European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 5, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Under Reagan by Robert Pear new York Rimes the number of Macks holding senior policy making and managerial positions in the Federal government has dropped dramatically since president Reagan look office but the number of women after a. Sharp decline has returned to about the level of 1980. Defending this record administration officials said that Reagan unlike president Carter did nol have a formal program of affirmative action to increase the numbers of women or members of minority groups at the highest Levels of the government. This administration is opposed to the numbers game in any Way shape or form said Robert h. Tuttie director of presidential personnel. Ii would be demeaning to people who come into Trie government to say there was any kind of quota. It would be an insult to every woman and  Bui he said. We have found a number of extremely competent women and  the administration made available the data on the hiring of women and minority employees or senior government positions in response to inquiries by the new York times. While critics of Reagan have assailed him Tor not making More aggressive efforts to recruit women and Blacks supporters say it has not always been easy to find conservative republicans to appoint particularly among Blacks who identify tar Mora heavily with he democratic party. Personnel officials at the White House said there were two criteria for selecting presidential appointees competence As measured by a person s qualifications for a particular Job and commitment to the president and his policies. In democratic administrations similar criteria have been used. A president s personnel policies Are important Lor Many reasons. Government jobs provide the foundation Lor the careers of Many upwardly Mobile Young professionals. Race sex Ami top , lobe number of wonn and Blacks in top it Conj potty to members Otth motor gency heeds. And a government Agency with few Blacks or women does not have the Benefit of their particular sensitivities Bald Luarl e. Etz Enolal who was Carter s Chloel Domestic policy adviser in addition a president leaves a legacy in his judicial appointments because Federal judges have Lile tenure. Moreover Many private employers Lake a Cue from the Federal government according to government officials and personnel officers in private Industry. Althea  Simmons chief lobbyist for the National association Lor the advancement of coloured people said that when a president appointed few Blacks the result was to reinforce the stereotype that Blacks Are just not  administration official acknowledged that the race sex end ethnic origin of government executives might have some effect on their Outlook but they denied that the administration was insensitive to the concerns of women or minority people. The office of personnel management the Central personnel Agency Lor the government compiles data showing the number of officials in the executive Branch holding presidential appointments subject to Senate confirmation Asol sept 30 each year. Since 1980 the total number or such jobs has been about 0 to 500. The number of Blacks holding suet positions dropped from 44 in 198010 21 in 1981.19 in 1982 and 15 in 1983, according to the data ii then climbed id 19 in jew and 20 in 1935 and remained at that level last year Tow proportion of such presidential appointments held by Blacks declined from 9.5 percent in 1980 to 4.5 percent in 1986.the number of women holding the same kinds of jobs declined to 45 in 1981 from 67 in 1980, the number Rose to 65 in 1964 and climbed last year Back o67. Is percent of such jobs tha data show. The figures do nol include judges United states  include Cabinet officers their deputies and marry of Uia assistant secretaries who carry out policy affecting. Such diverse activities As Law enforcement tax collections farm programs and foreign relations. The presidential appointees work closely with an elite corps of 6,700 managers and supervisors in the senior executive service. Most of the Sanlor executives Era career civil servants but about 10 percent Are political shrinking the White Collar work Force by Steven Prokesch new York times Nna h. Jones lost her Job As vice president for information systems when the oilman paper co. Consolidated its staff and moved us Headquarters from Manhattan to is. Mary a a to Cut costs. A decision that the operating divisions could handle their own personnel matters Cost Stephen c. Rexford his Job As corporate vice president for human resources at Continental can. The cutbacks thai followed col eco industries inc s severe problems in computers and electronic toys landed Harold Cohen a retail sales manager on the Street. And the acquisition of the Pacific lumber co. Rendered Robert e. Giusti a Pacific executive redundant the acquiring firm already had its own vice president for employee relations end had no need Tor another As thousands of american managers and professionals have Learned the hard Way the Days when White Collar workers in the United slates could assume their jobs were for Lile is no More True nowadays than it always has been for Blue Collar workers alter More than three decades of adding to corporate Headquarters staffs and creating one new layer of management alter another major corporations Are now doing an abrupt about face in the last six years Xerox Exxon general electric Kodak Ford and scores of other major companies have done All they can to shrink the size of their White Collar work forces. A hand i of companies such As the International business machines corp., which according to one ism personnel executive decided it had 20,000 workers Loo Many have been paring their staffs by offering attractive Severance or Early retirement packages to entice people to quit Bui most other businesses Are not so kind. Such companies As Uniss end Exxon have told employees that if a sufficient number of them do not jump through the Golden window while it is open the Choice of leaving will no longer be theirs to make and the Severance might not be As generous. At least three major factors have caused the change the Rise of formidable foreign Competition beginning in the 1970s, coupled with recession and cute regulation leached business from the american Market and made it Clear that the management costs Al american companies were too High. Improvements in computer technology decreased the number of workers needed to carry on Many business operations. The wave of mergers  and corporate restructurings in recent years has resulted in wholesale eliminations of Middle and top management layers. Nobody known exactly How Many people have been affected by the White Cotini squeeze. Data from the Federal Bureau of labor statistics show that the total number of executive managerial and administrative jobs in the Public and private sectors of the Economy have actually grown by 2.3 million in the 1980s id 12.6 million last year. But economists and management experts agree that smaller companies accounted Lor much of that growth. They note that total employment in big companies those with 1,000 or More workers has actually fallen by 12 million in the 1980s. And ii is assumed hat cutbacks of both the White and Blue Collar work forces Are responsible for the drop. Certainly Lens of thousands of White Collar workers have been displaced said Dounn Mills a professor at the Harvard business school who has studied the phenomenon. Despite the widespread cutbacks that have already occurred big companies seem to have no intention of stopping now. Page 16 the stars and stripes sunday april 3,1967