[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 74 (Tuesday, April 16, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16648-16649]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-9352]



=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Bureau of Labor Statistics


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to 
reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre-clearance 
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 (PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program helps to 
ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, 
reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, 
collection instruments 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 collection of the COMP2000: Phase I. A copy 
of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be obtained by 
contacting the individual listed below in the addressee section of this 
notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
addressee section below on or before June 17, 1996. BLS is particularly 
interested in comments which help the agency to:
     evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
     evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
     enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting 
electronic submissions of responses.

ADDRESSEE: 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. Ms. Kurz can be 
reached on 202-606-7628 (this is not a toll free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    This collection comprises Phase I in the implementation of the new 
COMP2000 program. The COMP2000 survey, when fully in place, will allow 
the statistical series now generated by three separate BLS compensation 
programs--Occupational Compensation Surveys Program (OCSP), Employment 
Cost Index (ECI), and Employee Benefits Survey (EBS)--to be jointly 
produced. Data of these type are critical for setting Federal white-
collar salaries, in determining monetary policy (as a Principal 
Economic Indicator), and are widely used by compensation administrators 
and researchers in the private sector. The need to decrease the cost of 
gathering and processing these statistics while improving their 
quality, along with reducing the burden on respondents, is driving the 
creation of the new program.

II. Current Actions

    The transition to a jointly collected and processed survey will 
begin with the replacement of the current OCSP wage levels data with 
those from the COMP2000 program. A new, area-based sample will be used 
beginning in October 1996 to collect wage levels. A new way of 
identifying and classifying occupations in establishments will be 
implemented along with the new sample. Area and national bulletins 
replacing the OCSP publications will be produced.
    Another part of Phase I requires that testing be done to determine 
how to best update wage rates and also on revised methods for 
collecting benefit costs and provisions. These activities will be 
critical in allowing ECI-type indexes and data similar to EBS incidence 
and provisions information to be generated when Phase II of COMP2000 
begins.
    Type of Review: New collection.
    Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Title: COMP2000: Phase I.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit 
institutions; and State, Local or Tribal Government.
    Total Respondents: 34,282.
    Frequency: Annually, with some quarterly testing.

[[Page 16649]]

    Total Responses: 34,282.
    Average Time Per Response: 76.75 Minutes.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 43,858.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                          Average     Estimated 
                                         Total                                Total       time per      total   
              Activity                respondents         Frequency         responses     response      burden  
                                                                                         (minutes)     (hours)  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wage Initiations....................       20,003  Annually..............       20,003           82       27,337
Initiation updates..................          212  Annually..............          212           20           71
Wage updates........................        1,785  Some annually, some           1,785           20          595
                                                    quarterly.                                                  
Benefit tests.......................          756  Annually..............          756          262        3,301
FY96 OCSP surveys...................          325  Annually..............          325          120          650
AK-HI-SJ survey.....................          901  Annually..............          901           82        1,231
Service Contract Act survey.........        6,200  Annually..............        6,200           82        8,473
Quality Assurance...................        4,100  Annually..............        4,100           32        2,200
                                     -------------                        --------------------------------------
      Totals........................  ...........  ......................       34,282  ...........       43,858
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintenance): $0.
    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 information collection request; they also will become a 
matter of public record.

    Signed at Washington, D.C., this 10th day of April, 1996.
Peter T. Spolarich,
Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[FR Doc. 96-9352 Filed 4-15-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-M