[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 169 (Tuesday, September 1, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46485-46487]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-23537]


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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 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

[[Page 46486]]

(PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program helps to ensure that 
requested data ca 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 ``Report on Employment, Payroll, and Hours (BLS-790.''
    A copy of the proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) can be 
obtained by contacting the individual listed below in the ADDRESSES 
section of this notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
ADDRESSES section below on or before November 2, 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, 
Divsion of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 3255, 2 
Massacusetts Avenue N.E., Washington, D.C. 20212. Ms. Kurz can be 
reached at 202-606-7628 (this is not a toll free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The BLS Current Employment Statistics (CES) Program produces 
monthly estimates of employment, hours, and earnings of U.S. 
nonagricultural establishment payrolls. The estimates produced from the 
date are fundamantal inputs in econonmic decision processes at all 
levels of private enterprise, government, and organized labor. The 
estimates are vital to the calculation of the Gross Domestic Product, 
the Federal Reserve Board's Index of Industrial Production, and the 
Composit Index of Leading Economic Indicators among others. The 
earnings data provide a proxy measure of the cost of labor for industry 
cetail not available from the BLS Employment Cost Index program. The 
early availability of employment and hours data provides early signals 
of economic change.

II. Current Actions

    The CES program is currently undergoing a sample redesign to 
transition from a quota-based to a probability-based sample. The new 
information will be phased-in one industry division at a time over the 
next five years, beginning with the Wholesale Trade industry. A 
parallel set of experimental estimates from the new probability-based 
sample will be produced for a period of time before the estimates are 
officially published. Information for CES estimates is derived from a 
sample of 274,400 establishments which, each month, report their 
employment, payroll, and hours on BLS-790 forms. Reports from an 
additional 17,350 establishments currently are collected for the 
probability-based sample design for the Wholesale Trade industry. BLS 
expects to be collecting reports from 154,300 establishments for the 
new design by the end of Calendar Year 2001. As industries are 
converted to the new design, there will be a reduction in the number of 
reports collected for the current design.
    BLS-790 forms for both the current and probability-based sample 
designs are being submitted for clearance. Letters and other materials 
sent to establishments are included. Automated data collection methods 
now are used for most of the sample. Approximately 232,000 reports are 
collected using Touchtone Data Entry (TDE). In comparison, 48,500 
reports are collected by mail. An additional 93,500 reports are 
collected from the balance of the sample through other automated 
methods, including Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI), 
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), facsimile collection, and submission 
of tapes and diskettes. Research on use of the World Wide Web for data 
collection is continuing. For the probability-based design, data are 
collected through CATI for initial enrollment, then by TDE, fax, or EDI 
for most ongoing collection.
    Type of Review: Revision.
    Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Title: Report on Employment, Payroll, and Hours (BLS-790).
    OMB Number: 1220-0011.
    Affected Public: Federal Government; State or local governments; 
Businesses or other for-profit; Not-for-profit institutions; Small 
businesses or organizations.

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                                                                                                        Annual  
              Form                   Number of        Frequency of       Total annual   Minutes per     burden  
                                    respondents         response           responses      response      hours   
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                                       Calendar Year 1999--Current Design                                       
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BLS-790 BM......................             400  Monthly.............           4,800           15        1,200
BLS 790-G, G-S..................          39,600  Monthly.............         475,200            5       39,600
BLS 790-CU......................           \1\ 0  One-time............               0            2            0
BLS 790-F1, F2, F3..............      \2\ 30,000  Monthly.............         360,000            7       42,000
All other BLS-790...............     \3\ 297,200  Monthly.............       3,566,400            7      416,080
                                 ----------------                      -----------------------------------------
    Total.......................         367,200  ....................       4,406,400  ...........      498,880
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                                      Calendar Year 1999--Probability Design                                    
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BLS-790 BM......................               0  Monthly.............               0            0            0
BLS 790-G, G-S..................               0  Monthly.............               0            0            0
BLS 790-CU......................           \1\ 0  One-time............               0            0            0
BLS 790-F1, F2, F3..............      \2\ 10,000  Monthly.............         120,000            7       14,000
All other BLS-790...............      \3\ 59,300  Monthly.............         711,600            7       83,020
                                 ----------------                      -----------------------------------------
    Total.......................          69,300  ....................         831,600  ...........       97,020
                                                                                                                
 
[[Page 46487]]

                                                                                                                
                                            Calendar Year 1999--Total                                           
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BLS-790 BM......................             400  Monthly.............           4,800           15        1,200
BLS 790-G, G-S..................          39,600  Monthly.............         475,200            5       39,600
BLS 790-CU......................           \1\ 0  One-time............               0            0            0
BLS 790-F1, F2, F3..............      \2\ 40,000  Monthly.............         480,000            7       56,000
All other BLS-790...............     \3\ 356,500  Monthly.............       4,278,000            7      499,100
                                 ----------------                      -----------------------------------------
    Total.......................         436,500  ....................       5,238,000  ...........     595,900 
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\1\ A subset of current reporters may receive this ``one-time'' supplemental form. This form is not used for the
  probability sample.                                                                                           
\2\ The current design assumes 3,000 multi-unit firms reporting by fax for approximately 30,000 establishments. 
  The probability-based design assumes 1,000 multi-units firms reporting by fax for approximately 10,000        
  establishments.                                                                                               
\3\ All other BLS-790 forms are used to collect the same informaiton and differ only by industry definitions.   

    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 ICR; they also will become a matter of public record.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 27th day of August 1998.
W. Stuart Rust, Jr.,
Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[FR Doc. 98-23537 Filed 8-31-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-M