Statement: Trump Administration’s move to end workforce demographic data collection a step toward resegregating America’s workforce

May 15. 2026

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For Immediate Release
May 15, 2026

Media Contact
Nazirah Ahmad
[email protected]

Statement from ERA Policy Director & Deputy Legal Director Jessica Ramey Stender condemning the Trump administration’s move to eliminate demographic data collection by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) – removing an essential tool established during the Civil Rights era to measure and identify patterns of discrimination in the workplace

SAN FRANCISCO, May 15, 2026 – Today’s move by the Trump administration to eliminate demographic workforce data collection, known as EEO-1, along with other data collection requirements, is a blow to all who believe in equal opportunity at work and will make it harder to identify discrimination against women, people of color, and other marginalized groups in the workplace. 

EEO-1 data is information broken down by race, gender, ethnicity, and job category that large employers have been required to submit to the federal government since 1966, and which the EEOC has used to detect and root out workplace discrimination. Without this data, the government, watchdogs, and advocates will not be able to identify promotion disparities, job segregation, and other barriers to equal opportunity at work. We cannot change what we cannot measure.

This proposed rescission of data collection does not take place in a vacuum. The Trump administration is making a concerted effort to eliminate equal opportunity in the workplace, firing independent civil rights enforcement officials, stripping away landmark guidance on workplace harassment, refusing to enforce workplace discrimination laws protecting transgender employees, attacking employers that promote equal opportunity programs, and rescinding an Executive Order and regulations prohibiting discrimination in federal contracting and requiring federal contractors to take proactive steps to identify and eliminate barriers to equal employment opportunity.

Together, these actions are part of an attempt to resegregate America’s workplaces.

Equal Rights Advocates will continue to push back against this attack on women, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals in the workplace – fighting federal actions, empowering grassroots advocates, and pushing for protections at the state level. 

To request an interview with Jessica Ramey Stender, Policy Director at Equal Rights Advocates, contact Blake Case at [email protected] or 601-832-6079.