The Impact of Veterans' Preference on the Composition and Quality of the Federal Civil Service

Abstract

Government preference for military veterans in hiring, a means to honor them for their service and sacrifices, potentially conflicts with other values of the public service, including its diversity and quality. Census data for 1990, 2000, and 2006–2009 show that veterans are at least three times as likely to hold federal jobs as, but only 10% more likely to hold state and local government jobs than, comparable individuals without military service. Veterans’ preference has substantially increased the percentage of federal employees who are men and has probably decreased the percentages who are Asians, gay men, and immigrants, but its effects on the composition of state and local governments are small. Federal personnel data for the past decade show that veteran new hires are older and less educated than nonveteran new hires, and that they do not advance as far in the first 15 years of their careers as nonveterans hired into the same grades at the same time, suggesting that veterans’ preference may be lowering the performance of the federal civil service. 《退伍军人优惠政策对于联邦公共服务质量的影响》 作者：格雷戈里B. 刘易斯 退伍军人在报考美国政府公务员时可享有一定的优先级 (veteran preferences)。政府通过此类优惠政策来认可和奖励他们为国家作出的牺牲和贡献。然而退伍军人优惠政策可能会造成与其他公共服务价值理念的冲突，因而不利于维持政府部门人员的多样性和公共服务的质量。1990、2000和2006至2009年的人口普查数据表明，在其他条件均等的情况下，退伍军人被联邦政府录用的机率是普通报考者的三倍。而州和地方政府中退伍军人公务员的比例只比普通公务员多百分之十。退伍军人在报考公务员中的优惠政策导致联邦政府中男性雇员的比例大幅增长，而女性、亚裔、同性恋和移民雇员的比例则可能会减少。这一优惠政策对于州和地方政府却影响甚微。过去二十年联邦政府的人事数据表明，联邦政府雇用的退伍军人公务员通常比普通公务员的学历低。他们在联邦政府中工作的前十五年内晋升的空间也小于普通公务员。这些比较数据意味着，退伍军人优惠政策可能会降低联邦服务的质量。

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