index various provisions of federal programs, including cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). For example, under current law, the Social Security COLA is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Under the proposal, the Social Security COLA would be based instead on the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (Chained CPI-U or C-CPI-U). Because the goal of the Chained CPI-U is to better reflect how consumers change their buying habits in response to changes in prices, supporters of the proposal argue that it is a more accurate measure for computing COLAs and making other automatic program adjustments. Opponents, however, view the proposal as a backdoor way of reducing benefits because the Chained CPI-U typically has risen more slowly than either the CPI-W or the traditional CPI-U. Some observers point out that the Chained CPI-U is published as a preliminary value that is subject to revision over a period of up to two years, and that it may not accurately reflect the cost of living for certain groups, such as the elderly population.

The current discussion of a potential change in the way the Social Security COLA is computed raises questions about indexing in other federal entitlement programs. The purpose of this report is to identify key indexing elements in major federal entitlement programs under current law and present the information in a summary table. As shown here, indexing affects more than benefit levels paid to individuals through COLAs. Indexing also affects, for example, federal payments to providers and eligibility criteria for some programs. In addition, the report provides a brief description of the measures of consumer price change used to index various elements of these programs under current law, as well as the alternative measure of consumer price change (the Chained CPI-U) that has been proposed for computing Social Security COLAs and making inflation adjustments to other federal programs.

Characteristics of Private Sector Employment

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:01:42 PDT

[Excerpt] Relying primarily on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC’s) EEO-1 report, characteristics of employment are examined from six different perspectives: total employment, the growth and decline of employment by industry, employment by job group, employment of officials and managers, the movement of women from white collar to management positions and the bases of charge allegations by industry. The report seeks to capture these measures using the most recent data from 2001 and by examining recent trends from 1990.

The annual EEO-1 report indicates the composition of an employer’s workforces by sex and by race/ethnic category. The EEO-1 collects data on nine major job categories: (1) officials and managers, (2) professionals, (3) technicians, (4) sales workers, (5) office and clerical workers, (6) craft workers, (7) operatives, (8) laborers and (9) service workers. Race/ethnic designations used are White (not of Hispanic origin), Black (not of Hispanic origin), Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaskan Native. In addition to the workforce data provided by the employer, information about each establishment is added to the database. This includes the establishment’s North American Industrial Classification System code and in early years, added the Standard Industrial Classification code.

Diversity in Law Firms

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:01:37 PDT

[Excerpt] The purpose of this report is to examine the employment status of women and minorities at law firms required to file EEO-1 reports. An employer is required to file an EEO-1 report if it employs 100 or more employees. Therefore, this study covers law firms which would be characterized as medium to large. Specifically, it examines employment status in a general sense to display the changes in the employment of minorities and women as attorneys since 1975. It also looks at the organizational characteristics of firms to explore the variations in the current employment of minorities and women. Finally, a major issue in law firms, the prospect of becoming a partner, is examined empirically to determine the relative likelihood of women and minorities being partners.

Women of Color in the Private Sector: Their Employment in the Private Sector

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:01:32 PDT

[Excerpt] This examination of the employment status of minority women or women of color relies primarily on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC’s) EEO-1 report. Characteristics of employment are examined from five different perspectives: total employment, employment by job group, employment of officials and managers, the movement of women from white collar to management positions and per capita charge rates by industry. The report seeks to capture these measures using the most recent EEO-1 data from 2001 and by examining recent trends from 1990. It also utilizes charge receipt data. The annual EEO-1 report indicates the composition of an employer’s workforces by sex and by race/ethnic category.

The EEO-1 collects data on nine major job categories: (1) officials and managers, (2) professionals, (3) technicians, (4) sales workers, (5) office and clerical workers, (6) craft workers, (7) operatives, (8) laborers and (9) service workers. Race/ethnic designations used are White (not of Hispanic origin), Black (not of Hispanic origin), Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander (Asian), American Indian or Alaskan Native (Native American). In addition to the workforce data provided by the employer, information about each establishment is added to the database. This includes the establishment’s North American Industrial Classification System code and, in early years, added the Standard Industrial Classification code.

Retail Distribution Centers: How New Business Processes Impact Minority Labor Markets

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:01:27 PDT

[Excerpt] As part of the emphasis on proactive prevention in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC’s) Five Point Plan, this report seeks to aid retailers and similar employers in taking full advantage of America’s labor markets. Our nation’s retailers fulfill an important role in our economy and according to the EEOC’s EEO-1 reports in 2002, employ nearly 15 percent of all private sector employees. In this second in a series of reports on this important industry, this report examines a unique sector of retailing: distribution centers. In contrast to traditional warehouses, a modern distribution center is essentially an operations center, managing the flow of information and goods between retailers and suppliers through the use of standardized bar codes, high-speed conveyors, laser scanners, and computerized databases.

These distribution centers represent not only a significant change in the way retail firms operate, but unlike store fronts they are often not very visible to the general public. These centers are commonly located away from central cities, either outside metropolitan areas altogether or on the edge of such areas. In searching for inexpensive land, favorable leases and low tax rates, retailers can easily lose sight of the value of a diverse workforce. This report attempts to alert retailers and others to the potential impact that distribution center location can have on the ability to develop and maintain a multi-cultural workforce. Readers, especially retailers, are encouraged to share their "best practices" in making location decisions for distribution centers in a manner that encourages a diverse work force.

Diversity in the Media: A Chart Book for Selected Industries

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:01:22 PDT

[Excerpt] This chart book responds to the public’s request for data regarding diversity in employment among some of the key media industries in the nation. The data provided here can be used by employers in these industries to evaluate their employment practices. This effort is consistent with the emphasis on proactive prevention in the Commission’s Five Point Plan. These data come from EEO-1 reports filed in 2002 and information for the three industry groups are based on the North American Industrial Classification System. This publication provides a brief graphical overview of the three industry groups:

• Newspaper/Periodical/Book/Database Publishers

• Radio and Television Broadcasting

• Cable Networks and Program Distribution

Glass Ceilings The Status of Women as Officials and Managers in the Private Sector

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:01:17 PDT

[Excerpt] The main purpose of this report is to use data from the 2002 EEO-1 Survey of Firms in Private Industry to explore the status of women in management. The research will develop some new ways of analyzing the EEO-1 data that focus on access to management positions generally, and perhaps more importantly, access to management positions at headquarter facilities. The primary contribution of these analyses of the EEO-1 survey is the ability to raise important problems and questions about gender-based discrimination given the wide variations in the types of firms and industries in the American economy. While this initial report on glass ceilings focuses on the status of women, the analyses developed here can be applied to examine minority groups.

The report takes strides toward examining the glass ceiling problem within the boundaries of the EEO-1 survey, which historically has collected data on officials and managers in one large job group. By aggregating all managers with officials and reporting them in a single category, the data cannot be examined to show the various levels of responsibility. Despite this limitation, the results of an analysis of EEO-1 data in the Officials and Managers category as well as methodologies for examining entry into management positions can prove useful. A goal of this research is to stimulate readers, especially employers, to identify and reduce inappropriate obstacles women encounter in advancing to management in different workplace settings.

High End Department Stores, Their Access to and Use of Diverse Labor Markets: Summary report

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:01:12 PDT

Our nation’s retailers fulfill an important role in our economy and according to the Commission’s EEO-1 reports, employ nearly 15 percent of all private sector employees. This report is one in a series that examines the retail industry. The focus here is on retail department stores, the largest employer of all retail subsectors except for food and beverage stores. It is also a major employer of women who make up a large portion (75 percent) of the retail salespersons in these stores. There is a wide range of stores within the broad category of department stores. The most exclusive high end department stores are considered as offering superior employment situations in terms of environment, compensation and benefits. This study seeks to determine how people of color fare in these stores. Two key questions surround these stores. Do high end department stores focus so much on locations in affluent neighborhoods that they limit access that nonwhite workers might have to employment there? Second, regardless of accessibility to diverse work forces, do high end department stores maintain a diverse work force? Department stores in the ten largest metropolitan areas are examined: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Miami, Washington, Houston, Detroit and Boston. Major findings include:

• The labor market for African American and Hispanic sales workers relevant to high end department stores is not significantly different than the labor markets for other types of department stores.

• The labor market for Asians sales workers is somewhat better for high end department stores than for other types of department stores.

• On average, high end department stores are more likely to have significant shortfalls in the employment of African Americans, Hispanics and Asians as sales workers.

• Chain ownership has a significant effect on diversity of employment.

• There appears to be some evidence that exclusive department stores have substantially more disparities with Hispanic sales workers than other kinds of race/ethnic groups.

This report is a condensed version of High End Department Stores, Their Access and Use of Diverse Labor Markets: Technical Report. More detailed statistical findings and methodology are presented there.

High End Department Stores, Their Access to and Use of Diverse Labor Markets: Technical Report

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:01:08 PDT

• The labor market for African American and Hispanic sales workers relevant to high end department stores is not significantly different than the labor markets for other types of department stores.

• The labor market for Asians sales workers is somewhat better for high end department stores than for other types of department stores.

• On average, high end department stores are more likely to have significant shortfalls in the employment of African Americans, Hispanics and Asians as sales workers.

• Chain ownership has a significant effect on diversity of employment.

• There appears to be some evidence that exclusive department stores have substantially more disparities with Hispanic sales workers than other kinds of race/ethnic groups.

Diversity in the Finance Industry

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:01:03 PDT

The Finance Industry is an important aspect of the economy including banking, credit, securities and insurance activities. It offers many well-paying jobs, and is expected to see growth in the coming years. This report examines the Finance Industry with respect to the employment of women, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and American Indians /Alaskan Natives. Of particular interest is the status of these groups in management positions. EEO-1 data is utilized to examine the subsectors of the Finance Industry.

• The percentage of women officials and managers is highest in the Banking/Credit subsector (48.6 percent) and their lowest percentage is in the Securities subsector (33.8 percent). The percentage of women officials and managers in each of the subsectors falls below the percentage of women employed as professionals, which might be considered a source for management jobs.

• Similar disparities between the percentage of African American officials and managers and the percentage of African American professionals are also observed. Among the Financial Industry subsectors, the percentage of African American officials and managers is highest in the Banking/Credit subsector (7.0 percent) and lowest in the Securities subsector (4.4 percent).

• The percentage of Hispanic officials and managers is highest in the Central Banking subsector (5.1 percent) and lowest in the Securities subsector (2.9 percent). In all subsectors, the percentage of Hispanic officials and managers is less that the percentage of Hispanic professionals.

• The highest percentage of Asian officials and managers is in the Securities subsector (6.4 percent) and the lowest percentage of Asian officials and managers is in Central Banking and Insurance (2.8 percent). Like the other groups examined, the percentage of Asian officials and managers falls below the percentage of Asian professionals in each subsector.

• Employment as officials and managers is examined in more detail for each of these groups by determining their chance of being officials and managers in contrast to professionals and sales workers. This shows that each subsector has a large portion of establishments where such chances are unfavorable to women, African Americans, Hispanics and Asians when compared to white males. Entry into management may be a particular concern for Asians.

• While the relative chance of being an official or manager is better in the Securities subsector for each of the groups analyzed, the low proportion of women and African American professionals in this subsector may be partly responsible for these results.

Annual Report on the Federal Work Force (Fiscal Year 2006)

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:08:14 PDT

[Excerpt] The EEOC is charged with monitoring federal agency compliance with equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws and procedures, and reviewing and assessing the effect of agencies’ compliance with requirements to maintain continuing affirmative employment programs to promote equal employment opportunity and to identify and eliminate barriers to equality of employment opportunity.

This report covers the period from October 1, 2005, through September 30, 2006 and contains selected measures of agencies’ progress toward model EEO programs. While working within our mission as an oversight agency, EEOC strives to create a partnership with agencies. In FY 2006, EEOC expanded its Relationship Management program from 11 Cabinet/Mid-Size agencies to 12 and launched a small agency program with 14 initial participants. The FY 2006 Annual Report on the Federal Work Force, submitted to the President and Congress, presents a summary of selected EEO program activities in the federal government, including work force profiles of 59 federal agencies. The report provides valuable information to all agencies as they strive to become model employers.

Annual Report on the Federal Work Force (Fiscal Year 2007)

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:08:09 PDT

This report covers the period from October 1, 2006, through September 30, 2007 and contains selected measures of agencies’ progress toward model EEO programs. Working within our mission as an oversight agency, EEOC strives to create a partnership with agencies. In FY 2007, EEOC expanded its Relationship Management program from 12 Cabinet/Mid-Size agencies to 13 and continued its newly launched small agency program with 14 agencies. The FY 2007 Annual Report on the Federal Work Force, submitted to the President and Congress, presents a summary of selected EEO program activities in the federal government, including work force profiles of 59 federal agencies. The report provides valuable information to all agencies as they strive to become model employers.

Annual Report on the Federal Work Force (Fiscal Year 2008)

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:08:04 PDT

This report covers the period from October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008 and contains selected measures of agencies’ progress toward model EEO programs. Working within our mission as an oversight agency, EEOC strives to create a partnership with agencies. In FY 2008, EEOC’s Relationship Management program comprised 10 Cabinet/Mid-Size agencies and continued its small agency program with 14 agencies.

The FY 2008 Annual Report on the Federal Work Force, submitted to the President and Congress, presents a summary of selected EEO program activities in the federal government, including work force profiles of 59 federal agencies. The report provides valuable information to all agencies as they strive to become model employers.