Healey-Driscoll Administration Releases 2026 Massachusetts Workforce Data Report

 Healey-Driscoll Administration Releases 2026 Massachusetts Workforce Data Report

 Report provides new employer-reported data on workforce representation across private, nonprofit, state and local government employers

BOSTON — The Healey-Driscoll Administration today released the 2026 Massachusetts Workforce Data Report, providing new, employer-reported data on workforce demographics across the Massachusetts workforce industry, including private, nonprofit, state, and local government employers.

The report, commissioned by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD), in partnership with Boston University and the Boston Women’s Workforce Council, analyzes workforce demographic data from employers with 100 or more workers, offering a comprehensive snapshot of race, gender, job category, and industry representation across both public and private sectors, with an analysis on workplace equity to help better understand workforce trends and opportunities

“Massachusetts is committed to building an equitable workforce where opportunity is visible, measurable, and accessible,” said Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Lauren Jones. “This report provides a clear view on progress achieved and identified gaps and disparities to overcome.”

The 2026 report analyzes two categories of employer-reported data:

• Private and nonprofit organizations with 100 or more employees. Massachusetts received 1,526 EEO-1 submissions, representing approximately 760,000 employees.

• State and local government entities. Massachusetts received 34 EEO-4 submissions, representing approximately 71,000 employees. 

Key findings from the 2026 report include:

• Gender balance in private sector. Women make up a majority of the private-sector workforce but remain underrepresented in senior leadership. Women account for 53 percent of the reporting private-sector workforce, but only hold about one-third of Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers roles.

• Race and ethnicity disparities persist across job categories. Black or African American and Hispanic or Latino employees are underrepresented in professional and managerial roles and overrepresented in service and laborer positions relative to their overall workforce shares.

• Leadership disparities are especially pronounced at the intersection of race and sex. White men account for more than half of the Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers roles, while Black or African American and Hispanic or Latina women each hold only small shares of these positions.

• Greater diversity in larger employers. The report finds that larger employers have modestly higher levels of sex and racial diversity in Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers roles.

• The public-sector workforce is majority male and predominantly White. Among reporting state and local government entities, the workforce is 52 percent male and 48 percent female, with White employees representing 69 percent of employees, followed by Black or African American employees at 15 percent, Hispanic or Latino employees at 10 percent, and Asian employees at 4 percent.

• Public-sector roles and pay bands show notable disparities. Women are heavily concentrated in Health and Public Welfare functions and remain a small share of Fire Protection, Sanitation and Sewage, and Police Protection roles. The report also finds that White employees make up nearly three-quarters of workers in the $70,000+ salary band, while Black or African American employees are overrepresented in middle salary bands and Hispanic or Latino employees are overrepresented in the lowest salary band.

In July 2024, Governor Maura Healey signed the Frances Perkins Workplace Equity Act into law, which required EOLWD to publish this first-of-its-kind annual report, with the inaugural report released in June 2025. This annual report emphasizes that employer-reported EEO data provides a complementary view to broader federal labor market data, offering a more granular look at workforce demographics by job category, industry, organizational size, government function, and salary band.

The Frances Perkins Workplace Equity Act, named after the Massachusetts native who was the first woman to serve as US Secretary of Labor, included additional tools to help promote wage transparency and level the playing field for all workers. In addition to the data collection requirement, the law protects an employee’s right to ask for salary range information and requires public and private employers with 25 or more employees to disclose pay ranges in job postings and internal promotions.

The full 2026 Massachusetts Workforce Data Report is available at mass.gov/workforce2026.