Congressional Report Shows NCUA’s Diversity Strengths & Weaknesses

On Thursday, the NCUA released its Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) Annual Report to Congress that revealed the hard data behind the agency’s diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives and programs as of September 2023.

Inside the 44-page report, of the 1,225 employees at the NCUA, women represented 44.6% of the workforce, which was up almost a full percentage point from 2022. But this number remains well below the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Civilian Labor Force (CLF) benchmark of 48.2%.

According to the OMWI report, “The NCUA’s minority representation was slightly higher in 2023” with 32.3% as compared to 2022’s 31.8%. “Notably, the NCUA continues to exceed the CLF in both Black/African American and Asian American and Pacific Islander representation,” the report stated. “However, the agency’s Hispanic population continues to be underrepresented as compared to the CLF with 7.4% representation (up slightly from 7.0% in 2022).”

When looking at the overall diversity representation of NCUA executives and managers, representation of women in senior staff positions “remained consistent from 2022 to 2023 at 49.1%” and minority representation increased from 18.2% in 2022 to 19.3% in 2023. The number of Black and African American senior staff increased from 10.9% in 2022 to 12.3% in 2023, while Hispanic senior staff positions decreased from 7.3% in 2022 to 7.0% in 2023. The NCUA reported 57 employees accounted for all executive positions in 2023.

The OMWI report stated the NCUA had 133 managers in 2023 and women represented 39.8% of that number, a decrease of 1.1% from 2022. The number of minority managers also fell 0.3% to 23.3% in 2023.

In a prepared statement, NCUA Chairman Todd Harper said, “The NCUA has a deep commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. That commitment stems, in part, from the historic development of credit unions, many of which were created to serve marginalized communities unable to obtain safe, fair and affordable credit through banks or other financial providers. By sharing the best practices in this report, we share our commitment to DEIA and allyship across the credit union system.”

Other notable highlights from the OMWI report included:

• 47.5% of the NCUA’s total reportable contracting dollars for the year were awarded to minority- or women-owned businesses, and 47.1% of contract payments went to these vendors.
• 41.4% of the NCUA’s workforce participated in an employee resource group. This continued to position the agency at four times the industry standard membership goal of 10% of an organization’s workforce.
• 17.0% and 4.7% of the NCUA’s workforce self-identified as having disabilities and targeted disabilities, respectively. Since 2017, the NCUA has consistently exceeded the federal employment rate goals for employees with disabilities and employees with targeted disabilities.

READ MORE: Fiscal Year 2023 Office of Minority and Women Inclusion Annual Report to Congress