Employers may no longer have to disclose race and gender data

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has voted to eliminate data collection on workforce demographics, a requirement that dates back 60 years.

Since 1966, the majority of employers have been legally required to provide a confidential breakdown of their workforce by race and gender to the government. The mandate—which applies to any company with at least 100 employees and to federal contractors with 50 or more employees—was introduced not long after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was created, to help the agency enforce antidiscrimination laws.