States push back on EEOC plan to end workforce demographic reporting
A group of eight state and local civil rights agencies is urging the federal government to preserve longstanding workforce demographic reporting requirements, arguing that eliminating the data could make it harder to identify and investigate employment discrimination.
Agencies from Illinois, Oregon, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and the District of Columbia co-authored an Aug. 24 letter opposing the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s proposed rescission of federal workforce reporting requirements, including the EEO-1 report.
For sixty years, EEO workforce data has given federal, state and local agencies, employers, and policymakers information about workforce representation by race, sex, job category and other characteristics. The agencies said the data does not identify individual employees but provides a baseline for examining disparities across industries, occupations and regions.
“Since 1966, these collections have been a cornerstone of federal civil rights enforcement,” the group wrote, arguing that eliminating federal workforce data collection would not remove the need for the information.
“Workforce discrimination unfortunately exists regardless of whether this data is reported,” the letter continues. “Ending this collection will only obscure disparities in, reduce transparency, and make it harder to identify discrimination, which hurts everyone.”
The joint opposition comes as the EEOC also considers ending the reporting requirement for private employers. The commission voted in July to advance a proposal that would eliminate the longstanding demographic data collection, arguing that the reports carry a heavy compliance burden — estimated at over $273 million annually — have minimal enforcement value and may inadvertently encourage race-conscious or discriminatory employment practices.
“The proposed rescission of the EEO Data Reports reaffirms the founding principle that every individual is created equal and therefore is entitled to equal treatment under the law,” EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas said in a statement about the proposed changes. “Collecting such data about employees’ race and sex — absent any specific allegation of discrimination — not only risks hindering effective enforcement of equal employment laws but also raises constitutional concerns.”
The debate also highlights a broader role for workforce data in state government to improve government hiring and workforce planning and where better data can inform hiring strategies.
A 2022 report by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers found that many CIO offices lacked consistent definitions and measurements for workforce diversity, complicating efforts to assess representation across state IT offices.
“The bottom line is that state IT has a workforce gap problem and the vast majority of job seekers today view diversity and inclusion as important factors when looking for employment,” the report reads.
If the reporting requirement goes away, the group argues state and local civil rights offices could have to request workforce demographic data directly from individual employers when investigating discrimination complaints, potentially creating a patchwork of reporting requirements across jurisdictions.
In addition, critics of the proposed reporting changes say losing the national dataset would make systemic disparities difficult to measure.
“Every worker deserves a fair opportunity to succeed, and effective enforcement requires the tools to protect that opportunity,” Illinois Department of Human Rights Director James Bennett said in a statement Monday. “As federal efforts continue to chip away at civil rights protections, Illinois is proud to stand with our state and federal partners in a unified effort to defend equal opportunity and protect the American people and employers we serve.”
