U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Guide to Personnel Data Standards
ETHNICITY AND RACE IDENTIFICATION
(Please read the Privacy Act Statement and instructions before completing form.)
Name (Last, First, Middle Initial) Social Security Number Birthdate (Month and Year)
Agency Use Only
Privacy Act Statement
Ethnicity and race information is requested under the authority of 42 U.S.C. Section 2000e-16 and in compliance with
the Office of Management and Budget's 1997 Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race
and Ethnicity. Providing this information is voluntary and has no impact on your employment status, but in the instance
of missing information, your employing agency will attempt to identify your race and ethnicity by visual observation.
This information is used as necessary to plan for equal employment opportunity throughout the Federal government. It
is also used by the U. S. Office of Personnel Management or employing agency maintaining the records to locate
individuals for personnel research or survey response and in the production of summary descriptive statistics and
analytical studies in support of the function for which the records are collected and maintained, or for related workforce
studies.
Social Security Number (SSN) is requested under the authority of Executive Order 9397, which requires SSN be used
for the purpose of uniform, orderly administration of personnel records. Providing this information is voluntary and failure
to do so will have no effect on your employment status. If SSN is not provided, however, other agency sources may be
used to obtain it.
Specific Instructions: The two questions below are designed to identify your ethnicity and race. Regardless of your answer to
question 1, go to question 2.
Question 1. Are You Hispanic or Latino? (A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other
Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.)
U Yes U No
Question 2. Please select the racial category or categories with which you most closely identify by placing an “X” in the appropriate
box. Check as many as apply.
RACIAL CATEGORY
(Check as many as apply)
DEFINITION OF CATEGORY
U American Indian or Alaska Native
U Asian
U Black or African American
U Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
U White
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America
(including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community
attachment.
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast
Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India,
Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or
other Pacific Islands.
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or
North Africa.
Standard Form 181
Revised August 2005
Previous editions not usable
42 U.S.C. Section 2000e-16
NSN 7540-01-099-3446
