[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 113 (Friday, June 12, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32250-32251]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-15756]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Bureau of Labor Statistics


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

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 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 revision of the ``The Consumer Expenditure 
Quarterly Interview and Diary Surveys.''
    A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be 
obtained by contracting 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 August 11, 1998.
    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.

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:

Background

    The Consumer Expenditure (CE) Survey, comprised of the Quarterly 
Interview and Diary Surveys, collects data on consumer expenditures, 
demographic information, and related data needed by the Consumer Price 
Index (CPI) and other public and private data users. The continuing 
surveys provide a constant measurement of changes in consumer 
expenditures patterns for economic analysis and to obtain data for 
future CPI revisions. The CE Survey has been an ongoing survey since 
1979.
    The data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey is used to 1) provide 
data required for the CPI revision; 2) provide a continuous flow of 
data on income and expenditure patterns for use in economic analysis 
and policy formulation; and 3) provide a flexible consumer survey 
vehicle that is available for use by other Federal Government agencies. 
Public and private users of price statistics, including Congress and 
the economic policy making agencies of the executive branch, rely on 
data collected in the CPI in their day-to-day activities. Hence, data 
users and policy makers widely accept the need to improve the process 
used for revising the CPI. If the CE Survey was not conducted on a 
continuing basis, current information necessary for more timely as well 
as more accurate updating of the CPI would not be available. In 
addition, data would not be available to respond to the continuing 
demand--from the public and private sectors--for current information on 
consumer spending.
    In the Quarterly Interview Survey, each consumer unit (CU) in the 
sample is interviewed every three months over five calendar quarters. 
The sample for each quarter is divided into three panels, with CU's 
being interviewed every three months in the same panel of every 
quarter. The Quarterly Interview Survey is designed to collect data on 
the types of expenditures which respondents can be expected to recall 
for a period of three months or longer. In general the expenses 
reported in the Interview Survey are either relatively large, such as 
property, automobiles, or major appliances, or are expenses which occur 
on a fairly regular basis, such as rent, utility bills, or insurance 
premiums.
    The Diary (or recordkeeping) Survey is completed at home by the 
respondent family for two consecutive one-week periods. The primary 
objective of the Diary Survey is to obtain expenditure data on small, 
frequently purchased items which normally are difficult to recall over 
longer periods of time.

Current Actions

    The sample sizes for the Consumer Expenditure Quarterly Interview 
and Diary Surveys will be expanded by approximately 50 percent. Data 
from the CE are the basis for determining the market basket of the CPI. 
Expansion of the CE sample size, taken together with other enhancements 
planned by BLS, will enable BLS to cut substantially the time it takes 
to update the CPI. The CPI market basket is updated approximately every 
ten years and under current procedures the updated market is 3\1/2\ 
years old at the time of introduction. Under this proposed action, the 
length of the required expenditure base period will be cut from three 
years to two. Other processing changes will allow the length of time 
required to install a new market basket in the index to be reduced from 
two years to one. Thus, at the time of its introduction into the CPI, 
the updated market will be only 2 years old. Moreover, these 
enhancements to sample size and data processing will facilitate any 
future decision to increase the frequency of market basket updates, 
e.g., from a 10-year to a 5-year cycle beginning in 2002.
    Expansion of CE sample sizes for the CE and the construction of the 
computer systems required for faster data processing will have the 
added benefit of allowing BLS to produce new ``superlative'' measures 
of consumer price trends of an acceptable degree of reliability and on 
a basis must closer to real time than would be possible in the absence 
of the expansion. Such indexes, currently available only in 
experimental form, are widely regarded a closer approximations to cost-
of-living index than the current CPI.

[[Page 32251]]

    Type of Review: Revision of a currently-approved collection.
    Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Title: Consumer Expenditure Quarterly Interview and Dairy Surveys.
    OMB Number: 1220-0050.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Total Respondents: 18,108.
    Frequency: Quarterly Interview Survey respondents are interviewed 
quarterly for five consecutive quarters (four times in any one year). 
Dairy Survey respondents complete two consecutive weekly reports.
    Total Responses: 67,583.
    Average Time Per Response: 87.7 minutes.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 89,779 hours.
    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., the 9th day of June, 1998.
Karen A. Krein,
Acting Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor 
Statistics.
[FR Doc. 98-15756 Filed 6-11-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-M