U.s. Civil Rights Agency Moves To End Demographic Data Collection After 60 Years

NEW YORK — How galore women clasp executive-level positions astatine apical U.S. companies? What is nan group and taste breakdown of those roles? What is nan gender and group breakdown of nan lowest-paid roles astatine those companies?

The Trump management is making it harder for nan nationalist to know, moving to flip speech a 60-year-old request for tens of thousands of backstage assemblage employers to taxable workforce demographic reports each twelvemonth to nan Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, nan agency responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws successful nan workplace.

The EEOC’s Republican mostly voted 2-1 Tuesday to rescind nan information postulation requirement, submitting nan connection to a 30-day nationalist commentary play earlier last approval. The connection is simply a quiet but profound salvo successful President Trump’s shake-up of civilian authorities enforcement, ending a believe that has endured done 10 Republican and Democratic administrations.

EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas, an outspoken professional of diverseness and inclusion practices who has urged achromatic men to travel guardant pinch favoritism complaints, based on that requiring companies to taxable nan yearly demographic reports risks encouraging companies to warrant discriminatory practices to diversify their workforce.

“It whitethorn beforehand group stereotyping astatine work, and it whitethorn promote employers to prosecute successful discrimination,” Lucas said during a proceeding up of nan vote.

Former Democratic EEOC commissioners and civilian authorities organizations person denounced nan proposal, saying it will deprive nan agency of a captious instrumentality for uncovering favoritism patterns and search really women and group minorities person fared since nan 1964 Civil Rights Act, which created nan EEOC and prohibited employment favoritism based connected race, color, sex, nationalist root and religion.

The EEOC, which receives much than 88,000 worker complaints each year, has historically utilized nan information to guideline its enforcement priorities and pass immoderate of its investigations.

Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal, nan sole Democrat near connected nan EEOC since Trump moved to wrest power of nan agency, voted against nan proposal.

“Today, nan committee discusses whether to move backmost clip to a play earlier nan civilian authorities movement, kneecapping its expertise to protect workers,” Kotagal said.

Here’s what to cognize astir nan reporting request and nan connection to extremity it:

How nan EEOC has collected nan data

Since 1966, nan EEOC has required companies pinch astatine slightest 100 employees, aliases national contractors pinch astatine slightest 50 workers, to taxable a shape called nan EEO-1 each year.

The form, which has evolved complete time, identifies 10 occupation categories from “Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers” to “Laborers” and “Service Workers.” It asks employers to study connected nan number antheral and female workers successful each occupation category, arsenic good arsenic nan number of workers from different title and ethnicities: Hispanic aliases Latino, Black aliases African American, Asian, Native Hawaiian, American Indian aliases Alaska Native and 2 aliases much races.

The information typically screen much than 50 cardinal labor and 73,000 employers nationwide.

A position into gender and title successful nan backstage sector

The EEOC launched during nan Biden management an interactive instrumentality allowing nan nationalist to research humanities demographic metrics crossed industries and occupation categories. The astir caller information is from 2023. Under nan Trump administration, nan EEOC past collected EEO-1 information for nan twelvemonth 2024 but has not publically disclosed it. Collection of nan twelvemonth 2025 would person begun this year.

The information show achromatic men dominating executive and elder head roles astatine backstage companies, though women and minorities person made inroads, particularly successful nan years pursuing nan #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements.

Women stay underrepresented successful nan apical ranks of companies. While they dress up astir half nan workforce astatine nan companies surveyed, women held conscionable 34.5% of executives and elder head roles successful 2023. That was up from 29.2% a decade earlier.

White and Asian women made nan fastest gains, and by 2023, were nary longer underrepresented successful elder roles compared to their numbers successful nan wide workforce. In contrast, Black and Hispanic women remained sharply underrepresented successful executive and elder head roles contempt making humble gains.

Asian men person been proportionally represented successful elder roles for years, while Black and Hispanic men remained underrepresented successful 2023.

Of those demographic groups, only 1 was overrepresented successful elder roles: achromatic men, who made up a 3rd of nan wide workforce astatine nan companies surveyed but held 52.7% of executive and elder guidance roles.

Why nan authorities wants to extremity nan information collection

Lucas said nan yearly reporting requirements enforce “hundreds of millions of dollars” connected costs connected employers, a load she based on was unnecessary absent “any allegation, indication, aliases grounds of discrimination.”

The move was recommended by Project 2025, nan blimpish Heritage Foundation’s blueprint that has guided galore of nan Trump administration’s policies.

A group of erstwhile Democratic EEOC commissioners and ineligible counselors said location is small grounds that companies are routinely utilizing employment information to prosecute successful quotas aliases race-based hiring.

“This is simply inaccurate and unsupported speculation, astatine likelihood pinch nan ways successful which this information is really collected, managed and used,” nan erstwhile officials said successful a statement.

Instead, nan officials said, search specified information encourages companies to proactively analyse their hiring, promotion, benefits and different policies to guarantee they are not unnecessarily erecting barriers.

Kotagal said nan agency has utilized nan information to find whether a favoritism complaint mightiness beryllium portion of a deeper shape astatine a company. She cited caller investigation of California supermarket concatenation Vallarta Food Enterprises, successful which nan EEOC alleges nan grocer grounded aliases refused to recruit, prosecute aliases beforehand non-Hispanic individuals. In that case, EEO-1 information showed that “nearly 100% of its labor were Hispanic,” Kotagal said. “It’s a cardinal instrumentality successful our toolbox.”

The agency has besides issued special reports connected demographic employment trends crossed definite industries aliases roles.

Kotagal highlighted a 2024 study connected nan tech sector, which showed that women had made virtually nary gains betwixt 2014 and 2022, and that workers nether 40 years aged had really mislaid ground. The study besides recovered tech institution workers were much apt that others to record property aliases salary favoritism charges, suggesting systemic barriers to women and older workers successful nan industry.

The study has been removed from nan EEOC’s website.

Corporate retreat from demographic disclosure

The EEOC is prohibited from publically releasing an individual company’s EEO-1 form, only publishing nan accusation successful nan aggregate. In caller years, however, a increasing number of nan country’s apical companies began publically releasing their forms successful consequence to unit from shareholders and Democratic elected officials to show transparency successful their diverseness efforts.

Many of those companies person complained that occupation categories successful nan EEO-1 forms don’t align pinch their soul structures, a constituent Lucas echoed Tuesday, saying nan categories don’t bespeak nan modern workforce. But advocates of EEO-1 disclosure based on it’s nan only standardized shape that allows for comparison crossed companies, and connection much detail.

However, nan inclination toward transparency has started to reverse.

Companies person started to propulsion backmost connected publicizing some EEO-1 forms and their ain diverseness reports, which blimpish advocates and nan Trump management person seized connected to reason that companies are utilizing discriminatory strategies to adhd women and minorities to their ranks.

In 2025, 24 companies successful nan S&P 100 — nan largest U.S. publically traded companies — chose not to disclose their EEO-1 information aft having done truthful nan twelvemonth before, according to Andrew Jones, main interrogator astatine The Conference Board Governance & Sustainability Center. Still, 60 S&P 100 companies did merchandise nan data.

Meanwhile, less companies are publicizing immoderate shape of demographic metrics. The number of Russell 3,000 companies that disclosed metrics connected women successful nan workforce fell from 75% successful 2024 to 62% successful 2025, according to a study by The Conference Board. Those disclosing metrics connected number practice fell from 30.9% to 26.5%.

Why companies whitethorn support gathering data

Companies are still apt to support way of their demographic data, whether aliases not they disclose immoderate of those metrics publicly, and moreover if they are nary longer required to taxable yearly EEO-1 reports. That’s because Title VII requires employers to support records that could beryllium pertinent to immoderate favoritism investigation, and nan EEOC is empowered to petition them.

“What we are mostly advising is to enactment nan course,” Jennifer Robins, counsel successful rule patient Saul Ewing’s Labor and Employment Group. “Private litigants, employment favoritism lawsuits are not going away, and this information is adjuvant to defending oneself.”

The EEOC has demanded extended demographic information from companies to bolster Lucas’ ain marquee cases. Those see an investigation into diversity, equity and inclusion practices of sports elephantine Nike, which Lucas has alleged discriminate against achromatic employees; a suit against nan New York Times for allegedly discriminating against a achromatic man who was passed complete for a promotion, and an investigation into alleged antisemitism against unit astatine nan University of Pennsylvania.

Lucas emphasized Tuesday that nan EEOC would proceed to request information successful nan people of its investigations. Kotagal warned employers that nether early leadership, nan EEOC could reinstitute nan EEO-1 collection.

Jocelyn Frye, president of nan National Partnership for Women & Families, said she sees nan elimination of EEO-1 information arsenic portion of an effort to obscure nan prevalence of favoritism against group minorities and women and create of a consciousness of urgency astir protecting achromatic workers from DEI-related policies.

But Frye said nan information “doesn’t propose that their apical privilege ought to beryllium favoritism against achromatic men.”

“If nan chair is moving guardant pinch an schedule that thinks she ought to beryllium focused connected men and ought to beryllium focused connected achromatic people, my reply is, ‘Well, does nan information show you that?’” Frye said.

Olson and Savage constitute for nan Associated Press.