[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 8 (Friday, January 11, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1518-1520]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-668]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Bureau of Labor Statistics


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 pre-clearance 
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. The 
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments concerning the 
proposed revision of the ``Consumer Price Index Commodities and 
Services Survey.'' A copy of the proposed information collection 
request (ICR) can be obtained by contacting the individual listed below 
in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
Addresses section of this notice on or before March 12, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Amy A. Hobby, BLS Clearance Officer, 
Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 3255, 
2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE., Washington, DC 20212, telephone number 
202-691-7628 (this is not a toll free number).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amy A. Hobby, BLS Clearance Officer, 
telephone number 202-691-7628. (See ADDRESSES section.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Under the direction of the Secretary of Labor, the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics (BLS) is directed by law to collect, collate, and report 
full and complete statistics on the conditions of labor and the 
products and distribution of the products of the same; the Consumer 
Price Index (CPI) is one of these statistics. The collection of data 
from a wide spectrum of retail establishments and government agencies 
is essential for the timely and accurate calculation of the Commodities 
and Services (C&S) component of the CPI.

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    The CPI is the only index compiled by the U.S. Government that is 
designed to measure changes in the purchasing power of the urban 
consumer's dollar. The CPI is a measure of the average change in prices 
over time paid by urban consumers for a market basket of goods and 
services.
    The CPI is used most widely as a measure of inflation, and serves 
as an indicator of the effectiveness of government economic policy. It 
also is used as a deflator of other economic series, that is, to adjust 
other series for price changes and to translate these series into 
inflation-free dollars. A third major use of the CPI is to adjust 
income payments. Over two million workers are covered by collective 
bargaining contracts which provide for increases in wage rates based on 
increases in the CPI.
    The continuation of the collection of prices for the CPI is 
essential since the CPI is the nation's chief source of information on 
retail price changes. If the information on C&S prices were not 
collected, Federal fiscal and monetary policies would be hampered due 
to the lack of information on price changes in a major sector of the 
U.S. economy, and estimates of the real value of the Gross National 
Product could not be made. The consequences to both the Federal and 
private sectors would be far-reaching and would have serious 
repercussions on Federal government policy and institutions.

II. Desired Focus of Comments

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics is particularly interested in 
comments that:
     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 Action

    A new outlet rotation model introduced during the 1998 revision is 
now fully deployed. This model results in rotating the full C&S sample 
every four years.
    A new initiative to reinitiate a subset of the currently priced 
item sample in existing outlets to account for new goods is under 
development. This initiative is referred to as Item Rotation. Item 
rotation is a process that allows for the inclusion of new goods when 
reinitiating existing quotes within currently priced outlets and 
enables the item sample to be refreshed without the expense and delay 
of a full Telephone Point of Purchase Survey (TPOPS) rotation. Under 
this initiative at currently priced outlets for selected item 
categories the items priced will be reinitiated two years after the 
original initiation, thus offering the chance that new goods will be 
selected for pricing. An example is prescription drugs, where under 
this initiative based on current sales data priced drugs will be 
reinitiated. Since this reinitiation will include all currently 
dispensed drugs those that have been introduced since the previous 
initiation will have a chance to be selected. Over a four year period 
up to half our priced outlets will be subject to item rotation.
    Currently, data for the CPI are recorded on collection schedules by 
CPI field staff in assigned retail outlets and are mailed to the 
National Office for processing. A key element nearing completion is to 
convert all ongoing data collection and transmission to electronic 
systems. The gradual introduction of a Computer-Assisted Data 
Collection (CADC) system for the C&S portion of the CPI will begin in 
the fall of 2002. The use of CADC will result in significant advantages 
by increasing productivity and improving the overall quality of the 
CPI. Electronic data collection and transmission will provide long-term 
savings through a major reduction of mail, paper, and printing costs. 
Electronic systems will provide an opportunity to reduce data capture 
and review time, and to improve survey logistics management.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Title: Consumer Price Index Commodities and Services Survey.
    OMB Number: 1220-0039.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; not-for-profit 
institutions; and state, local or tribal government.

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                                                                                                      Minutes per
            Form number               Total number of          Frequency          Total  annual         response       Estimated total
                                        respondents                                 responses          (average)         burden hours
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BLS 3400...........................             14,178  Annual................             14,178                  4                993
BLS 3400A.2........................             19,105  Annual................             19,105              29.76              9,486
BLS 3400B..........................             19,105  Annual................             19,105              25.50              8,124
BLS 3400C..........................              1,375  Annual................              1,375                  6                138
BLS 3401...........................             39,415  Monthly/Bimonthly.....            343,699               13.8             79,051
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      Totals.......................          \1\58,520  ......................         \2\362,804              \3\15             97,792
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\1\ The total number of respondents, 58,520, does not reflect the sum of the number of respondents for the five listed forms because the first form only
  applies to all of our activities that involve initiation, while the second and third forms involves all initiations plus item rotation. The fourth
  form is only used in a sub set of outlets being initiated. The fifth form is used only for the regular pricing of sampled outlets. Thus the total
  individual respondents impacted by the five forms is 39,415 + 19,105 = 58,520 respondents.
\2\ The total annual responses does not reflect the sum of all of the listed responses because, as noted in footnote 1, some forms are used at the same
  respondent when they are initiated or are part of item rotation. Thus the total annual responses associated with the five forms is 343,699 + 19,105 =
  362,804.
\3\ The sum of minutes represents a weighted average of the minutes per respondent, using annual responses as a weight.

    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintenance): $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.


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    Signed at Washington, DC, this 19th day of December, 2001.
Jesus Salinas,
Acting Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor 
Statistics.
[FR Doc. 02-668 Filed 1-10-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-P