[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 60 (Tuesday, March 30, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15179-15181]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-7777]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Proposed Information Collection Request Submitted for Public 
Comment and Recommendations; Survey of the Costs to States and 
Employers To Convert Existing Reports To Accommodate the 
Standardization and Expansion of Payroll Reporting

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 (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 Employment and Training Administration is soliciting 
comments concerning the proposed survey of States concerning estimated 
costs that States and employers will incur if they were to adopt the 
new standards being recommended by the Social Security Administration 
(SSA). A copy of the proposed survey follows in this document.


[[Page 15180]]


DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before June 1, 1999.
    Written comments should:

--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 the use of appropriate automated, electronic, 
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms 
of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of 
responses.

ADDRESSES: Rett Hensley, Unemployment Insurance Service, Employment and 
Training Administration, Department of Labor, Room S4015, 200 
Constitution Ave, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20210; 202 219-5615 (this is 
not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The passage of welfare reform legislation, child support 
legislation and increased concern about unemployment insurance (UI) 
fraud and overpayments, has stimulated a movement toward adoption of a 
standardized payroll reporting format. In a cooperative effort to 
improve the welfare of children almost all States now report UI wages 
and benefit payments to the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH). The 
reporting began with States voluntarily reporting third quarter 1997 
wages and fourth quarter 1997 benefit payments. The quarterly wage data 
reported from State maintained systems is already a vital source of 
information within the NDNH.
    The NDNH, which is maintained by the Social Security Administration 
(SSA) on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), 
also stores information from W-2 forms. Unfortunately a lack of 
standardization in the reporting of name and social security number 
(SSN) information by the States makes matching the W-2 information with 
the State wage data difficult and diminishes the usefulness of the 
information in the data base. Recently the SSA took the lead in 
establishing a standard for storage of name and social security 
information. Employers will begin using the new standards for W-2's 
issued in 1999 to report wages earned in 1998. Listed below are some 
agencies that HHS indicates may probably benefit as a result of 
implementation of the plan for the new standards:
     State child support agencies (parent locator systems)
     Treasury (debt collections)
     SSA (Supplemental Security Income, disability, and 
retirement overpayment detection) and
     IRS (fraud detection, tax enforcement).
     States (fraud prevention and detection for UI, worker's 
compensation, Transitional Assistance for Needy Families, Foodstamps 
and Medicaid).
    A system change of this magnitude will be very costly for some 
States to implement. Other States may already be using these or similar 
standards. The Office of Management and Budget, at the request of SSA 
asked the Department of Labor to include $40 million in its Fiscal Year 
2000 budget request for States to use in adopting the new standards in 
payroll reporting. Since the $40 million is only a rough estimate of 
need, the Unemployment Insurance Service (UIS) must gather estimates 
from State Employment Security Agencies (SESAS) of the costs that 
States and their employers might expect to incur if they were to adopt 
the new standards. This information will produce a more accurate 
estimate of actual need in the event that all States implement this new 
standard. A survey form, which shows the standards, has been developed 
to assist in reporting these estimates. It is titled ``Name Fields''.
    The survey also asks for an estimate of the cost a State agency and 
its employers might experience in gathering some new information 
concerning average wages, hours worked and the location of jobs. Having 
some knowledge of the potential cost of gathering this information will 
help in making future decisions on whether or not it is feasible to ask 
employers and States for this information. This second portion is title 
``Labor Market Information''.

II. Current Actions

    This is a request for OMB approval under the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3506 (c)(2)(A)).
    Agency: Employment and Training Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Survey of the Costs to States and Employers to Convert 
Existing Reports to Accommodate the Standardization and Expansion of 
Payroll Reporting.
    Affected Public: State governments (State Employment Security 
Agencies) and employers.
    Total Respondents: Fifty three State governments and, possibly, 
SESA-selected samples of employers.
    Frequency: One time only.
    Total Responses: Fifty three.
    Average Time Per Response: 90 hours for ``Name Fields'' portion of 
survey. To estimate how much extra equipment and staff it will take to 
gather and store the additional name fields characters, each State 
would have to consult with its data processing units about equipment 
needs and programming requirements. Estimates would have to be 
produced, detailed and discussed. To obtain the impact on the State's 
employers, some discussions would need to take place with a number of 
employers and their data processing staff as well.
    The complete the more difficult portion of the survey, ``Labor 
Market Information'', 180 hours is estimated. States will have to 
consider costs involved in: training employers and staff to granter and 
report new data (e.g., hours worked, weeks worked, occupational codes 
and FIPS codes) that they are not accustomed to working with; bringing 
about compliance by hiring additional staff to answer employer 
questions, and calling and training employers who fail to comply; and 
fir the purchase of additional equipment, redesigning forms and 
software, and hiring staff to process, store and forward the new data.
    Total survey response time is estimated at 270 hours.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 14,310 hours for 53 States.
    The survey would look as follows:

Section One--Survey Concerning the Standardization of Name Fields

    Please fill in the following table showing your estimate of the 
cost (for both your State and the employers of your State) of 
converting your existing system to the new standards shown below. You 
should assume that your State will be utilizing magnetic media to make 
your reports to the National Directory of New Hires.

[[Page 15181]]



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                                                                                                  State's    State's               Employer's    Total
                                      SESA's current                                              initial    ongoing   Employer's    ongoing    cost for
              Field                character capability       New SSA standards field type        cost to     annual     initial     annual      first
                                                                                                  change *   cost **     cost *      cost **      year
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First Name.......................  ....................  15 characters alpha
Middle Name......................  ....................  15 characters alpha
Last Name........................  ....................  20 characters alpha
Suffix ***.......................  ....................  4 characters numeric
SSN..............................  ....................  9 characters numeric
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* Consider the cost of additional computer storage equipment and programming.
** Consider the ongoing costs of entering additional data each quarter and maintaining the additional volume of records.
*** This is an optional field, for future use by SSA. It refers to Jr. or Sr. etc., after some names.

Section Two--Survey Concerning Collecting Labor Market Information

    Some agencies have requested labor market information from UIS that 
is not currently available on most States' Contribution and Wage 
Reports. Your cost estimates for providing this information is 
requested to facilitate long term planning for labor market information 
needs. There are no immediate plans to begin requesting or utilizing 
this additional information.

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                                                                     State's   Employer's  Employer's    Total
   Fields on the quarterly wage         Anticipated       State's    ongoing     initial     ongoing    cost for
              report                 characters needed    initial     annual     cost to     annual      first
                                                            cost       cost        add        cost        year
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A column showing the quarterly     3 Characters........
 hours worked per employee.
A column showing the weeks worked  2 Characters........
 per employee.
A column showing the occupational  6 Characters........
 code of each employee.
A column showing the FIPS code or  5 Characters........
 zip code of where each worker
 works.
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    Please use this space to make any comments or observations you wish 
to express about the survey.
    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 will also become a 
matter of public record.

    Dated: March 23, 1999.
Grace A. Kilbane,
Director, Unemployment Insurance Service.
[FR Doc. 99-7777 Filed 3-29-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-M