Workforce Diversity
The Congressional Budget Office values the diversity of its workforce, believing that attracting and retaining a diverse workforce is a crucial part of ensuring that the agency has the best possible staff and that the agency’s work benefits from different perspectives and experiences. CBO has continuously sought to employ and promote qualified personnel without discrimination—without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability, or age. In addition, the agency welcomes current and former members of the uniformed services.
CBO regularly reviews the diversity of its workforce and works to bring about balanced representation for women, minorities, veterans, and people with disabilities. (CBO provides reasonable accommodation to applicants and employees with disabilities.) The agency’s leadership and its staff embrace and support diversity objectives, both within the agency and within the fields of economics and public policy.
Find out more about the work we do and the way we do it.
Grassroots Recruitment
Among CBO’s staff, 35 percent hold a Ph.D. and 40 percent hold a master’s degree. But our efforts to recruit and increase diversity in the agency and in the fields employees come from start well before applicants have those graduate degrees in hand: We have undertaken a tremendous level of grass-roots recruiting—each year meeting with undergraduate students interested in economics and public policy to encourage them, particularly women and minorities, to pursue advanced degrees in economics, public policy, and related fields. Here are some examples of our efforts:
- Each year, we participate in the Public Policy and International Affairs Program, a national program focused on preparing undergraduate students from underrepresented groups for advanced degrees leading to careers in public service.
- We actively recruit at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and large flagship campuses with significant populations of minority students.
- To promote the jobs at CBO, we stay in touch with groups such as the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession, which is within the American Economic Association.
- We encourage qualified students who participate in the Workforce Recruitment Program to apply for positions at CBO. Participants in the program are highly motivated college students and recent graduates with disabilities.
- We present each year to the American Economic Association’s Summer Training Program and Scholarship Program. That program aims to increase diversity in the economics profession by preparing undergraduates for doctoral programs in economics and related disciplines.
Our recent and upcoming recruiting events, including ones specifically targeted at fostering diversity, are listed here.
Interested? Apply for a position, sign up for one of our job alerts, or contact us for more information.
Appointment to covered positions is governed by the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA), as made applicable by the Congressional Budget Accountability Act of 1995, as amended.
If you are a person with a disability who would like to request an accommodation or if you have any questions or concerns, please contact a member of CBO’s Human Resources Office at (202) 226-2628 or careers@cbo.gov.