[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 211 (Wednesday, November 1, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55602-55603]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-27100]



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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Bureau of Labor Statistics


Proposed Information Collection Request Submitted for Public 
Comment and Recommendations; Business Birth Pilot Study

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to 
reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance 
consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies 
with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing 
collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be 
provided in the desired format, reporting burden is minimized, 
reporting forms are clearly understood, and the impact of collection 
requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. Currently, the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments concerning the 
proposed new ``Business Birth Pilot Study.''
    A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be 
obtained by contacting the individual listed below in the address 
section of this notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before January 2, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Karin G. Kurz, BLS Clearance Officer, 
Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 3255, 
2 Massachusetts Avenue NE., Washington, DC 20212.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ms. Kurz on 202-606-7628 (this is not a toll free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics is initiating a major redesign of 
the Current Employment Statistics (CES) monthly payroll survey, 
including further research into methods for directly capturing data on 
new business births as an integrated part of a probability sample 
design. The purpose of this collection is to explore a procedure for 
estimating business birth employment utilizing sampled data. An ongoing 
sample of business births would be maintained in order to produce birth 
estimates and to accurately reflect the changes in employment of 
business births from one benchmark period to the next.

II. Current Actions

    The CES program is a monthly payroll survey of nearly 400,000 
business establishments. It provides estimates of employment, average 
weekly hours, and average hourly earnings, by industry, for the Nation, 
States, and approximately 270 large metropolitan areas. These data are 
used by National as well as State policy makers to analyze current 
economic conditions and to set economic policy.
    The advantage of CES data to its users is timely release of data at 
industry and geographic levels with an annual benchmark to full 
population counts. However the CES has limitations which hamper its 
ability to accurately reflect current monthly employment trends: the 
lack of a probability-based sample design and the absence of a method 
for directly measuring employment resulting from business births.
    A sound statistical procedure which utilize a probability sample 
selected from a comprehensive list of business births, in conjunction 
with population counts available from that list, would provide for 
reliable estimates to be made for business birth employment at the 
National and State levels by major industry division.
    The data collected from this pilot survey would be used to estimate 
business births to complement the redesigned CES survey based on a 
probability sample design. In addition, a longitudinal data base of the 
birth units would be kept to track the trend of these firms in 
comparison to the ``non-birth'' units in the CES survey. This 
information would be used to 

[[Page 55603]]
improve the CES design by developing the best approach to incorporate 
births into the CES sample.
    This will reduce or eliminate the need for substantial ``bias 
adjustments'' currently applied to the CES sample.
    This survey will utilize computer assisted telephone interview 
(CATI) techniques to administer the birth questionnaire to sampled 
units. Those units that are classified as births will further answer 
questions on employment and Standard Industrial Class (SIC) 
verification. These units will be asked only to submit employment 
figures for each subsequent month during a two-year period by either 
CATI or Touch-Tone Data Entry (TDE).
    The sample design calls for the probability of small establishments 
being selected to be smaller than the probability for larger 
establishments. This will reduce response burden for small business.
    Type of Review: New.
    Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Title: Business Birth Pilot Study.
    OMB Number:
    Frequency: Monthly.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Number of Respondents: 12,000.
    Estimated Time for Response: 5 minutes.
    Total Burden Hours: 2320 hours.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget 
approval of the ICR; they also will become a matter of public record.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 26th day of October, 1995.
Peter T. Spolarich,
Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[FR Doc. 95-27100 Filed 10-31-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-M