Behind the Curtain of Workforce Diversity: Evidence from EEO-1 Reports

54 Pages Posted: 23 May 2023 Last revised: 15 Jul 2023

See all articles by Thomas Bourveau

Thomas Bourveau

Columbia University - Columbia Business School, Accounting, Business Law & Taxation

Rachel W. Flam

London Business School

Anthony Le

Columbia University

Date Written: July 14, 2023

Abstract

We leverage the 2023 court-ordered FOIA release of standardized Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO-1) reports to examine the workforce diversity of federal contractors. Using the released data for a sample of over 19,000 publicly traded and private firms, we provide descriptive evidence on the variation in gender and racial diversity of these companies' workforce.  We also document the existence of a racial gap between managers and lower-level employees.  A substantial portion of that gap cannot be explained by industry or geographic factors, reflecting the influence of firm-level characteristics. Then, focusing on a sample of over 800 publicly traded federal contractors, we find robust evidence that the racial managerial gap is associated with firms' decision to withhold the voluntary disclosure of their EEO-1 forms. While our findings are subject to several caveats, we provide important evidence on workforce diversity and highlight the importance of using granular, firm-level data to study diversity topics.

Keywords: EEO Form; Diversity Metrics; Strategic Disclosure

JEL Classification: J15, M14, M51

Suggested Citation

Bourveau, Thomas and Flam, Rachel W. and Le, Anthony,
Behind the Curtain of Workforce Diversity: Evidence from EEO-1 Reports
(July 14, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4452298 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4452298

Thomas Bourveau

Columbia University - Columbia Business School, Accounting, Business Law & Taxation ( email )

3022 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
United States

Rachel W. Flam (Contact Author)

London Business School ( email )

Sussex Place
Regent's Park
London, London NW1 4SA
United Kingdom

Anthony Le

Columbia University ( email )

3022 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
United States

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