OFCCP Issues Notice to Federal Contractors on the Use of the 2006-2010 Census EEO Tabulation

One of the questions that many federal contractors and subcontractors have been asking is "When is the OFCCP going to require us to use updated census information for calculating availability in affirmative action plans (AAPs)?"  The OFCCP has now answered that question with their announcement on May 15, 2013 that federal contractors and subcontractors must use the new information to develop AAPs that begin on or after January 1, 2014.

On November 29, 2012 the Census Bureau released the 2006-2010 EEO Tabulation (2010 EEO Tab). The OFCCP has announced that contractors will be permitted to continue to use the Census 2000 Special EEO File information for the development of 2013 AAPs; however, contractors must use the 2010 EEO Tab information to develop AAPs that begin on or after January 1, 2014. For more about this latest OFCCP notice please click on this link.

While the new census data was released to the public on November 29, it is cumbersome to download, and the Census Bureau has not provided an easily usable tool for accessing this data. This may be one of the reasons that the OFCCP has delayed any requirement to use the new census data until 2014. (For more information on the new census data, see our earlier blog posting).

The release of the new census information is significant because the census information is used in the development of an availability analysis for every affirmative action plan. The purpose of the availability analysis is to show the percentage of qualified minorities and females in various job categories who are available in the areas where a federal contractor recruits for open positions. The information from the availability analysis is then compared to the percentage of minorities and females in a contractor’s workforce in order to determine the areas within the contractor’s workforce in which goals should be set for adding minorities and females. In order to determine availability, the OFCCP requires contractors to use data from the Census Bureau. Since 2005, contractors had been required to use the Census Bureau’s Census 2000 Special EEO File.   Going forward, federal contractors now have new census data to use in the development of their availablility analyses.

Contractors Likely to Be Required to Use New EEO Census Data Starting in January 2014

While OFCCP has so far issued no formal announcement, agency representatives have begun to suggest that federal contractors and subcontractors will be required to use the new EEO census data now available from the Census Bureau in affirmative action plans completed after December of 2013.  This new EEO data will take the place of the 2000 census data that has been used in affirmative action plans for the last ten years.

The new EEO data is significantly different from the 2000 EEO data in a number of ways. Following the 2000 census survey, the Census Bureau released an EEO file that contained demographic data by race, ethnicity, and gender on the jobs held by American workers. The EEO data released in January of 2013 also contains demographic data by race, ethnicity, and gender on jobs. However, the new EEO data is NOT based on the 2010 census survey.  Instead, it is a composite of surveys conducted as part of the on-going American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is a survey conducted every year that samples a certain percentage of the population about a variety of factors including education, employment, income, language, and race.

Another change from the past involves the manner in which the EEO data has been made available to the public.  Data from the 2000 census were made available on the web with a data tool to help users easily access information for various geographical areas and populations. The new EEO data is available on the web and there is extensive additional information beyond that provided with the 2000 census files. However, there is no data tool similar to that made available for the 2000 EEO data. While the new EEO data is also available for download from an FTP site, the FTP site will typically be used by organizations that have extensive experience using database tools to manipulate very large data files. The files available from the FTP site cannot be read by common business applications such as Excel.

As we noted in a previous blog post, federal contractors and subcontractors attempting to use the new EEO data themselves may experience a number of logistical and other problems.  OFCCP may have recognized the issues concerning the new EEO data by moving the target date for using this new EEO data to January of 2014.

Thoughts on OFCCP Discussion on "The New Census EEO Tab"

On Wednesday, February 6, the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs held a discussion regarding the new EEO data now available from the Census Bureau.  This discussion was entitled "New Census EEO Tab Discussion."  This session was held as an invitation by OFCCP to have federal contractors and their representatives comment on the new EEO data that will be used in affirmative action plans.

It seemed clear from the OFCCP portion of this discussion that the agency has had limited experience with the new EEO data.  The agency's representatives did not seem to be aware of the significant number of differences the new EEO data has with the EEO data made available from the 2000 census.  A number of HR practitioners and consultants (including the writer of this article) tried to clarify for OFCCP some of the contractor community's concerns about the new EEO data.  (The new EEO data and information about this data can be found at http://www.census.gov/people/eeotabulation/.)

It should be noted that the new EEO data is, in fact, not an abstract from the 2010 census per se.  Unlike the data in the 1990 and 2000 EEO files, the new EEO data that has recently been made available is a compilation from 2006 through 2010 American Community Survey (ACS) data.

The Inherent Flaws in Availability Analyses

This article originally appeared in the August 2012 edition of the LocalJobNetwork "OFCCP Digest."

 

From the advent of the eight-factor analysis, availability analyses have been a central part of all federal affirmative action plans.  The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) changed from an eight-factor analysis to a two-factor analysis (i.e. an analysis examining only external populations and internal populations that may be able to enter jobs) more than ten years ago.  However, the central idea behind any availability analysis is the same: an availability analysis should provide a reasonably accurate picture of the percentage of minorities and females who are available for positions in any particular job group. 

As the U.S. Census Bureau enters the final stages of preparing for the release of new census data that will be used in availability analyses, it is worth taking a moment to ask an important question:  

Do the availability analyses found in affirmative action plans actually provide reasonably accurate information? 

The Inherent Flaws of Availability Analyses

(This post originally appeared in the OFCCP Digest at localjobnetwork.com)

From the advent of the eight-factor analysis, availability analyses have been a central part of all federal affirmative action plans. The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) changed from an eight-factor analysis to a two-factor analysis (i.e. an analysis examining only external populations and internal populations that may be able to enter jobs) more than ten years ago. However, the central idea behind any availability analysis is the same: an availability analysis should provide a reasonably accurate picture of the percentage of minorities and females who are available for positions in any particular job group.

As the U.S. Census Bureau enters the final stages of preparing for the release of new census data that will be used in availability analyses, it is worth taking a moment to ask an important question:

• Do the availability analyses found in affirmative action plans actually provide reasonably accurate information?