The EEOC has recently released data of charges filed by state for 2011. As others, like Mike Maslanka have noted, you can't try to read too deeply into the data because in some states there are more favorable state agencies for charging parties to bring their allegations. And furthermore, the EEOC put out its statistics largely as the percentage of the nations' charge total coming out of each state. Because of the wide variation in state populations, such percentages don't mean a whole lot. However, neither of these factors has stopped headlines from proclaiming that Texas led the nation in EEOC Charges.
It is true that Texas led the nation in charges with 10% of all filed in 2011. Of course, Texas is one of the largest states, and with 8% of the nation's population, it makes sense that it would be a leader in EEOC charges.
You can see the EEOC's full data set here. Below is a chart that I made based on that data. I have taken some liberties with it, deleting many of the columns and adding in a couple of my own to make for easier comparison. I left only those columns which show the percentage of national charges in each state and I added a column to the EEOC's data showing the percentage of the US population living in each state. That column is to gives context to the EEOC's numbers. I also added a column for the percentage of the minority population of the US living in each state. Again, this column gives context to the EEOC's numbers with the premise that, all things being equal, where there are more employees and applicants in a protected class, there are likely going to be more cases of alleged discrimination. For instance, you can see that while Texas has almost 13% of the nation's minority population, it only has 10.2% of the nation's race-based EEOC charges. Besides race, I do not know the extent to which other factors creating a protected class vary significantly by state. The number of employees hailing from foreign nations probably varies with state. I remember hearing that men outnumber women in Alaska significantly, but I don't think there is much difference in sex ratios in other states. It seems like disabilities shouldn't vary much by state. States like Florida and Arizona have large senior populations, but that is largely due to retirement moves, so that shouldn't affect the EEOC charges significantly. Religion would have state and regional differences, but I don't know how you would go about comparing it.
It is true that Texas led the nation in charges with 10% of all filed in 2011. Of course, Texas is one of the largest states, and with 8% of the nation's population, it makes sense that it would be a leader in EEOC charges.
You can see the EEOC's full data set here. Below is a chart that I made based on that data. I have taken some liberties with it, deleting many of the columns and adding in a couple of my own to make for easier comparison. I left only those columns which show the percentage of national charges in each state and I added a column to the EEOC's data showing the percentage of the US population living in each state. That column is to gives context to the EEOC's numbers. I also added a column for the percentage of the minority population of the US living in each state. Again, this column gives context to the EEOC's numbers with the premise that, all things being equal, where there are more employees and applicants in a protected class, there are likely going to be more cases of alleged discrimination. For instance, you can see that while Texas has almost 13% of the nation's minority population, it only has 10.2% of the nation's race-based EEOC charges. Besides race, I do not know the extent to which other factors creating a protected class vary significantly by state. The number of employees hailing from foreign nations probably varies with state. I remember hearing that men outnumber women in Alaska significantly, but I don't think there is much difference in sex ratios in other states. It seems like disabilities shouldn't vary much by state. States like Florida and Arizona have large senior populations, but that is largely due to retirement moves, so that shouldn't affect the EEOC charges significantly. Religion would have state and regional differences, but I don't know how you would go about comparing it.
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