Race and Ethnicity Data: Upcoming Changes to Collection and Publication

Federal Register Notice: Revisions to OMB’s Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity
Home Page for U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s Statistical Policy Directive No. 15

Background

On March 28, 2024, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published the results of its Statistical Policy Directive 15 (SPD 15) review and issued updated standards for maintaining, collecting, and presenting race and ethnicity data. This effort aims to improve federal race and ethnicity statistics and ensures data more accurately reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the U.S. population. These standards were last updated in 1997.  

The changes include:

• Only one race and ethnicity question, encouraging respondents to select as many options as apply to how they identify. It will replace the current two-question format that is a Hispanic or Latino ethnicity question, followed by a separate race question.
• A new category will be added—the Middle Eastern or North African category—also known by the acronym MENA. It’s being removed from the White category and will be its own category. This action will result in a total of seven minimum race and ethnicity categories. 
• There will be detailed categories that respondents can check and/or write in.

BLS Collections Containing Race or Ethnicity Data

Please send any SPD 15 comments or questions to BLS_SPD15@bls.gov.