Analysis of career progression and job performance in internal labor markets the case of federal civil service employees

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to investigate various factors that influence the job performance and promotion of DOD civilian workers. The data used in this study were drawn from the Department of Defense Civilian Personnel Data Files provided by the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC). The initial data was restricted to employees who were initially hired in 1995 and stayed in service until 2003 and were paid under the General Schedule (GS) pay system. Three general performance measures were used: compensation (salary), annual performance ratings and promotions. Multivariate models were specified and estimated for each of these performance measures. The results indicate that females receive lower annual and hourly compensation and are less likely to be promoted than men even though they receive better performance ratings. The results also indicate that minorities are paid less and are less likely to be promoted than majority workers while veterans are paid more, perform better, and are more likely to become supervisors. The models also reveal that performance rating is a weak measure of productivity and that more highly educated employees are paid more and more likely to be promoted more even if they are not always the best performers.