[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 76 (Friday, April 19, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19451-19452]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-9649]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Proposed Information Collection Request Submitted for Public 
Comment; O*NET Data Collection Program

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 
O*NET (Occupational Information Network) Data Collection 
Program. 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 or can be downloaded from the Internet at: 
http://www.onetcenter.org/ombclearance.html.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
addressee section below on or before June 18, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Send comments regarding the O*NET Data Collection Program to 
James Woods, Chief, Division of Evaluation and Skill Assessment, Office 
of Policy and Research, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. 
Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room N5637, 
Washington, DC 20210. The telephone number is 202-693-3660 (this is not 
a toll-free number). Comments may also be submitted via e-mail to: 
O*[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The O*NET Data Collection Program is a continuing activity to 
develop and maintain up-to-date information on detailed characteristics 
of occupations. The resulting database is and will continue to be the 
most comprehensive standard source of occupational characteristics 
information in the nation. O*NET information is at the center of an 
extensive network of occupational information used by a wide range of 
audiences, from individuals making career decisions, to public agencies 
and schools providing career exploration services and planning 
workforce investment programs, to businesses making staffing and 
training decisions. The O*NET system also provides a common language 
and framework to meet administrative needs of various federal programs, 
including workforce investment and training programs of the Departments 
of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services.
    Section 309 of the Workforce Investment Act requires the Secretary 
of Labor to oversee the ``development, maintenance, and continuous 
improvement of a nationwide employment statistics system'' which shall 
include, among other components, ``skill trends by occupation and 
industry.'' The States are to develop similar statewide employment 
statistics systems.
    The Secretary of Labor's Workforce Information System Plan for FY 
2001-2005, released in October 2001, includes as one of its priorities, 
the collection of occupational skills data, stating, ``During FY 2001, 
ETA initiated the data collection program for Occupational Information 
Network (O*NET) to update the database and refresh it on a regular 
basis. ETA also will continue research and development on O*NET 
measurement concepts and data collection methods.'' This citation in 
the plan reflects that the O*NET system is the primary vehicle for 
collecting skills information across all occupations and the updating 
of the entire O*NET database is a critical component of the nationwide 
labor market information system to support employer, workforce, and 
education information needs.
    O*NET succeeds the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) and is a 
powerful tool for various critical federal and state workforce 
development functions. O*NET integrates a powerful relational database 
and a common language for occupational and skill descriptions into a 
value-added tool for business, job seekers, and the workforce 
development professionals who help bring them together. By providing 
information organized according to the O*NET Content Model, the O*NET 
database is an important tool for keeping up with today's rapidly 
changing world of work. The O*NET database provides:
     Detailed information for more than 900 occupations.
     Descriptive information on standardized descriptors of 
skills, abilities, interests, knowledge, work values, education, 
training, work context, and work activities.
     Occupational coding based on the 2000 Standard 
Occupational Classification (SOC).
    The O*NET electronic database serves as the underpinning for 
hundreds of publicly and privately developed products and resources in 
the marketplace. These products and resources are being used to serve 
millions of customers.

II. Review Focus

    The Department of Labor is particularly interested in comments 
which:
     Evaluate whether the proposed information collection 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

    The O*NET Data Collection Program established the foundation for 
continuous data collection to update and maintain the O*NET database 
using collection methods designed to obtain high quality and current 
data. The first complete cycle of data collection will be completed in 
the fall of 2002. The DOL is seeking Office of Management and Budget 
approval for a three-year continuation to collect and fully populate 
the O*NET database with data

[[Page 19452]]

from workers and some subject matter experts sampled in this survey.
    Customers using O*NET are expanding quickly as more private and 
public developers integrate O*NET information into their products. The 
consequence of not continuing the O*NET Data Collection Program is that 
millions of users who need O*NET information to make important life, 
business, and policy decisions will have to make these decisions using 
information that is not current, is incomplete, and of questionable 
validity and reliability. Users will not have the benefit of practical 
results from the publicly funded research that has led to the O*NET 
system. Updating the O*NET database is crucial to providing business, 
job seekers, students, educators, and counselors with the most up-to-
date information about occupations and occupational requirements.
    The O*NET Data Collection Program is collecting information on 200 
occupations in the first year, increasing the number of occupations in 
subsequent years to allow collection on all 974 O*NET occupations over 
the next three years. The O*NET occupations either match to, or 
represent more detailed breakouts of, occupations from the 2000 
Standard Occupational Classification.
    O*NET uses five survey questionnaires: (1) Skills, (2) Generalized 
Work Activities, which are general types of job behaviors occurring on 
multiple jobs, (3) Abilities, (4) Work Context, the physical and social 
factors that influence the nature of work, and (5) Knowledge, which 
includes Education and Training and Work Styles. (Copies of these 
questionnaires are also available from the following Internet site: 
http://www.onetcenter.org/ombclearance.html.)
    All but the Abilities questionnaire will be used to survey 
incumbent workers identified using the two-stage sample design. 
Analysts will rate Abilities. While the sample of incumbent workers is 
designed to provide responses from four questionnaires, to reduce 
response burden each incumbent will be randomly assigned only one of 
the four questionnaires. Incumbents also will be asked to provide basic 
demographic information and to complete a brief task inventory for 
their specific occupation. Incumbents will be offered the option of 
going to an Internet website to complete an on-line questionnaire.
    The name of incumbent respondents will not be requested on the 
survey form and all individual responses will be maintained in strict 
confidentiality. The data from job incumbents and others will be used 
to develop mean ratings on the various items.
    The resulting data will be subjected to extensive analysis and will 
be made available to the public through scheduled updates to the O*NET 
database.
    The increase in the estimated total burden hours is due to an 
increase in the estimated establishment sample size needed to identify 
firms that employ workers in the particular occupations being surveyed. 
Those firms found to be ineligible or out-of-scope are then taken out 
of the data collection process. In addition, the estimated average time 
per employer response (employer burden hours) has decreased, based on 
experience and survey design improvements since the first information 
collection request.
    Type of Review: Extension.
    Agency: Employment and Training Administration.
    Title: O*NET Data Collection Program.
    OMB Number: 1205-0421.
    Affected Public: Business/Employers (includes private and not-for-
profit businesses and government); individuals (incumbent workers, 
subject matter experts).
    Total Respondents: 79,598.
    Frequency of Response: Annual.
    Total Responses: 79,598.
    Average Time Per Response: Employer response time is 70 minutes. 
Incumbent worker response time is 30 minutes. Subject matter expert 
response time is 2 hours, 30 minutes.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 32,531 hours.
    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintenance): $0.
    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.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 15th day of April, 2002.
Gerard F. Fiala,
Administrator, Office of Policy and Research, Employment and Training 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 02-9649 Filed 4-18-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-P