This report presents data on non-instructional employees in higher education institutions and looks specifically at the characteristics of those newly hired. Data are from the National Center for Education Statistics reports: "Fall Staff in Postsecondary Institutions, 1995" and the "Digest of Education Statistics, 1997." Following an overview, text, tables, and figures analyze the data in terms of employees by employment status, employees by gender, new hires, new hires by gender, and new hires by race/ethnicity. The report notes that: (1) growth in the number of nonteaching higher education staff has exceeded enrollment growth over the past 20 years; (2) the largest increase has been in other professional, administrative, and executive positions, especially for women; (3) most of the growth took place in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with the growth rate declining in the early 1990s; (4) service and maintenance staff lost positions, while the number of clerical and secretarial positions remained constant; and (5) differences in the job growth rate among the occupations has resulted in a different mix of higher education occupations between 1977 and 1995. (DB)