[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 50 (Thursday, March 14, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11486-11487]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-6121]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

Proposed Projects

    Title: DHHS/ACF Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) 
Evaluation 12-Month Survey.
    OMB No.: New Collection.
    Description: The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) 
Evaluation is the most ambitious, comprehensive effort to learn what 
works in this area to date and is explicitly designed to build on past 
research by rigorously testing a wide variety of approaches to 
promoting employment retention and advancement for a range of 
populations. The project, conceived and sponsored by the Administration 
for Children and Families (ACF) of the U.S. Department of Health and 
Human Services (HHS),\1\ seeks to ``conduct a multi-site evaluation 
that studies the net impact and cost-benefits of programs designed to 
help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients, former 
TANF recipients, or families at-risk of needing TANF benefits retain 
and advance in employment.'' \2\ The ERA Evaluation involves up to 15 
random assignment experiments in 9 states, testing a diverse set of 
strategies designed to promote stable employment and/or career 
advancement for current and former welfare recipients and other low-
income parents. Over the next several years, the ERA project will 
generate a wealth of rigorous data on the implementation, effects, and 
costs of these alternative approaches. The data collected will be used 
for the following purposes:
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    \1\ The U.S. Department of Labor has also provided funding to 
support the ERA project.
    \2\ From the Department of Health and Human Services RFP No.: 
105-99-8100
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     To study ERA's impacts on employment, earnings, 
participation, educational attainment and income;
     To collect data on a wider range of outcome measures than 
is available through welfare or UI records in order to understand how 
individuals were affected by ERA; job retention and job quality, 
educational attainment; interactions with and knowledge of the ERA 
program; household composition; childcare, transportation, and health 
coverage; and income;
     To supplement research on the implementation of ERA across 
sites;
     To conduct non-experimental analyses to explain 
participation decisions and provide a descriptive picture of the 
circumstances of low-wage workers;
     To obtain participation information important to the 
evaluation's benefit-cost component;
     And to obtain contact information for possible future 
follow-up, information that will be important to achieving high 
response rates for the 36-month survey.
    Respondents: The respondents of the 12-month survey are Temporary 
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) applicants, current and former 
TANF recipients, or individuals in families at-risk of needing TANF 
benefits (working poor and hard-to-employ) from 9 states participating 
in the ERA Evaluation: California, Oregon, New York, Ohio, Minnesota, 
Illinois, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee. Survey respondents can be 
grouped according to 3 program clusters: Advancement projects; 
placement and retention (hard-to-employ) projects; and mixed goal 
projects. All 3 program clusters will receive the 12-month core survey. 
The placement and retention (hard-to-employ) participants will also 
receive the hard-to-employ survey module. Survey participants will be 
administered a telephone survey (for those individuals who cannot be 
reached by phone, staff at the survey firm will attempt to contact them 
in person) approximately 12 months after random assignment. 
Approximately 7,050 participants will complete the core survey and 
2,400 participants will complete the core plus hard-to-employ module 
survey.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
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                                                           Number of
                                              Number of    responses     Average burden hours per       Total
                 Instrument                  respondents      per                response               burden
                                                           respondent                                   hours
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12-Month Survey (Core only)................        7,050            1  30 minutes..................        3,525
                                                                       or .5 hrs...................
12-Month Survey (Core plus Hard-to-Employ          2,400            1  45 minutes..................        1,800
 Module).                                                              or .75 hrs..................
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 5,325.
    In compliance with the requirements of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Administration for Children and 
Families is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the 
information collection described above. Copies of the proposed 
collection of information can be obtained and comments may be forwarded 
by writing to the Administration for Children and Families, Office of 
Information Services, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 
20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance Officer. All requests should be 
identified by the title of the information collection.
    The Department specifically requests comments on: (a) Whether the 
proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper 
performance of the functions of the agency, including

[[Page 11487]]

whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy 
of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information; (c) 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. 
Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted 
within 60 days of this publication.

    Dated: March 7, 2002,
Bob Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 02-6121 Filed 3-13-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M