[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 36 (Wednesday, February 23, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8933-8935]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-4195]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


National Employers Survey--(NES 2000)

ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort 
to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public 
and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on 
proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A)).

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before April 24, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Linda Engelmeier, 
Departmental Forms Clearance Officer, Department of Commerce, Room 
5027, 14th and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230 (or via 
the Internet at [email protected]).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the information collection instrument(s) and instructions 
should be directed to Michael Hartz, U. S. Bureau of the Census, Room 
2535-3--EPCD, Washington, DC 20233-6100; (301-457-2633).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

I. Abstract

    The Census Bureau conducted three earlier National Employers 
Surveys (1994, 1995 and 1997) for the National Center on the 
Educational Quality of the Workforce (EQW), a nonprofit research group. 
This survey will be sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and 
the National School-to-Work Office. These groups focus on discovering 
relationships among employment, hiring, training, education, and 
business success. This information collection seeks to build upon the 
results of the previous surveys.

[[Page 8934]]

    This information collection goes beyond the previous National 
Employers Surveys in that it seeks to explore employees' histories and 
to identify employees' perceptions regarding employer-provided training 
and job-related educational requirements. The collection will relate 
these employees' responses to similar information collected from 
employers. The purpose is to identify those areas where employee and 
employer views are similar and where they are different. This 
information then will be used to suggest areas where additional 
emphasis regarding employer job requirements are needed to enable 
potential employees to qualify for employment.
    This new survey will incorporate a telephone survey of employers 
that responded to the 1997 National Employers survey (NES-3) and a mail 
questionnaire to be sent to approximately 15,000 employees of a sample 
of the surveyed companies. During the telephone survey, employers will 
be asked to volunteer to participate in the employee survey. Companies 
which volunteer will be sent a package of 30 questionnaires along with 
instructions on how to distribute these questionnaires to a sample of 
their employees. The employees will fill out the questionnaires and 
send them back to the Census Bureau in postage paid envelopes provided. 
The questionnaire will include about 74 questions that solicit 
employees' views regarding employment qualifications and training 
opportunities available to them that relate to their employment. These 
survey questions are constructed to eliminate the need for respondents 
to review any records relating to the subject of this collection. We 
expect that each respondent will spend about 20 minutes completing the 
questionnaire.

II. Method of Collection

    The Census Bureau will conduct the NES 2000 using both a telephone 
survey and a mail questionnaire. The telephone survey will cover about 
3,000 employers that provided information for the NES-3 in 1997. The 
telephone interview will last less than 30 minutes. During the 
telephone interview, the employer will be asked to participate in the 
employee survey. Although we expect more than 500 employers to 
volunteer for the employee survey, we will limit participation to 500. 
We will select employers so that we get a representative sample. 
Employers which volunteer to participate and are selected, will be sent 
a package of 30 questionnaires along with instructions on how to 
distribute these questionnaires to a sample of their employees. The 
employees will fill out the questionnaires and send them back to the 
Census Bureau in postage paid envelopes provided. The employee 
questionnaire will be distributed to approximately 15,000 employees. 
The questionnaire will consist of approximately 74 questions. Most 
questions will be constructed using a ``check-box'' format. The check 
boxes primarily will be questions requiring a ``yes/no'' or ``on a 
range of 1 to 5'' response.
    Employees completing the questionnaires will send them directly to 
the Census Bureau, using pre-addressed, postage-paid return envelopes. 
Employers will not be allowed access to the questionnaires completed by 
the employees or the information reported on the questionnaires. 
Confidentiality is guaranteed by Title 13, United States Code. After 
the Census Bureau performs data keying and consistency editing, the 
data set will be provided to sworn Census agents representing the 
survey sponsors.
    High participation rates for both the telephone survey of employers 
and the employee survey are crucial for statistically reliable data in 
the NES 2000. We have limited participation to 500 employers in order 
to keep the respondent burden and the costs of the survey, as low as 
possible. However, we expect that the responses from the employees of 
the 500 participating companies will be sufficient to provide useful 
and representative information. The Census Bureau has discussed survey 
participation with selected respondents from the NES-3. Nearly all of 
the business establishments we contacted stated that they would 
strongly consider participating in the survey. The businesses indicated 
that their decision to participate in a survey was primarily based on 
their perception of the usefulness of the requested information. The 
businesses are very interested in the issues of the survey. One 
business respondent said, ``After all, these are our concerns, too.'' 
Also, more 1997 respondents (employers) than in the previous two NES 
surveys told the interviewers that they wanted the results of the 
survey. Based on these factors (and especially the employer concerns 
about these workplace issues), we expect a sufficiently high rate of 
the employers from the NES-3 to participate in the NES 2000.
    We plan to rely on the employers to select the sample of their 
employees and distribute the questionnaires to them. We will be talking 
to a few more respondents to help design an effective and comfortable 
operational design for selecting employees and distributing the 
materials. The Census Bureau is confident in the ability of the 
volunteering businesses to draw a reliable, random sample of employees, 
based on payroll records containing the Social Security number (which 
we may instruct them to use as the selection criterion).
    The survey sponsors considered two designs for this survey. One was 
to measure only newly hired employees and address a set of issues that 
relate to that segment of the work force. Another was to survey 
employees across the board. When we asked about limiting the selection 
to ``new hires,'' several of the businesses thought that would pose a 
problem and recommended that we survey all their employees. We will 
work with a few of the potential respondents to determine how to impart 
our statistical requirements in written instructions.
    Another concern we discussed was anonymity. Those businesses we 
consulted feel that employees are more likely to return the 
questionnaires with accurate responses if we can assure them that the 
employer would not see any of the responses and would not know if the 
employee had responded or not. Employees are very sensitive to access 
of their personal information, and we feel that good response will 
require that we provide assurance of confidentiality.
    Anonymity, sampling of employees, and operational considerations 
will be considered during the 60-day comment period and we would 
particularly welcome any ideas or concerns on these issues.

III. Data

    OMB Number: Not available.
    Form Number: NES 2000.
    Type of Review: Regular.
    Affected Public: Employers in business establishments with 20 or 
more employees and employees of these establishments.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 3,000 employers and 15,000 
employees.
    Estimated Time Per Response: Employers 30 minutes, Employees 20 
minutes.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 6,500 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost: There is no cost to the respondent 
other than the time required to complete the telephone interview. 
Employers that volunteer for the employee survey will incur a small 
cost in selecting the sample of employees and distributing the 
questionnaires to these employees.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

[[Page 8935]]

    Legal Authority: Title 13 United States Code, Sections 8 and 9.

IV. Request for Comments

    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden 
(including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information; 
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of this information 
collection; they also will become a matter of public record.

    Dated: February 16, 2000.
Linda Engelmeier,
Departmental Forms Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer.
[FR Doc. 00-4195 Filed 2-22-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P