--- description: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has voted to end a 60-year old requirement for employers to submit such data on their workforces. title: Trump Administration Moves to Stop Collecting Demographic Data on U.S. Workers image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7f24bb49f20ba34/6a61457e42e57e067053fa11/GettyImages-2220130782.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Trump Administration](/tag/trump-administration/) ## Trump Administration Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Trump Administration Moves to Stop Collecting Demographic Data on U.S. Workers After 60 Years by [Connor Greene](/author/connor-greene/) ## Connor Greene Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editorial Fellow Jul 22, 2026 10:45 PM CUT  Andrea Lucas, nominee to be a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, testifies during her Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen building on Wednesday, June 18, 2025. Andrea Lucas, nominee to be a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, testifies during her Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen building on Wednesday, June 18, 2025.Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images by [Connor Greene](/author/connor-greene/) ## Connor Greene Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editorial Fellow Jul 22, 2026 10:45 PM CUT The Trump Administration is moving to end a 60-year-old requirement for employers to submit [demographic data](https://time.com/7306896/women-leaving-workforce/ "undefined") on their [workforces](https://time.com/7210039/what-is-dei-trump-executive-order-companies-diversity-efforts/ "undefined") to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which enforces civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. Eliminating the requirement would make less information available to the public about demographic trends—such as how many women or people belonging to racial and ethnic minorities hold top positions at U.S. companies—and could impact efforts to protect workers against discriminatory practices. The Republican-majority EEOC on Tuesday voted 2-1 to eliminate the requirement. A 30-day public comment period for the [proposal](https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2026-07/2026%5FNL01498%5FNPRM%5FRescission.pdf "undefined") will follow before it moves to final approval. Since 1966, the agency has mandated that companies with at least 100 employees, or federal contractors with 50 or more employees, must file an EEO-1 form each year. In the form, companies must report the number of male and female workers in 10 broad job categories, as well as the number of workers of different races and ethnicities. The agency argued in the proposal that the demographic data collected under the requirement “is unnecessary to enforce anti-discrimination laws” and that the “marginal benefits are outweighed by the substantial burdens imposed” on employers and the Commission itself. It went on to say that the requirement “may have the unintended effect of promoting, rather than reducing, discrimination because of the mistaken view that it is permissible to take race and sex-based actions to correct statistical imbalances.” The Commission argued that its own “investigative authority” is a “more reliable, narrowly tailored, and cost-effective tool.” The EEOC’s move to end the data collection requirement aligns with President Donald Trump’s broader push to eliminate [offices](https://time.com/7342386/trump-government-cuts-foreign-aid-health-climate-workers/ "undefined"), [programs](https://time.com/7210039/what-is-dei-trump-executive-order-companies-diversity-efforts/ "undefined"), and laws that support and enforce diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. “It may promote racial stereotyping at work, and it may encourage employers to engage in discrimination,” EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas said of the requirement during a hearing prior to the vote. Lucas has described her vision for the agency as “a more conservative view of civil rights" and has in the past [encouraged](https://x.com/andrealucasEEOC/status/2001439099907961012 "undefined") white men to report discrimination against them. She has also [expressed](https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-chair-issues-reminder-letter-fortune-500-regarding-title-vii-compliance-related-dei "undefined") her view that “hiring workers based on their merit, excellence, and character — not skin color or sex — is the right thing to do and benefits employers and employees alike.” Kalpana Kotagal, the EEOC’s lone Democratic commissioner and the sole dissenting vote, said the agency was “kneecapping its ability to protect workers” and considering “whether to turn back time to a period before the civil rights movement.” The move has also drawn backlash from civil rights groups. Deborah Vagins, senior vice president at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued a statement on Tuesday, calling the EEOC a “mouthpiece for Trump’s attacks on having a workforce reflective of America.” “If you cannot measure problems, you cannot address them, which is exactly why this EEOC is proposing to stop demographic data collections,” she [said](https://civilrights.org/2026/07/21/eeoc-race-gender-data/ "undefined"). “Discrimination does not go away when you don’t assess it; it just makes it harder to prove.” The National Women’s Law Center in a [statement](https://nwlc.org/resource/eeocs-latest-attack-on-civil-rights-eliminating-workforce-data-collection/ "undefined") on Tuesday called the move the EEOC’s “latest attack on civil rights,” saying eliminating the data collection requirement would make it easier for the Commission to “justify enforcement priorities driven by politics rather than facts.” Earlier this year, the EEOC did not announce the opening of the 2026 demographic data collection cycle in May, which raised concerns among lawmakers about whether the practice would be enforced. The Commission had also that month submitted a draft [proposal](https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoDetails?rrid=1382561 "undefined") to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to rescind the EEO-1 requirement. In response, 10 Democrats led by Sens. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York wrote a [letter](https://www.bluntrochester.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/congressional%5Feeoc%5Feeo-1%5Fdata%5Fcollection%5Fletter.pdf "undefined") to Lucas urging her and the Commission to “proceed without delay and to provide transparency regarding its plans” for the annual collection of demographic data. “The timely and consistent collection of EEO-1 data is critical to enforcing our nation’s civil rights laws and ensuring equal opportunity in the workplace,” the group wrote. The EEOC [processed](https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-highlights-record-breaking-results-agency-reports "undefined") over 88,000 discrimination charges in fiscal year 2025 and resolved over 90,000\. During that time, the Commission secured $660 million for over 17,000 victims of workplace discrimination. The agency has [estimated](https://www.eeoc.gov/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964-requiring-discrimination-free-workplaces-60-years "undefined") that since the establishment of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in the workplace based on race, gender, religion, and other factors, it has recovered over $11 billion for victims of such discrimination. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/07/22/trump-administration-eeoc-worker-demographic-data-requirement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/07/22/trump-administration-eeoc-worker-demographic-data-requirement/"},"headline":"Trump Administration Moves to Stop Collecting Demographic Data on U.S. Workers After 60 Years","datePublished":"2026-07-22T22:45:50.232Z","dateModified":"2026-07-22T22:45:50.414Z","description":"The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has voted to end a 60-year old requirement for employers to submit such data on their workforces.","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/07/22/trump-administration-eeoc-worker-demographic-data-requirement/","keywords":["Trump Administration","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7f24bb49f20ba34/6a61457e42e57e067053fa11/GettyImages-2220130782.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Connor Greene","jobTitle":"Editorial Fellow","url":"https://time.com/author/connor-greene/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7f24bb49f20ba34/6a61457e42e57e067053fa11/GettyImages-2220130782.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GettyImages-2220130782.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/trump-administration/","name":"Trump Administration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/07/22/trump-administration-eeoc-worker-demographic-data-requirement/","name":"Trump Administration Moves to Stop Collecting Demographic Data on U.S. Workers After 60 Years"}}]}] ```