The federal government has revised the racial and ethnic categories that apply to data collection efforts across federal agencies, including the EEO-1 survey administered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).     

The changes:

• Add Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) as a racial and ethnic category.
• Eliminate the distinction between race and ethnicity.
• Replace the “two or more races” category with an option to select all categories that apply, including detailed sub-categories. 

Although the new demographic categories took effect immediately, federal agencies with demographic reporting requirements, including the EEOC and OFCCP, have five years to implement the new standards.  Agencies must publish an “action plan” within the next 18 months describing how they intend to comply by the deadline of March 28, 2029. 

What Employers Should Consider Doing

Although employers may want to update their voluntary self-disclosure forms immediately to align with the new categories and new detailed sub-categories, doing so too soon may be imprudent. 

The EEOC and OFCCP likely will use the old EEO-1 categories for at least another reporting year, if not longer. Thus, any changes to an employer’s data collection categories should be done in a manner that allows employers to continue reporting under the existing EEO-1 framework, in addition to collecting the new information. 

The Revised Demographic Categories in More Detail

The updated racial and ethnic categories are set forth in the revised Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Statistical Policy Directive No. 15. It supersedes a 1997 version. 

The revised standard includes seven “minimum” categories of race and/or ethnicity, with instructions for respondents to choose all that apply:

• American Indian or Alaska Native
• Asian
• Black or African American
• Hispanic or Latino
• Middle Eastern or North African
• Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
• White

In addition to the “minimum” categories, the revised directive requires agencies to collect detailed data, including the following sub-categories and a preference for allowing individuals to write in additional groups that are not listed, rather than selecting the default option of “another group”:

• Asian: Chinese, Asian Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese or another group, such as Pakistani, Hmong, Afghan, etc.
• Black or African American: African American, Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, Somali or another group, such as Trinidadian and Tobagonian, Ghanian, Congolese, etc.
• Hispanic or Latino: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran, Cuban, Dominican, Guatemalan or another group, such as Colombian, Honduran, Spaniard, etc.
• Middle Eastern or North African: Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi, Israeli or another group, such as Moroccan, Yemeni, Kurdish, etc.
• Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Chamorro, Tongan, Fijian, Marshallese or another group, such as Chuukese, Palauan, Tahitian, etc.
• White: English, German, Irish, Italian, Polish, Scottish or another group, such as French, Swedish, Norwegian, etc.

Collecting Demographic Data

Voluntary self-reporting continues to be the preferred method of collecting demographic information and should be used whenever possible.  However, in the absence of self-reporting, the revised directive states that collection may be done “by proxy,” such as through a person knowledgeable, by record matching or by observer identification (also known as visual inspection) but limited to the seven minimum categories. 

Agencies also will have to report on the data collected by proxy, including the method used, so users can evaluate its integrity.  This new reporting obligation likely means employers will need to keep detailed records of demographic data collected by self-reporting versus proxy, including the proxy method used, and include this information in the updated EEO-1 data collection tool.