The decision by President Donald Trump's administration to halt a measure that would have required companies to increase disclosure of their pay data has come under fire by women's advocates and civil rights groups that are demanding to know how the White House made the call.

The groups want to know what data the Trump administration's budget officers used to make the decision to scuttle a disclosure effort that advocates say would have provided transparency to help tackle pay disparities.

The Office of Management and Budget decided in August to halt an effort by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that would have required employers with more than 100 employees to report expanded pay data on the annual EEO-1 report.