US agency proposes ending racial and gender workforce data collection

Republican-led EEOC proposal to end workforce diversity reporting heads to public commentary amid sharp criticism. A proposal from the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission could end a long-running federal requirement for employers to report workforce data by race and gender, according to a monitored public feed from Al Jazeera Latest. The move, advanced under the Republican-led agency, is now entering a public comment period and has already drawn sharp criticism, the source report said. The proposal would affect the collection of workplace diversity information that has been used to track hiring patterns across US employers. The EEOC is the federal agency responsible for enforcing laws against workplace discrimination. Reporting on workforce composition has historically provided one way for regulators and the public to examine whether companies are hiring and retaining workers in a way that reflects broader demographic trends. A change to that system could reduce the amount of information available to assess workplace diversity at a national level. The feed did not provide details on the scope of the proposal, including whether it would eliminate all race- and gender-based workforce reporting or narrow specific categories of data collection.