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This report presents an analysis of the pay competitiveness, and quality of employees recruited and retained, for civilian scientific and engineering positions in Department of Defense (DoD) laboratories. This study uses pay, promotion, performance, and demographic data drawn from personnel records on scientists and engineers (S/Es) employed in DoD labs from 1982 through 1996. This report examines whether returns to skills (increases in pay due to investments in worker skills, such as higher education or on-the-job training that increases productivity) rose in the DoD labs during 1982 through 1996 as they did in the private sector. The report also analyzes whether there were changes in the quality of S/E lab employees the DoD was able to attract and retain during that period. For DoD lab scientists and engineers, the report finds little evidence of changes in returns to skills or the quality of the workforce.
E-Book Content
PREFACE
This report documents one in a series of studies of civilian personnel management issues that RAND is conducting for the Department of Defense (DoD). This study examines the competitiveness of pay, and ensuing personnel outcomes, for highly skilled civilian scientists and engineers (S/Es) employed in laboratories within DoD agencies. Personnel data drawn from DoD records for the years 1982 through 1996 were used to analyze and reach findings on these issues. This report should be of interest to policymakers and researchers interested in compensation, personnel management, and federal personnel systems, and to human resources and research and development staffs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and military services. This research was conducted for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy within the Forces and Resources Policy Center of RAND's National Defense Research Institute (NDRI). The NDRI is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the unified commands, and the defense agencies.
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FIGURES
2.1. Mean Salaries of Recent Science and Engineering B.A.’s Employed in the Federal and Private Sectors ... 2.2. Mean Salaries of Recent Science and Engineering M.A.’s Employed in the Federal and Private Sectors .. 2.3. Ratio of Median Hourly Wages by Educational Attainment to Wages of High School Graduates, All U.S. Workers ............................... 2.4. Median Annual Salary of Private-Sector Engineers by Level of Responsibility ....................... 2.5. Sample Size................................ 2.6. S/E Workforce Flows ......................... 2.7. Distribution of S/Es Across GS Grades ............ 2.8. Age Distribution ............................
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TABLES
2.1. 3.1. 3.2. 3.3. 3.4. 3.5. 3.6. 3.7. 4.1. 4.2. 4.3. 4.4. 5.1. 5.2. 5.3. 5.4.
Summary Statistics .......................... Returns to Education and Experience ............ Returns to Education over Time, GS Pay Plan ....... Returns to Education over Time, PMRS Pay Plan .... Returns to Education over Time, China Lake Pay Plan ..................................... Dispersion in Returns to Unobserved Skills, GS Pay Plan ..................................... Dispersion in Returns to Unobserved Skills, PMRS Pay Plan ..................................... Dispersion in Returns to Unobserved Skills, China Lake Pay Plan .............................. Characteristics of New Hires and Promotes, GS Pay Plan ..................................... Characteristics of New Hires and Promotes, PMRS Pay Plan ..................................... Characteristics of New Hires and Promotes, China Lake Pay Plan .............................. Performance of New Hires Versus Promotes........ Characteristics of Exits and Stays, GS Pay Plan