Federal Employment Examinations: Do They Achieve Equal Opportunity and Merit Principle Goals?

Each year about 1.5 million applications are made for competitive civil service positions and about 150,000 to 200,000 people are hired from civil service job registers. By law, selection and advancement should be determined on the basis of ability, knowledge, and skills following fair and open competition which ensures everyone an equal opportunity. A survey was made to see whether examining procedures for competitive civil service positions are achieving this policy goal. The review focused on the Professional and Administrative Career Examination (PACE), Junior Federal Assistant, and Account-Auditor and Social Worker examinations.