[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 166 (Friday, August 27, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46959-46960]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-22337]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Bureau of Labor Statistics


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
Addresses section of this notice on or before October 26, 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, NE., Washington, DC 20212. Ms. Kurz can be 
reached on 202-606-7628 (this is not a toll free number).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karin G. Kurz, BLS Clearance Officer. 
(See ADDRESSES section.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Proposed Collection

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments 
concerning the proposed new collection of the 2000 School Survey 
component of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97). A 
copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be 
obtained by contracting the individual listed in the Addresses section 
of this notice.

II. Background

    Part of the mission of the Department of Labor (DOL) is to promote 
the development of the U.S. labor force and the efficiency of the U.S. 
labor market. The BLS contributes to this mission by gathering 
information about the labor force and labor market, and disseminating 
it to policy makers and the public so that participants in those 
markets can make more informed and, thus, more efficient choices.
    The 2000 School Survey represents the second wave of data 
collection from the schools attended by and located within the primary 
sampling units (PSUs) of the youths surveyed in the NYSY97. (The first 
wave of the NLSY97 was cleared under OMB number 1220-0157.) The DOL has 
been interviewing these youths on a yearly basis to study how young 
people make the transition from full-time schooling to the 
establishment of their families and careers. the longitudinal focus of 
the NLSY97 requires collection of information about the same 
individuals over many years in order to trace their education, 
training, work experience, family formation, income, and program 
participation in programs such as apprenticeships, co-ops, internships, 
and so forth. Recognizing the crucial role of schools and training the 
next generation of our labor force, the BLS will administer a school 
survey to measure the characteristics of the schools the youths attend 
so that these characteristics can be related to the cognitive 
development of the respondents in the NLSY97.

III. Current Actions

    The 2000 School Survey will provide important contextual data for 
better understanding the antecedents of youth's critical employment 
decisions and the employment paths, entrances, and exits that they take 
over their life

[[Page 46960]]

course. In addition to providing data relating to the student, the 
study also will provide school-level data that can be used, for 
example, to estimate changes in the incidence and profiles of school-
to-work programs in the panel of schools.
    The major purposes of this data collection are to determine the 
strengths and weaknesses of the process for guiding the nation's youths 
from school-to-work. The study will relate the characteristics of these 
youths' educational experiences to their success in finding a job and 
establishing a career. Accordingly, these data will help researchers 
and policy makers identify the antecedents and causes for youths 
experiencing difficulties in making the school-to-work transition. By 
comparing these data to comparable data from previous and future 
cohorts, researchers and policy makers will be able to identify and 
understand more about the dynamics of the labor market and whether and 
how the school experiences of this cohort differ from those of other 
cohorts.
    The National School-to-Work Office, a joint office of the 
Department of Labor and the Department of Education, will use these 
data to assess the extent to which schools provide activities to 
prepare young people for work. Combined with information collected from 
the teenagers attending these institutions, BLS staff, researchers, and 
federal and state policy makers will use the data from this survey to 
address the roles of schools, families, individuals, peers, 
neighborhoods, and work in influencing today's youth as they move from 
school-to-work and, more generally, from adolescence to adulthood. The 
School-to-Work Office used data from the first wave to document the 
proportion of schools with school-to-work programs and the 
characteristics of those schools.
    This request covers the 2000 NLSY97 School Survey data collection. 
The BLS believes that collecting high school-level information once 
every four years provides a sufficiently clear picture of the changes 
that occur in schools--such as advancement in technology, 
transformations in the size and characteristics of student populations, 
elimination of programs, and the evolution of funding mechanisms, 
without overburdening the school administrators who respond to the 
survey. Although a significant change can occur in any year for a 
school, most changes occur or evolve slowly. The questionnaire will 
capture these off-year changes by including retrospective questions 
about when programs began.
    The four-year frequency further ensures that the changing high 
school experiences of students who move from one high school to another 
(approximately 8 percent) because of family relocation, changes in 
school boundaries, openings and closings of schools, family choices 
about educational opportunities, or other reasons, are captured.
    If these data are not collected, the ability of researchers and 
policy makers to assess the school-to-work transition for the nation's 
youth will be severely compromised. Likewise, researchers and policy 
makers will be unable to assess the impact of schooling and other 
environmental factors on the quality of the newest entrants to the 
labor force and how those qualitative aspects relate to education, 
training, work experience, family formation, income, and program 
participation.
    Type of Review: New.
    Agency: The Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Title: 2000 School Survey component of the National Longitudinal 
Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97).
    OMB Number: 1220--New.
    Affected Public: Not-for-profit institutions (secondary schools).
    Total Respondents: 7,981.
    Frequency: Every 4 years.
    Total Responses: 7,981.
    Average Time Per Response: 30 minutes.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 3,991 hours.
    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maitenance): $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 24th day of August 1999.
Karen A. Krein,
Acting Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor 
Statistics.
[FR Doc. 99-22337 Filed 8-26-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-M