A cohort analysis of career progression for ethnic and female officers in the U.S. Navy.

Abstract

The goal of this thesis was to conduct a cohort analysis to compare the career opportunities, in terms of loss and promotion rates, of Black, Hispanic and female naval officers with those of white ethnic and male officers, respectively. Inventory and promotion data was compiled from the Officer Personnel Information System data file to compute ethnic/gender loss and promotion rates for year groups 1960-1991 in the Surface, General Unrestricted Line, Aviation and Submarine communities. Computation of loss and promotion rates was conducted in three stages. The first stage computed rates for each year group by year of service (YOS). The second stage computed rates averaged across year groups for each YOS. The third stage computed rates within milestone periods which grouped YOSs into six or seven significant periods in each community's career path. Rates were averaged for each milestone period across several year groups and all YOS's within that period. This study found differences in loss and promotion rates specific to each community and ethnic/ gender group. In many cases, higher loss rates were accompanied by lower promotion rates for the ethnic and gender groups studied, with notable exceptions. Further research is recommended to determine reasons for differences in loss and promotion rates as well as to conduct a similar study in five to ten years, in which time more data would become available.