Just last week, the Biden administration announced proposed changes on how they will collect data on employees which would allow them to specify a more specific race than only “white” or “Asian”. This comes from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) who has kept this data since the late 1970’s. You might wonder why we are talking about this, but it is likely that this new data will impact the American Community Survey (ACS) in the next few years.
Specifically, the OMB is suggesting changes that would affect the wording on the form that requires people to identify themselves as “White” if they have “origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.” This comes as people are asking for new categories that better define who they are, separate from people of European descent. Also included in these changes are other wording changes such as replacing “Far East” with “East Asian” from the definition of “Asian,” and ending use of the terms “majority” and “minority.”
This isn’t the first time in recent years that we have seen a change. Last year, we wrote about how changes in the Census reporting on race have made it appear as if there were major population changes in the United States between the 2010 and 2020 Census. This change, should it be enacted at the federal level for employee reporting, would likely find its way into the ACS and eventually the 2030 Census, again impacting the way we look at the makeup of race in America. While this will certainly make the data more precise for those looking for specific races, such as Middle Eastern, it will also make looking at historical data more challenging.
As always, we will continue to monitor this potential change and the impacts to data. You can find more information here: ‘White’ federal workers would no longer include Middle Eastern, North African heritage under new Biden plan (yahoo.com).
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