A Brief Update on the 2006-2010 EEO Tabulation (aka the “2010 Census File”):
Don’t be fooled by the supporting documentation – there is no plan by the sponsoring agencies to update the data on a yearly basis.
The most recent EEO Tabulation (i.e., the data to be used in Affirmative Action Plans) is the 2006-2010 EEO Tabulation (5-year ACS data). According to A Compass for Understanding and Using American Community Survey Data: What Federal Agencies Need to Know, (US Census Bureau, 2008), the three and five year estimates are called “period estimates” because of the way that the Census Bureau constructs them. Each year the Census Bureau creates new multiyear estimates by adding the newest year of ACS data and dropping the oldest year of ACS data. For example, the 5-year estimates released in 2010 will be based on data collected in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009. These estimates will be called the 2005-2009 ACS 5-year estimates. The 5-year estimates released in 2011 will be based on data collected in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 .
With this said, the one difference is that the EEO Tabulation is a custom file produced at the request of four (4) sponsoring agencies: EEOC, DOJ, OFCCP, OPM. According to Ana Montalvo, Statistician Demographer at the Industry and Occupation Statistics Branch of the US Census Bureau, “The sponsors have yet to determine when the next EEO release will be.” So while it’s not exactly clear as to when the updates will come, it’s pretty clear that there are no plans to update the census data used in AAPs on a yearly basis. You can all breath more easily.