[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 223 (Wednesday, November 19, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 65241]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-28934]



[[Page 65241]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    DOC has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
clearance the following proposal for collection of information under 
the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: Quarterly Services Survey.
    Form Number(s): QSS-1(A), QSS-1(E), QSS-2(A), QSS-2(E), QSS-3(A), 
QSS-3(E).
    Agency Approval Number: None.
    Type of Request: New collection.
    Burden: 5,000 hours.
    Number of Respondents: 5,000.
    Avg. Hours Per Response: 15 minutes.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau seeks approval for a new 
quarterly survey of service industry activity called the Quarterly 
Services Survey (QSS). The QSS will begin a new economic indicator 
series that will provide, for selected service industries, quarterly 
estimates of total operating revenue and the percentage of revenue by 
class of customer. In addition, we will collect total operating 
expenses from tax-exempt firms in industries that have a large not-for-
profit component. For 2004, we will include information; professional, 
scientific and technical services; and administrative and support and 
waste management and remediation services industries for employer 
businesses. In 2005, we plan to expand the QSS to include coverage of 
hospitals and nursing and residential care facilities from employer 
businesses.
    The Census Bureau presently conducts 13 principal economic 
indicator surveys. Monthly series cover manufacturing, wholesale and 
retail trade, and merchandise trade; quarterly series include corporate 
profits and housing vacancies. These indicator series track current 
economic activity, are closely followed and widely used by policy 
makers in the public and private sectors, and move financial markets. 
No principal economic indicator currently exists, however, for the 
service sector despite the service industries' importance and 
increasing share of total U.S. economic activity. Measures of service 
industry output are available only quinquennially in the Economic 
Census and on an annual basis in the Service Annual Survey (SAS).
    Service data are far less available in terms of industry and 
geographic detail, and frequency of collection than are those for the 
goods-producing sector of the economy. This imbalance has its origins 
from a period when goods production was the larger and more rapidly 
growing part of the non-farm economy.
    The last fifty years, however, have witnessed profound changes in 
the U.S. economy. Following World War II, manufacturing accounted for 
about 27 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Today that number is 
about 16 percent. Services, including retail and wholesale trade, were 
approximately 40 percent of GDP and are now about 66 percent. 
Financial, business, scientific, and professional services have more 
than doubled in the last 50 years while computer related services 
nearly doubled between 1994 and 2000. When one adds Government services 
to the total, almost 80 percent of GDP and employment are in services.
    Reliable measures of economic activity are essential to an 
objective assessment of the need for, and impact of, a wide range of 
public policy decisions. More up-to-date estimates of service industry 
output will improve these measures. The new QSS will provide timely 
data on the services industries that will allow the Bureau of Economic 
Analysis (BEA) to make significant improvements in the national 
accounts. In the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA), the 
quarterly data will allow more accurate estimates of both Personal 
Consumption Expenditures (PCE) and private fixed investment. For 
example, recently published revisions to the quarterly NIPA estimates 
resulted from the incorporation of new source data from our SAS. These 
data affected both services PCE and software investment. GDP for 2000 
was revised downward by nearly $60 billion as a result of overstating 
equipment and software, with the bulk of the revision resulting from a 
faster than estimated deceleration in sales of custom and packaged 
software. Revenue will also be used to produce estimates of gross 
output by industry that will allow BEA to produce a much earlier 
version of its gross domestic product by industry estimates. Also, the 
Federal Reserve Board (FRB) and the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) 
will use the QSS information to better assess current economic 
performance.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Frequency: Quarterly.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Section 182.
    OMB Desk Officer: Susan Schechter, (202) 395-5103.
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Diana Hynek, Departmental Paperwork Clearance 
Officer, (202) 482-0266, Department of Commerce, room 6625, 14th and 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 
[email protected]).
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to Susan Schechter, OMB Desk Officer either by fax (202-395-7245) or e-
mail ([email protected]).

    Dated: November 14, 2003.
Madeleine Clayton,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 03-28934 Filed 11-18-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P