[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 178 (Wednesday, September 15, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 55573]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-20776]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


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: 2004-2006 Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM).
    Form Number(s): MA-10000(L), MA-10000(S), MA10000(F1).
    Agency Approval Number: 0607-0449.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Burden: 186,200 hours.
    Number of Respondents: 55,000.
    Avg Hours Per Response: MA-10000(L)--3.58 hours, MA-10000(S)--1.38 
hours, MA10000(F1)--1.2 minutes.
    Needs and Uses: The Census Bureau requests a revision of the 
currently approved collection for the Annual Survey of Manufactures 
(ASM). The Census Bureau has conducted the ASM since 1949 to provide 
key measures of manufacturing activity during intercensal periods. In 
census years ending in ``2'' and ``7,'' we mail and collect the ASM as 
part of the Economic Census Covering the Manufacturing Sector. The 
content of the questionnaires for the 2004-06 ASM is identical to the 
2003 ASM report form.
    The ASM furnishes up-to-date estimates of employment and payrolls, 
hours and wages of production workers, value added by manufacture, cost 
of materials, value of shipments by class of product, inventories, and 
expenditures for new and used plant and equipment. The survey provides 
data for most of these items for all 5-digit and selected 6-digit 
industries as defined in the North American Industry Classification 
System (NAICS). We also provide geographic data by state at a more 
aggregated industry level.
    The ASM statistics are based on a survey that includes both mail 
and nonmail components. Previously, the mail portion of the survey was 
comprised of a probability sample of approximately 55,000 manufacturing 
establishments from a frame of approximately 225,000 establishments. 
These 225,000 establishments were all manufacturing establishments of 
multiunit companies (companies with operations at more than one 
location) and all single-location manufacturing companies that were 
mailed in the 1997 Economic Census Covering the Manufacturing Sector. 
The nonmail component was comprised of the remaining small single-
location companies; approximately 155,000 companies. No data have been 
collected from companies in the nonmail component. Rather, data have 
been directly obtained from the administrative records of the Internal 
Revenue Service (IRS), the Social Security Administration (SSA), and 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Although the nonmail companies 
account for over half of the population, they have accounted for less 
than 2 percent of the manufacturing output.
    For the 2004-2006 cycles of the ASM we are considering changing the 
threshold we use for the nonmail component. We are studying the 
potential impact on the data of using administrative record data for a 
larger portion of the estimate. Based on the results of that work, we 
may increase the size of the nonmail component by up to as many as 
75,000 establishments. The contribution of the nonmail component will 
expand to as much as 10 percent, but will be not less than 2 percent.
    For the 2004-06 ASM, we will include an Ownership or Control flier 
in the mail out package of approximately 15,000 single-establishment 
firms in the ASM sample. This flier was used for the 2002 Economic 
Census, now we will use it for the ASM. In prior censuses and ASMs 
these questions were included as part of the questionnaires and used to 
determine if single-establishment firms were either owned or controlled 
by another company or if they operated at more than one location.
    This survey is an integral part of the Government's statistical 
program. Its results provide a factual background for decision making 
by the executive and legislative branches of the Federal Government. 
Federal agencies use the annual survey's input and output data as 
benchmarks for their statistical programs, including the Federal 
Reserve Board's Index of Industrial Production and the Bureau of 
Economic Analysis' estimates of the gross domestic product (GDP). The 
data also provide the Department of Energy with primary information on 
the use of energy by the manufacturing sector to produce manufactured 
products. These data also are used as benchmark data for the 
Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey (MECS), which is conducted for 
the Department of Energy by the Census Bureau. The Department of 
Commerce uses the exports of manufactured products data to measure the 
importance of exports to the manufacturing economy of each state. 
Within the Census Bureau, the ASM data are used to benchmark and 
reconcile monthly and quarterly data on manufacturing production and 
inventories. The ASM is the only source of complete establishment 
statistics for the programs mentioned above.
    The survey also provides valuable information to private companies, 
research organizations, and trade associations. Industry makes 
extensive use of the annual figures on product class shipments at the 
U.S. level in its market analysis, product planning, and investment 
planning. State development/planning agencies rely on the survey as a 
major source of comprehensive economic data for policymaking, planning, 
and administration.
    The Ownership or Control fliers will be used to update the Business 
Register, the basic sampling frame for many of our current surveys. 
Many of the establishments in the Census Bureau's Business Register are 
incorrectly identified as being single-establishment firms.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Sections 182, 224, and 225.
    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: September 10, 2004.
Madeleine Clayton,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 04-20776 Filed 9-14-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P