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Why is Indeed collecting demographic data from job seekers?

Quick summary

These FAQs explain what demographic data is, why Indeed or employers might collect it, and how it's used (and not used).

Indeed collects demographic data via an optional survey. This data is kept confidential and refusal to share this information will not result in any adverse treatment from Indeed. Separately, some employers also ask each job applicant to provide their demographic data and you may see these voluntary self-identification questions when applying to jobs on Indeed. This process is separate from Indeed’s collection of demographic data.

Employers that ask applicants for their demographic data may be permitted or required to collect such data under U.S. federal law. Additionally, where employers use Indeed functionality permitting them to request disability status information, they represent that they are federal contractors or subcontractors who are required to seek this information from job applicants for the purpose of complying with the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) requirements.

Jump to the FAQ deep dive section below for a more detailed answer.

FAQ at a glance

What is demographic data and what categories of demographic data does Indeed collect? Demographics are the qualities of a group of people. Indeed’s optional survey asks users to provide age (birth year), race & ethnicity, gender identity, disability status, LGBTQIA+ community membership, and arrest/conviction history.

Does “demographic data” include my address, social security number, telephone number, or email address? No.

Will employers be able to see my personal demographic data from Indeed’s demographic survey? No, the demographic data you share with Indeed will be kept confidential. Employers will not see your individual demographic data responses to Indeed’s survey without your permission. See question 4 for more information on voluntary self-identification questions from employers.

Will my demographic data be used in reviewing my job application? No, the demographic data that you share with Indeed is not part of what employers review when reviewing your job application.

Separately, some employers are permitted or required by law to ask each job applicant to provide their demographic data and you may see these voluntary self-identification questions when applying to jobs on Indeed. Your responses to those questions are provided to the employer, and the employer is responsible for separating your demographic data when reviewing your job application.

How can I share my demographic data? Sign in on Indeed.com, click the person icon in the top right of your screen, then select My demographics in the drop-down menu.

What is Indeed trying to achieve by collecting this data? We want to make sure our technology is helping all people get jobs in a way that is fair. If certain groups of users aren’t being served by our products, we need to know so that we can make improvements.

How will the demographic data I submit through the Indeed survey be used?

Indeed can use the data to:

Ensure our products make opportunities available for everyone (ex: see Fair Chance)

Evaluate fairness across Indeed’s offerings (ex: see AI Ethics)

Help employers in their inclusive hiring efforts (but don’t worry, they wouldn’t see your individual data)

I no longer want to share my demographic data with Indeed. How can I remove it? You can update or remove your data or select My demographics from the global navigation drop-down.

I do not want to share my demographic data. Can I still use Indeed? Yes, of course.

Where does Indeed collect demographic data from job seekers? Indeed currently collects demographic data from job seekers in the U.S., UK, Ireland, and France, but plans to expand to more countries.

Why am I seeing Demographic Data promos? Indeed needs to gather data on a diverse section of job seekers to make hiring fair for all. Demographic data promos appear on different parts of Indeed and may be personalized based on a job seeker's profile and/or search history.

Important: Learn more on Indeed’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

FAQ Deep Dive

Below you will find more detailed answers to the questions above.

What is demographic data and what categories of demographic data does Indeed collect?

Broadly speaking, “demographics” represent the various characteristics of a population. These characteristics can include factors such as the age, race, and disability status of a population. While there are many categories of “demographics” that can be captured, Indeed is currently only looking to capture a subset of these categories from job seekers who volunteer this information. See below for more information.

U.S. based job seekers have the option to share the following data across 6 categories. You can choose which categories you share. The 6 categories include:

Age (Birth year)

Race & Ethnicity

Gender

Disability status

LGBTQIA+ Community Membership

Arrest or conviction history

Does “demographic data” include my address, social security number, telephone number, or email address?

No. While you are required to have an Indeed profile to submit your demographic data, Indeed is not capturing the address, social security number, telephone number, or email address as part of the job seeker demographic data survey. Only the demographics listed above are captured as part of the survey.

Will employers be able to see my personal demographic data from Indeed’s demographic survey?

No. Indeed is committed to our job seekers’ privacy. We do not share any of your individual demographic data (the 6 categories described above) with employers. You can read more about Indeed’s Privacy Policy.

We will not share your individual demographic data with employers. However, the information we collect from our surveys is separate from the voluntary self-identification questions from employers. Your responses to those employer questions asking for demographic data are provided to the employer.

We will not show your demographic data on your profile or resume.

Indeed may share a summary of aggregated (group) data with employers upon request, but employers will not be able to see your individual demographic data responses without your permission.

Example of aggregate data: 45% of applicants identify as male or 10% of hired applicants identified as Hispanic or Latino.

Will my demographic data be used in reviewing my job application?

No, the demographic data that you share with Indeed is not part of what employers review when reviewing your job application.

Some employers are required by law to ask each job applicant to provide their demographic data and you may see these voluntary self-identification questions when applying to jobs on Indeed. Your responses to those questions are provided to the employer, and the employer is responsible for separating your demographic data when reviewing your job application. Employers that ask applicants for their demographic data may be permitted or required to collect such data under U.S. federal law. Where they use Indeed functionality permitting them to request disability status information, they represent that they are federal contractors or subcontractors who are required to seek this information from job applicants for the purpose of complying with the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) requirements. This process is separate from Indeed’s collection of demographic data.

The purpose of employers collecting this information is to provide aggregated data, information on groups of job applicants, to the government agencies responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws, so they can do their job. (For more information, you can visit the websites for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.)

How can I share my demographic data?

Sign in on Indeed.com, click the person icon in the top right of your screen, then select My demographics in the drop-down menu.

What is Indeed trying to achieve by collecting this data?

A commitment to inclusivity and fairness in the hiring process is core to our mission. Indeed wants to be a place where all candidates get a fair and equitable chance. Inclusive hiring can help employers broaden their candidate pool and make hiring decisions based on a candidate’s skills and abilities to do the job.

As a data-driven company, we believe you can’t improve something if you can’t measure it. We are identifying methods to measure fairness in our offerings, and we need demographic data from job seekers to achieve these goals.

As we grow, Indeed can build products that provide insights into hiring. With Indeed’s data and analytics, our goal is to make it easier for employers to engage, manage, and hire candidates in a more inclusive way.

How will the demographic data I submit through the Indeed survey be used?

Indeed can use your data in the following ways:

To evaluate our offerings. By evaluating fairness in our offerings, we can work towards ensuring that they are making opportunities available for everyone. For example, Indeed was able to better understand our job seeker population, which informed product improvements that helped justice-impacted job seekers through the Fair Chance hiring initiative.

As we describe in our statement on algorithms and fairness, a commitment to fairness is core to our mission, and we are working to understand how to assess and test our technology (ex: the AI Ethics team works across the business to build tools, systems, and processes that advance responsible and inclusive technology).

Assist employers in their inclusive hiring efforts: Indeed may share a summary of aggregate data, providing information on groups of job seekers, with employers in the future.

We may share aggregated demographic data related to overall applicants or hires - for instance, when 45% of total applicants identify as male or when 10% of total applicants identify as Asian American.

Indeed is committed to your privacy.

We will not share your individual demographic data with employers without your permission.

We will not show your individual demographic data on your profile or resume.

I no longer want to share my demographic data with Indeed. How can I remove it?

You can update or remove your data or select My demographics from the global navigation drop-down.

I do not want to share my demographic data. Can I still use Indeed?

Yes. Sharing your demographic data is completely optional. You are still able to use Indeed if you choose not to share your demographic data and you have control over how much or little you share. Refusal to share this information will not result in any adverse treatment from Indeed. We hope, however, that you will consider sharing to help us improve our offerings. If you have any other questions about demographic data, please feel free to reach out to our customer support team for further assistance.

Where does Indeed collect demographic data from job seekers?

Indeed is committed to helping all people get jobs in a way that is fair. We currently collect demographic data from job seekers in the U.S., UK, Ireland, and France, but plan to expand to more countries.

Why am I seeing Demographic Data promos?

Indeed needs to gather data on a diverse section of job seekers to make hiring fair for all. Demographic data promos appear on different parts of Indeed and may be personalized based on a job seeker's profile and/or search history.

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