[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 107 (Friday, June 4, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30067-30068]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-14178]


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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 
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 and combination of the ``Manual for Developing Local Area 
Unemployment Statisics'' (OMB Number 1220-0017) and the ``Local Area 
Unemployment Statistics Reports'' (OMB Number 1220-0043). The two 
collections are being revised and combined into a single information 
collection titled the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) 
Program, retaining OMB Number 1220-0017.
    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 August 3, 1999. The Bureau of 
Labor Statistics is particularly interested in comments which:
     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, DC 20212. Ms. Kurz can be 
reached on 202-606-7628 (this is not a toll free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics has been charged by Congress (29 USC 
Chapters 1 and 2) with the responsibility of collecting and publishing 
monthly information on employment, the average wage received, and the 
hours worked by area and industry. The process for developing 
residency-based employment and unemployment estimates is a cooperative 
Federal-State program which uses employment and unemployment inputs 
available in State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs).
    The labor force estimates developed and issued in this program are 
used for economic analysis and as a tool in the implementation of 
Federal economic policy in such areas as employment and economic 
development under the Workforce Investment Act and the Public Works and 
Economic Development Act, among others.
    The estimates also are used in economic analysis by public agencies 
and private industry, and for State and area funding allocations and 
eligibility determinations according to legal and administrative 
requirements. Implementation of current policy and legislative 
authorities could not be accomplished without collection of the data.
    The reports and manual covered by this request are integral parts 
of the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program insofar as 
they insure and/or measure the timeliness, quality, consistency, and 
adherence to program directions of the LAUS estimates and related 
research.

II. Current Actions

    The BLS is revising and combining two previously-separate 
information collection requests which make up the LAUS program: the 
Manual for Developing Local Area Unemployment Statistics (OMB Number 
1220-0017) and the Local Area Unemployment Statistics Reports (OMB 
Number 1220-0043).
    All aspects of the program now are automated. Exportable software 
eliminated the need for the Monthly Report on Continued Claimants by 
Place of Residence (LAUS 6). Electronic transmittals of any corrections 
to regularly submitted data have eliminated the need to use Monthly and 
Area Correction Forms (LAUS 13 and 14). The paper forms previously 
approved, BLS 3040, LAUS 2 and LAUS 3, also have been eliminated. All 
data are entered directly into BLS-provided systems.
    BLS, as part of its responsibility to develop concepts and methods 
by which SESAs prepare estimates under the LAUS program, developed a 
manual for use by the SESAs. The manual explains the conceptual 
framework for the State and area estimates of employment and 
unemployment, specifies the procedures to be used, and discusses the 
theoretical and empirical basis for each procedure.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Title: Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) Program.
    OMB Number: 1220-0017.
    Affected Public: State government.
    Total Respondents: 52.
    Frequency: Monthly and Annually.
    Total Responses: 82,718.

[[Page 30068]]

    Average Time Per Response: 1.60 hours.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 131,600 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. this 1st day of June 1999.
W. Stuart Rust, Jr.,
Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[FR Doc. 99-14178 Filed 6-3-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-M