[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 176 (Monday, September 11, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54863-54864]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-23235]


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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 extension collection of the Domestic 
Agricultural In-Season Wage Report, ETA-232 and Wage Survey Interview 
Record, ETA-232A. A Copy of the proposed information collection request 
(ICR) 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 section below on or before November 13, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Grace A. Kilbane, Attention Dale Ziegler, Officer of 
Workforce Security, Employment Training Administration, U.S. Department 
of Labor, Room C-4318, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 
20210-0001, 202-693-3010, (this is not a toll-free number), fax: 202-
693-2769.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Wagner-Peyser Act, as amended, provides that the Office of 
Workforce Security shall assist in coordinating the State public 
employment services throughout the country and in promoting uniformity 
in their administrative and statistical procedures, furnishing and 
publishing information as to opportunities for employment and other 
information of value in the operation of the system and maintaining a 
system for clearing labor between the States.
    Pursuant to the Wagner Peyser Act, the U.S. Department of Labor has 
established regulations at 20 CFR 653.500 covering the processing of 
agricultural intrastate and interstate job orders. Section 653.501 
provides that wages offered by employers must not be less than the 
prevailing wages or the applicable Federal or State minimum wage, 
whichever is higher. Also the regulations for the temporary employment 
of alien agricultural and logging workers in the United States, 20 CFR, 
Part 655, Subparts B and C, the H-2A program, under the Immigration 
Reform and Control Act of 1986, require farmers and other agricultural 
employers to pay workers the adverse effect wage rate, the prevailing 
wage rate, or the legal Federal or State minimum wage rate, whichever 
is highest.
    The prevailing wage rate is used to implement these regulations 
covering intrastate and interstate recruitment of farmworkers. The 
vehicle for establishing the prevailing wage rate is Form ETA-232, The 
Domestic Agricultural In-Season Wage Report, and Form ETA-232A, Wage 
Survey Interview Record. The ETA-232 report contains the prevailing 
wage finding based on survey data collected from employers and reported 
by the State on the ETA-232A.

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

    Activity covered by regulations at 20 CFR 653.500 and 20 CFR 
655(B)(C), particularly the H-2A program, continues to expand, further 
increasing the need for accurate and timely wage information on which 
to base prevailing agricultural wage determinations. There is no 
similar age information which is available or can be used for these 
determinations which apply to a specific crop or livestock activity, in 
a specific agricultural wage reporting area for a specific period of 
time during the peak harvest season.
    Type of Review: Extension.
    Agency: Employment and Training Administration.
    Title: Domestic Agricultural In-Season Wage Report, ETA-232 and 
Wage Survey Interview Record, ETA-232A.
    OMB Number: 1205-0017.
    Agency Numbers: ETA-232 and ETA-232A.
    Affected Public: Business and State Government.
    Total Burden Hours: 16,301.

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                                     Total                             Total      Average time per      Burden
         Cite/reference           respondents       Frequency        responses        response          hours
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ETA-232.........................          600  Annually...........          600  11 hours..........        6,600
ETA-232A........................       38,805  Annually...........       38,805  \1/4\ hour........        9,701

[[Page 54864]]

 
    Total.......................  ...........  ...................       39,405  ..................       16,301
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    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): -0-.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintaining):
    Business: The salary range of representatives of business 
respondents (employees of small family owned farms up through large 
agribusiness firms) could be from the minimum wage to several hundred 
thousand dollars of a CEO. Therefore, the hourly salaries of 
individuals participating in the wage survey can range from about $5.15 
to $300.00 or more per hour.
    State Government: Average cost to the State agencies conducting the 
agricultural wage surveys range from $1,500.00 to $6,000.00 per survey, 
depending upon the complexity of the crop or livestock activity to be 
surveyed, including considerations such as size of employer and worker 
universes, and geographic expanse of wage reporting areas.
    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: September 5, 2000.
Grace A. Kilbane,
Administrator, Office of Workforce Security, Employment and Training 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 00-23235 Filed 9-8-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-M