[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
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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
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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
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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