ABSTRACT

The Social Security Act of 1939 also directly affected public personnel management by establishing standards for state and local government merit systems. The 1930s represent two very different traditions in public personnel management, yet the two traditions also worked together. The Commission’s report, like reports of such bodies before, helped set the agenda for public personnel policy decisions for a long time in the future. The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 laid the groundwork for innovation and experimentation in public personnel management during the 1980s. Equal employment opportunity and affirmative action programs were major elements of public personnel systems by the early 1990s. Public personnel management in the United States has undergone continual change. The Federal Labor Relations Authority was made a separate agency with responsibility for administration of the federal service’s labor management relations program. The changing nature of the workforce challenged public personnel management in many ways.