On March 28th, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced revisions to the Statistical Policy Directive (SPD) No.15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. OMB periodically reviews statistical policy directives to update guidance and ensure they continue to meet their intended purpose and support new data collection requirements.
The OMB updates follow the recommendations from the Federal Interagency Technical Working Group:
- Collect Race and Ethnicity Information Using One Combined Question (rather than two, separate questions).
- Add Middle Eastern or North African as a new Minimum Category (separate and distinct from White category).
- Require the Collection of Detailed Race and Ethnicity Categories as a default.
- Update Terminology in the SPD 15.
In addition to these important changes, the revision includes a statement of likely interest to FABBS members: “For the purposes of SPD 15, the race and ethnicity categories set forth are sociopolitical constructs and are not as attempt to define race and ethnicity biologically or genetically.”
This language aligns with a key point raised in the FABBS response to the request for information in May 2023 (see FABBS Response to OMB RFI on Race and Ethnicity Standards in Data).
“While fully supportive of these efforts to improve upon these statistical standards, as well as the value of categories for the sake of measurement and research, FABBS is compelled to underscore the limitations of race and ethnicity as social constructs rather than biologically determined. The written concept of race, as it is commonly used today, did not exist until the 17th century. Prominent philosophers and scientists at the time wrongly argued that race was a biological construct and claimed that there are genetically distinct human races. Accordingly, FABBS would argue that there are some inherent limitations to the categories of race and ethnicity.”
These changes are effective as of March 28, 2024.
