[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 149 (Thursday, August 2, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40296-40298]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-19311]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy


Proposed Information Collection Request Submitted for Public 
Comment and Recommendations: The National Agricultural Workers Survey

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.

DATES: Submit comments on or before September 30, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Daniel Carroll, Economist, Office of the 
Assistant Secretary for Policy, U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-2312, 
200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20210. Commenters are 
encouraged to send their comments on a computer disk, or via Internet 
E-mail to [email protected], along with an original printed copy. 
Mr. Carroll can be reached at (202) 693-5077 (voice), or (202) 693-5960 
(facsimile).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel Carroll, Economist and Program 
Officer for the National Agricultural Workers Survey, Office of the 
Assistant Secretary for Policy, U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-2312, 
200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20210. Mr. Carroll can be 
reached via Internet E-mail at [email protected] or by telephone 
(202) 693-5077. Copies of the referenced information collection request 
are available for inspection and copying and will be mailed to persons 
who request copies by telephoning Daniel Carroll at (202) 693-5077. For 
more information about the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), 
consult the NAWS home page at: http://www.dol.gov/dol/asp/public/programs/agworker/naws.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Department of Labor (DOL) began surveying hired farm workers in 
1988 via the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS). The primary 
focus of the NAWS is to describe the demographic and employment 
characteristics of hired crop farm workers at the national level. To 
date, over 30,000 farm workers have been interviewed.
    Prior to the NAWS and throughout the post-war period, data on farm 
workers was collected through the Current Population Survey (CPS). The 
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded this effort and its 
Economic Research Service (ERS) analyzed and published the data. The 
responsibility for collecting data on the demographic and employment 
characteristics of hired farm workers was assumed by the Department of 
Labor in 1988.
    The NAWS provides an understanding of the manpower resources 
available to U.S. agriculture, and both public and private service 
programs use the data for planning, implementing, and evaluating farm 
worker programs. It is the only national data source on the demographic 
and employment characteristics of hired farm workers.
    The NAWS samples crop farm workers in three cycles each year in 
order to capture the seasonality of

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agricultural employment. Workers are located and sampled at their work 
sites. During the initial contact, arrangements are made to interview 
the respondent at home or at another convenient location. Currently, 
approximately 4,000 interviews are obtained each year.
    The NAWS includes a primary questionnaire and four supplements 
(youth, parent, injury, and health). The purpose of this notice is to 
solicit comments on a proposed revision to the health supplement. The 
questionnaires are described below.

The NAWS Questionnaire (Primary Instrument)

    The primary instrument, in place since 1988, is administered to 
persons 14 years and older. Currently, approximately 4,000 interviews 
are conducted each year. It contains a family/household grid, where the 
interviewer records the education level and migration patterns of each 
member of the respondent's household, and an employment grid, where a 
full year of information on the work and geographic movement of the 
respondent is recorded. It also contains sections on income, assets and 
use of public services, experience working with pesticides, including 
special training, and work authorization status.
    The employment profile includes the task and crop for agricultural 
jobs, type and amount of non-agricultural work, periods of unemployment 
and time spent abroad, and the respondent's location for every week of 
the year preceding the interview. For the respondent's current job, the 
NAWS collects information on wages and payment method (piece or 
hourly), health insurance, workers compensation and unemployment 
insurance, housing arrangements and other benefits and working 
conditions.
    The demographic profile includes age, gender, place of birth, 
marital status, language ability, use of education and job training 
programs, and family history working in U.S. agriculture.

The Youth Labor and Education Supplement

    This supplement, in place since fiscal year 2000, is administered 
to workers ages 14 to 18 who complete the primary NAWS questionnaire. 
Approximately 450 interviews are conducted each year. The labor 
component solicits the respondent's age when he/she first went to an 
agricultural field in the U.S. and when he/she first worked in U.S. 
agriculture, the method of payment for work, the types of implements 
(ladder) and equipment (machines, vehicles) used and age when used, and 
how earnings from agricultural employment are allocated.
    The education component solicits school and attendance information 
for the 12-month period preceding the date of interview and, for those 
youth who did not attend any school in the previous 12 months, the date 
of last attendance, type and location of school, reasons for no longer 
attending, and educational aspirations in the U.S.

The Parent Labor and Education Supplement

    This supplement, in place since fiscal year 2000, is administered 
to NAWS respondents who are parents of U.S. resident, dependent 
children between the ages of 6 and 18. Currently, approximately 750 
parents provide information on an average of two children each, or 
1,500 children per year. The labor component asks, for those children 
who did U.S. farm work in the 12-month period preceding the date of the 
interview, how many days the child worked in agriculture, if the child 
received a separate (individual) payment for that work, and the reason 
why the child worked.
    The education component solicits information on school attendance 
and performance in the 12-month period preceding the interview, 
including number and type of schools attended, average grades, number 
of school days missed and reasons for days absent, number of times the 
parent met with the child's teacher to discuss the child's educational 
progress, and the parent's expectations for the child to graduate.

The Occupational Injury Supplement

    This supplement, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/
NIOSH), has been in place since 1999. It is administered to all NAWS 
respondents who had a qualifying occupational injury in U.S. 
agriculture in the 12-month period preceding the date of interview. 
Currently, each year approximately 4,000 respondents are administered 
one question to determine if the respondent has a qualifying injury. 
Respondents who have a qualifying injury are administered the full 
injury module. For each qualifying injury, the respondent is asked how, 
when and where the injury occurred, the body part(s) injured, where 
medical treatment was received and how the treatment was paid for, and 
the number of days the respondent couldn't work or worked at a reduced 
activity level.

The Health Supplement

    This supplement, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/
NIOSH), has been in place since 1999. It is administered to all NAWS 
respondents. Four types of health information are solicited: history of 
smoking and drinking, a 12-month history of problems with body systems 
(gastrointestinal, respiratory, musculoskeletal, and skin) a lifetime 
health history of disease, and access to health care.
    The proposed revision to this supplement is to include four new 
questions that would be administered to adult women only (about 600 per 
year). The four questions will come from the Behavioral Risk Factor 
Survey and will solicit information on cervical cancer screening. 
Collecting cervical cancer screening data from adult farm worker women 
will help CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control address its 
mission of identifying and then reaching women who have rarely or never 
received cervical cancer screening. CDC has identified migrant and 
seasonal farm worker women as having an increased risk of cervical 
cancer and a population in which surveillance for cervical cancer 
screening has been minimal.

II. Desired Focus of Comments

    Currently, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy (OASP) 
is soliciting comments concerning the proposed revision of the CDC/
NIOSH sponsored health supplement and the extension of the information 
collection via all NAWS instruments. OASP 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.
    Hard copies of the instruments associated with the proposed 
information collection request may be obtained by contacting the 
employee listed above in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this notice.

[[Page 40298]]

III. Current Actions

    This action requests OMB approval of the paperwork requirements for 
revising the health supplement to the National Agricultural Workers 
Survey (NAWS).
    Type of Review: Revision.
    Agency: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy.
    Title: CDC/NIOSH Health Supplement to the National Agricultural 
Workers Survey.
    OMB Number: 1225-0044.
    Record keeping: Records are kept for four years.
    Affected Public: Farm workers and farm employers
    Total Respondents: 5,500 (4,000 farm workers will receive an 
interview and 1,500 employers will be briefly interviewed to ascertain 
the location of the potential worker respondents).
    Frequency: Annually. The survey is administered in three 10-12 week 
cycles each year, beginning in October, February, and June.
    Total Responses: The primary questionnaire will be administered to 
approximately 4,000 hired crop workers each year. All of these 
respondents will receive the general health supplement. Approximately 
600 of the 4,000 respondents will be adult females. The 600 adult 
females will be administered four additional questions on cervical 
cancer screening. Approximately 450 of the 4,000 respondents will be 
youth between the ages of 14 and 18. The 450 youth will receive the 
youth supplement. Approximately 750 of the 4,000 respondents will be 
parents of U.S. resident, dependent children. The 750 parents will be 
administered the parent supplement.
    Average Time Per Response: The primary questionnaire and the 
general health supplement together take approximately one hour. The 
parent and youth supplements each take approximately 20 minutes. The 
injury supplement, when a qualifying injury is reported, takes 
approximately 15 minutes. The interview with the farm employer takes 
about 20 minutes.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 4,390 hours. The burden time reflects 
the time to administer the primary questionnaire and all supplements, 
including the time to conduct initial interviews with agricultural 
employers. No added burden time would result from the revised health 
supplement, as a greater number of preexisting questions will be 
discontinued.
    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintaining): $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 will also become a 
matter of public record.

    Dated: July 26, 2001.
    Authorized Official in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for 
Policy.

 Roland G. Droitsch,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy.
[FR Doc. 01-19311 Filed 8-1-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-23-P