The outcome of affirmative action in state government workforce: An evaluation of the Commonwealth of Kentucky's 1996 Affirmative Action Pla

The policy concept of affirmative action in the work place was introduced by the historic U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964. Affirmative action encompasses a range of measures aimed at compensating for past discrimination by increasing the chances that minorities and/or women will be chosen for jobs, promotions, admissions, or contracts. It is more than equal opportunity---encouraging minorities and women to apply for jobs, promotions, or contracts. But it is less than quotas or set-asides, whereby jobs don't get filled until a minority is found. Arguments supporting and opposing affirmative action were launched almost from the moment of the policy's inception, with the supporters claiming it as "compensatory discrimination" and opponents condemning it as "reverse discrimination.";The public sector, because of its greater receptivity to minorities, women and other protected groups than the private sector, has been an important source of job opportunities for these segments of the work force. State governments have packaged and implemented Affirmative Action Plans with various goals and objectives with various degrees of outcome. Since 1984, the Commonwealth of Kentucky government has adopted four modified affirmative action programs, the latest being the 1996 Affirmative Action Plan which set a goal for the state government to have 7.51% minorities and 52.42% women in its workforce, reflecting the 1990 Census figures.;This dissertation is an evaluation of the impact of the 1996 Kentucky Affirmative Action Plan on minorities and women in the state government's workforce. It examines the status of minorities and women employment in terms of their utilization (number/percentages) in comparison with the rest of the workforce on the one hand, and in terms of compensation (salary) on the other. Employment, salary, promotion, termination and other relevant data for the 15 cabinets of the Commonwealth between the study period of January 1, 1997 and December 31, 2001 were collected and analyzed.;The evaluation begins with a vertical look at the status of minority and women employment in the entire Kentucky State Government and, after the analysis, concludes that the 1996 Affirmative Action Plan has improved the overall employment status of both the groups. The evaluation then takes a horizontal look at their employment status in the 15 cabinets of the Commonwealth and finds that some of the cabinets have done very well in implementing the Plan successfully and some have failed. Performances of these cabinets are analyzed, ranked and presented in a comparative framework. The dissertation concludes with a few recommendations for improving the implementation of the Plan and for some additional future research.