Why the US may stop collecting workplace race and gender data

In a 2-1 vote, the Republican majority on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted to roll back a six-decade-old requirement under an anti-discrimination law in the United States that requires employers to submit annual data on the racial and gender composition of their workforces.

Following Tuesday’s vote, there is now a 30-day public comment period before the proposal heads to final approval with a hearing on August 11.
What is the EEOC?
Created in 1965, the EEOC is the US federal agency responsible for enforcing workplace anti-discrimination laws. The agency investigates employers accused of discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability. It investigates roughly 88,000 complaints each year.

In addition to investigating complaints, the EEOC collects workforce demographic data, including employers’ racial and gender breakdowns, to monitor broader workforce trends and identify systemic discrimination. The data are widely used by policymakers and other researchers.

The agency is currently led by Andrea Lucas, who previously served as an EEOC commissioner before becoming acting chair when President Donald Trump took office. She has been a vocal critic of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. In 2023, she authored an essay for the Reuters news agency arguing that companies should take a “hard look” at their DEI programmes following the Supreme Court’s landmark decision striking down affirmative action in higher education, which limited the use of race in college admissions.

What is the rule the EEOC wants to get rid of?
The requirement is known as the EEO-1 report. It collects aggregate demographic data from employers representing roughly 50 million workers across the US. The reports do not identify individual employees by name; instead, they collect information such as race and gender.

Lucas argued that the reporting requirement is “in direct tension with Title VII’s requirement that employment practices be colourblind,” adding that it “risks hindering effective enforcement but also raises constitutional concerns”, according to remarks she posted on LinkedIn following the vote.

Sharon Block, executive director at the Centre for Labour and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School, pushed back on that assertion.

“EEO reports just provide the government with a snapshot of the makeup of the workforce. These reports don’t compel employers to hire or not hire anyone. It is data — no employer or federal government should be afraid of sharing data,” Block told Al Jazeera. She has previously served on the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) — the independent agency responsible for enforcing workers’ rights to organise and challenge unfair labour practices — under former President Barack Obama, a Democrat.
Lucas said the agency would continue to require demographic data when investigating companies accused of discriminatory practices. She also said compiling the reports costs employers an estimated $275m annually, while administering the programme costs the EEOC about $4m each year.

Why is the data important?
The data helps researchers and policymakers better understand the demographic makeup of the US workforce, measure progress over time, and identify areas where disparities remain.

“Rescission of these valuable data collections will undermine the EEOC’s ability to evaluate and investigate charges that have been filed with it, as well as to tailor its outreach and guidance to industries or areas where evidence indicates barriers may exist,” EEO Leaders, a coalition of former EEOC officials, said in a statement to Al Jazeera.

For example, EEOC data has documented changes in the number of women serving in senior management and executive positions at major companies. In 2013, women held 29.2 percent of executive-level roles. By 2023, that figure had increased to 34.5 percent.

The data also shows that Black and Hispanic men remain underrepresented in executive leadership. While white men make up roughly one-third of the US workforce, they account for 52.7 percent of executive-level positions.