[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 157 (Wednesday, August 13, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47128-47129]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-18649]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit 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: Annual Survey of Manufactures.
    Form Number(s): MA-10000(L), MA-10000(S), NC-99530.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0449.
    Type of Request: Reinstatement, with change, of an expired 
collection.
    Burden Hours: 177,400.
    Number of Respondents: 50,000.
    Average Hours Per Response: 2 hours and 44 minutes.
    Needs and Uses: The Census Bureau has conducted the Annual Survey 
of Manufactures (ASM) since 1949 to provide key measures of 
manufacturing activity during intercensal periods. In census years 
ending in ``2'' and ``7,'' Census mail and collect the ASM as part of 
the Economic Census Covering the Manufacturing Sector.
    The ASM statistics are based on a survey that includes both a mail 
and nonmail components. The mail portion of the survey is comprised of 
a probability sample of approximately 50,000 manufacturing 
establishments from a frame of approximately 128,000 establishments. 
These 128,000 establishments are comprised of manufacturing 
establishments of multiunit companies (companies with operations at 
more than one location) and large single-location manufacturing 
companies. The nonmail component is comprised of the remaining small 
and medium-sized single-location companies, approximately 218,000. No 
data are collected from companies in the nonmail component. Data are 
directly obtained from the administrative records of the Internal 
Revenue Service (IRS), the Social Security Administration (SSA), and 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The nonmail companies account for 
63 percent of the population and for less than 7 percent of the 
manufacturing output.
    Starting with the 2008 ASM, depreciation charges for all capital 
expenditures and rental payments will be added to the MA-10000(L) and 
MA-10000(S) forms.
    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

[[Page 47129]]

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 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, cost 
of employer's fringe benefits, operating expenses, 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 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 Forms (NC-99530) will be used to update 
the Business Register, the basic sampling frame for many of our current 
surveys. This enables us to update establishments in the Census 
Bureau's Business Register that are incorrectly identified as being 
single-establishment firms.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 182, 224, 
225.
    OMB Desk Officer: Brian Harris-Kojetin, (202) 395-7314.
    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 Brian Harris-Kojetin, OMB Desk Officer either by fax (202-395-7245) 
or e-mail ([email protected]).

    Dated: August 7, 2008.
Gwellnar Banks,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. E8-18649 Filed 8-12-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P