[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 53 (Monday, March 20, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14012-14014]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-3969]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Proposed Information Collection Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations: Evaluation of the Trade Adjustment Assistance 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 pre-clearance 
consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies 
with an opportunity to comment on proposed collections of information 
in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (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 the collection requirements on respondents can be 
properly assessed.

DATES: Submit comments on or before May 19, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Ms. Charlotte Schifferes, Employment and 
Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution 
Avenue, NW., Room N-5637, Washington, DC 20210; (202) 693-3655 (this is 
not a toll-free number); e-mail: [email protected]; and fax: 
(202) 693-2766 (this is not a toll-free number).

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Charlotte Schifferes, Employment 
and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution 
Avenue, NW., Room N-5637, Washington, DC 20210; (202) 693-3655 e-mail: 
[email protected]; and fax: (202) 693-2766. Copies of this 
Paperwork Reduction Act Submission Package are at this Web site: http://www.doleta.gov/Performance/guidance/OMBControlNumber.cfm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting 
comments regarding data collection for the impact evaluation of the 
Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, reauthorized and amended in 
2002. The evaluation, begun in January 2004, was motivated by enactment 
of new TAA legislation and is part of a planned cycle of evaluations in 
response to the Program Assessment Rating Tool reviews by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB). The TAA evaluation is intended to generate 
information that will be useful in responding to programmatic issues 
and in developing administrative guidance, technical assistance, and 
legislative or budgetary proposals.
    The TAA program provides training, income support, and other 
reemployment and supportive services to workers who lose their jobs or 
have their work hours or salary reduced because of increased imports or 
shifts in production to foreign countries. The Trade Adjustment 
Assistance Reform Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-210) reauthorized the TAA 
program for five years and amended the prior law in a number of ways. 
It consolidated TAA and the North American Free Trade Agreement 
Transitional Adjustment Assistance programs into a single program, 
broadened eligibility to include secondarily affected workers, and 
created two new benefits: the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) and 
Alternative TAA for eligible workers 50 years old and above. The new 
law also included provisions to change how the program is administered, 
such as the requirement that states must ensure that rapid response 
assistance and appropriate core and intensive services are made 
available.
    The primary focus of the evaluation of the TAA program is to 
understand how TAA benefits and training services affect the employment 
and earnings of participants. In order to estimate these net impacts, 
outcomes of two groups of TAA participants will be compared to outcomes 
of two statistically matched comparison groups of Unemployment 
Insurance (UI) recipients. This quasi-experimental approach will 
require extensive information on demographic and personal 
characteristics as well as on programmatic experiences of both TAA 
participants and the comparison group. This information will be gleaned 
from state TAA and UI administrative records and from baseline and 
follow-up surveys of individuals in the treatment and comparison 
groups.
    Finally, to understand how various program and administrative 
practices affect TAA performance, including the various types of 
collaboration and administrative arrangements through which TAA 
operates in the One-Stop Career Center system under the Workforce 
Investment Act (WIA), information will be gleaned from site visits to 
states and localities and from a survey of all local TAA programs.
    Administrative records will be requested from a sample of up to 25 
states (randomly selected proportionate to size). These records will 
include: (1) Rosters of TAA-eligible workers to be used for selecting 
samples of workers; (2) UI and Trade Readjustment Allowance claims data 
to measure claims amounts and draw the comparison-group sample; (3) UI 
wage records to measure pre-separation and post-separation employment 
and earnings for those in the treatment and comparison groups; and (4) 
TAA and WIA participant files to measure participant characteristics 
and service use. The baseline and follow-up surveys will be used to 
supplement information available from the administrative records by 
adding information about demographic and household characteristics, 
reasons for participating (or not participating) in services, services 
received, training outcomes, methods of job search, and employment 
history before and after the job separation. The survey will be 
administered by telephone in 2006 to a randomly selected sample of 
approximately 10,000 workers, divided between those in the TAA 
treatment and comparison groups. Smaller but still substantial numbers 
will be re-interviewed 15 and 30 months after the initial baseline 
survey.
    Six rounds of site visits to states and localities will be 
conducted during the course of the evaluation, including those for the 
already completed Initial Implementation Study (that explored 
implementation of key reform elements in the 2002 legislation). The 
depth of information from the site visits will be complemented by a 
breadth of information to be collected from a local survey to be 
administered in 2006. This local survey will be administered nationwide 
to local One-Stop Career Centers with substantial TAA activity to 
elicit information about general issues of TAA operations, including 
the types of TAA services provided, program integration within the One-
Stop system, recruitment efforts for the TAA program, and the 
timeliness of early-intervention activities, among other issues.

II. Desired Focus of Comments

    Currently, ETA is soliciting comments concerning data collection 
for the five-year TAA evaluation that:
    (a) 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;
    (b) 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;
    (c) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and
    (d) 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.
    A copy of material relating to the proposed information collection 
request (ICR) can be obtained by contacting the office listed above in 
the addressee section of this notice. Items that can be obtained 
include: (1) The proposed ``supporting statement'' which describes the 
purpose, methodology, and respondent burdens of the evaluation, (2) a 
technical appendix that includes mathematical formulas regarding 
statistical aspects of the evaluation, (3) instruments for the baseline 
and follow-up surveys of the comparison and treatment groups, (4) site 
visit protocols for state and local visits, and (5) the instrument for 
the survey of local areas.

III. Current Actions

    Type of Review: New.
    Agency: Employment and Training Administration.
    Title: Evaluation of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program.
    OMB Number: New.
    Affected Public: Individuals eligible for TAA program benefits and 
services; individuals receiving unemployment insurance; and state and 
local

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administrators of TAA, UI, and WIA programs.
    Respondents and Burden Hours: See table below on the data 
collection activities.

                                 Respondent Hours Burden for the TAA Evaluation
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                                                                                          Average
               Activity                    Total                 Frequency              minutes per     Burden
                                        respondents                                       response      hours
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            Impact Analysis
 
State Administrative Data:
    Requests..........................           25  Thrice...........................          480          600
    Baseline Survey...................        7,965  One time.........................           35        4,646
    15-Month Follow-up Survey.........        5,310  One time.........................           30        2,655
    30-Month Follow-up Survey.........        3,540  One time.........................           30        1,770
 
           Process Analysis
 
Administration of Site Visit
 Protocols:
    State staff (rounds 1 & 3)........          150  Twice............................          120          600
    Local area staff (rounds 2, 4, and          600  One time.........................          120        1,200
     5).
    State staff (round 5).............          125  One time.........................          120          250
        Total.........................  ...........  .................................  ...........        2,500
 
       Survey of All Local Areas
 
State phone screener..................           50  One time.........................           10            8
Local mail survey.....................          700  One time.........................           20          233
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    Total Burden Cost for capital and startup: $0. There are no start-
up costs; however, states will incur minimal costs associated with 
providing data files for TAA and UI.
    Total Burden Cost for operation and maintenance: $0. There are no 
on-going costs for operation and maintenance.
    Comments submitted in response to this request will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of the information 
collection request; they will also become a matter of public record.

    Dated: March 10, 2006.
Emily Stover DeRocco,
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training.
 [FR Doc. E6-3969 Filed 3-17-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-P