New EEO Census Data Available for Affirmative Action Plan Development

When developing an Affirmative Action Plan contractors must determine the availability of women and minorities in their reasonable recruitment areas who have the skills required to do their jobs, by using “the most current and discrete statistical information available”.  The source of this information is the Census Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Tabulation.

In March 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau provided a new Equal Employment Opportunity Tabulation based on the 2014-2018 census data. Since contractors were previously utilizing the 2006-2010 EEO Tabulation, the Census has provided guidance that includes crosswalks that display changes to the 2014-2018 EEO Tabulation.

Now that the new tabulation has been made available, the OFCCP has provided a notice that beginning with Affirmative Action Plans starting on or after January 1, 2022, federal contractors must use the 2014-2018 EEO Tabulation in preparing their plans. The OFCCP will also utilize this updated data to evaluate Affirmative Action Plans starting on or after January 1, 2022

Per the OFCCP’s website, there will be a training provided for contractors that will provide information – such as the importance of the EEO tabulation & how the EEO tabulation was created. The training will also include a live demonstration and instructions to navigate the new EEO Tabulation.

In July, Berkshire’s Katie Johnson conducted a webinar, 2014-2018 EEO Census Tabulation: What You Need to Know and published a blog New Census Data is Now Available providing more details regarding the updated EEO Tabulation.

In order to view the 2014-2018 EEO Tabulation, visit the Census Site https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/eeo/acs-2014-2018.html. For additional information about the 2014-2018 EEO Tabulation, please visit the Equal Employment Opportunity Tabulation FAQs page (https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/faqs/EEO-Tab-FAQs).