[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 123 (Thursday, June 26, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34487-34488]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-16769]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Bureau of Labor Statistics


Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Forms and Multiple 
Worksite Report Collections; Comment Request

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to inform the public of 
developments regarding the confidentiality statement appearing on 
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Annual Refiling Survey (ARS) form and 
Multiple Worksite Report (MWR), which are conducted under the BLS 
Covered Employment and Wages (ES-202) Program in cooperation with 
participating State agencies.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Karin G. Kurz, BLS Clearance Officer, 
Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 3255, 
2 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20212. Ms. Kurz can be 
reached on 202-606-7628 (this is not a toll free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Prior to the Fiscal Year 1997 ARS and Calendar Year 1997 MWR forms, 
three alternative confidentiality statements were used in the ARS and 
four were used in the MWR. Each State used the statement that reflected 
its laws and

[[Page 34488]]

confidentiality practices. In each of these statements, BLS made a 
commitment to survey respondents regarding State uses of the data.
    BLS recently proposed to the participating State agencies that a 
single confidentiality statement be adopted that would accurately 
reflect the treatment of data gathered in these surveys and give the 
States full responsibility for determining their appropriate uses of 
the data. States overwhelmingly favored this new approach, and the 
confidentiality statement was revised for the 1997 forms.
    Substantive changes to Federal information collections must be 
approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) prior to 
implementation. Due to a BLS oversight, the States were instructed to 
use a revised confidentiality statement on the 1997 forms before the 
statement was submitted to OMB for clearance. Consequently the prior 
versions of the confidentiality statement, not the revised version 
which appeared for 1997, are the officially-approved statements.
    Questions concerning this matter arose when BLS submitted the ARS 
clearance package for OMB approval, and a notice was published in the 
Federal Register. During that process, OMB received a public comment 
advising them that the confidentiality statement contained in the 
clearance package was already in use. OMB determined that the revised 
confidentiality statement is a substantive change which requires OMB 
clearance. BLS withdrew the ARS clearance package from OMB's docket to 
allow time for reconsideration of the new statement.
    OMB has agreed that BLS and the States may continue 1997 ARS and 
MWR data collection using the correct forms without interruption.
    However, because the revised confidentiality statement on the 
current forms is not approved by OMB, States are not required to use 
it. BLS is taking the following steps to bring the collections into 
full compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995:
     BLS has prepared a new confidentiality statement to put 
forward in emergency OMB clearances of the ARS and MWR. This statement 
will be on the forms which will be printed this summer and mailed out 
between October 1997 and January 1999. This statement is very similar 
to one of the alternative statements used earlier with these programs, 
and is as follows:

    The information collected on this form by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics and the State agencies cooperating in its statistical 
programs will be used for statistical and Unemployment Insurance 
program purposes, and other purposes in accordance with law.

     Following-up on the emergency clearances, BLS will submit 
extension requests for three-year clearance of the ARS and MWR with the 
revised confidentiality statement. This process will include requests 
for public comment.
    The confidentiality statements for the 1997 and 1998 forms conform 
to the following factors:
     BLS uses of the data are exclusively statistical.
     BLS may share the data with other Federal agencies for 
statistical purposes; however, as in the past, BLS will not share a 
State's confidential ES-202 data with another Federal agency unless 
that State has given BLS written permission to do so.
     BLS makes no confidentiality statement regarding State 
uses of the data.
     In some States, uses are not exclusively statistical.

    Signed at Washington, D.C., this 20th day of June, 1997.
W. Stuart Rust, Jr.,
Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[FR Doc. 97-16769 Filed 6-25-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-M