[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 234 (Tuesday, December 7, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68387-68388]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-31686]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


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 (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 new collection of information on 
employers' use and assessment of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit and 
the Welfare-to-Work Tax Credit. A copy of the proposed information 
collection request can be obtained by contacting the office listed 
below in the addressee section of this notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
addressee's section below on or before February 7, 2000.

addresses: George Shephard, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-4466, 200 
Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20210, or phone 202-219-9092, 
ext. 139 (this is not a toll-free number), or e-mail 
[email protected], or fax 202-208-5844 (this is not a toll-free fax 
number).

supplementary information:

I. Background

    The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) was created in 1996 and the 
Welfare-to-Work (WtW) Tax Credit in 1997. The WOTC was designed to 
promote the hiring of individuals from certain target groups who 
consistently have had a particularly high unemployment rate, and the 
WtW Tax Credit to promote the hiring of long-term welfare assistance 
recipients. Both are meant to appeal to a wide range of employers and 
to impose a minimal burden upon participating employers.
    The Employment and Training Administration has the authority and 
responsibility for managing, providing oversight of, and issuing basic 
operating guidelines for the tax credit programs. Through the use of a 
contractor, WESTAT, ETA is examining employers' use and their 
assessment of the tax credit programs. This research will be in the 
form of 16 in-depth interviews with as many businesses. A synthesis 
report will be produced which focuses on quantitative workforce 
profiles of employers' use of the tax credits; employers' innovative 
practices and how they use the tax credits and the returns they 
receive; case histories of individual employees who have been hired 
under the tax credits; and discussion of the availability of data 
should a larger scale impact study of the tax credits be considered for 
the future. Sixteen case study reports will also result.
    The study will answer key questions about the relatively-new tax 
credit programs for which no systematically-collected data currently 
exist, e.g., what are the main purposes and reasons for businesses to 
use the tax credits? Answers will be used in efforts to increase 
employer use of tax credits and to improve program operations.

II. Review Focus

    The Department of Labor 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.

III. Current Actions

    As part of a study which will examine employer's use and assessment 
of the WOTC and WtW Tax Credit, employers who utilize one or both of 
the tax credits will be interviewed for the purpose of obtaining 
contextual, qualitative and quantitative information about their 
experience. Each interview will be guided by a protocol that contains 
both closed-ended and open-ended questions and a data summary.
    Type of Review: New.
    Agency: Employment and Training Administration.
    Title: Collection of information on employers' use and assessment 
of the WOTC and the WtW tax credit.
    OMB Number: 1205-ONEW.
    Affected Public: Businesses who use the WOTC and/or WtW tax 
credits.
    Cite/Reference/Form/etc: Information will be collected by on-site 
interview through use of an interview protocol.
    Total Respondents: 16.
    Frequency: One time.
    Total Responses: 16.
    Average Time per Response: 4 hours.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 64 hours.
    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): Not applicable.

[[Page 68388]]

    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintaining): $1,280.
    Comments submitted in response to this comment request 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: November 26, 1999.
Grace A. Kilbane,
Administrator, Office of Workforce Security.
[FR Doc. 99-31686 Filed 12-6-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-M