[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 175 (Tuesday, September 9, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52264-52265]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-20782]


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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: 2008 Panel of the Survey of Income and Program 
Participation, Wave 2 Topical Modules.
    Form Number(s): SIPP 28205(L) Director's Letter; SIPP/CAPI 
Automated Instrument; SIPP 28003 Reminder Card.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0944.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Burden Hours: 143,303.
    Number of Respondents: 94,500.
    Average Hours Per Response: 30 minutes.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau requests authorization from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to conduct the Wave 2 
interview for the 2008 Panel of the Survey of Income and Program 
Participation (SIPP). The core SIPP and reinterview instruments were 
also cleared under this OMB control number.
    The SIPP represents a source of information for a wide variety of 
topics and allows information for separate topics to be integrated to 
form a single and unified database so that the interaction between tax, 
transfer, and other government and private policies can be examined. 
Government domestic policy formulators depend heavily upon the SIPP 
information concerning the distribution of income received directly as 
money or indirectly as in-kind benefits and the effect of tax and

[[Page 52265]]

transfer programs on this distribution. They also need improved and 
expanded data on the income and general economic and financial 
situation of the U.S. population. The SIPP has provided these kinds of 
data on a continuing basis since 1983, permitting levels of economic 
well-being and changes in these levels to be measured over time.
    The survey is molded around a central ``core'' of labor force and 
income questions that remain fixed throughout the life of a panel. The 
core is supplemented with questions designed to answer specific needs, 
such as estimating eligibility for government programs, examining 
pension and health care coverage, and analyzing individual net worth. 
These supplemental questions are included with the core and are 
referred to as ``topical modules.''
    The topical modules for the 2008 Panel Wave 2 are Work History, 
Education and Training History, Marital History, Fertility History, 
Migration History, Household Relationships, and Tax Rebate. These 
topical modules were previously conducted in the SIPP 2004 Panel Wave 2 
instrument, with the exception of the Tax Rebate topical module, which 
was previously conducted in the SIPP 2008 Wave 1 instrument. Wave 2 
interviews will be conducted from January through April 2009.
    The SIPP is designed as a continuing series of national panels of 
interviewed households that are introduced every few years, with each 
panel having durations of approximately 3 to 4 years. The 2008 Panel is 
scheduled for four years and four months and will include thirteen 
waves, which will begin September 1, 2008. All household members 15 
years old or over are interviewed using regular proxy-respondent rules. 
They are interviewed a total of thirteen times (thirteen waves), at 4-
month intervals, making the SIPP a longitudinal survey. Sample people 
(all household members present at the time of the first interview) who 
move within the country and reasonably close to a SIPP primary sampling 
unit (PSU) will be followed and interviewed at their new address. 
Individuals 15 years old or over who enter the household after Wave 1 
will be interviewed; however, if these people move, they are not 
followed unless they happen to move along with a Wave 1 sample 
individual.
    The OMB has established an Interagency Advisory Committee to 
provide guidance for the content and procedures for the SIPP. 
Interagency subcommittees were set up to recommend specific areas of 
inquiries for supplemental questions. The Census Bureau developed the 
2008 Panel Wave 2 topical modules through consultation with the SIPP 
OMB Interagency Subcommittee. The questions for the topical modules 
address major policy and program concerns as stated by this 
subcommittee and the SIPP Interagency Advisory Committee.
    Data provided by the SIPP are being used by economic policymakers, 
the Congress, state and local governments, and federal agencies that 
administer social welfare or transfer payment programs, such as the 
Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of 
Agriculture.
    The knowledge gained from these ``core'' items will be of limited 
value without information about how the respondents reached their 
status at the time of the Wave 1 interview. The core, therefore, is 
also supplemented with questions designed to answer specific needs, 
such as estimating eligibility for government programs, examining 
pension and health care coverage, and analyzing financing of post-
secondary education. These supplemental questions are included with the 
core and are referred to as ``topical modules.'' The questions in these 
topical modules will help us reduce, if not eliminate, the ``left-
censoring'' analysis problem that occurs in nearly all longitudinal 
surveys and cited as a serious concern by our data users. Left-
censoring refers to the experiences of individuals (or other units of 
longitudinal analysis) prior to the start of the longitudinal study 
period.
    The questions for these topical modules address major policy and 
program concerns. Each component is intended to provide explanatory 
data describing likely relationships between earlier life-course 
experiences and current socioeconomic status. Personal history data, 
when linked with data derived from the panel interviews, yield a 
powerful set of explanatory indicators, which help analysts more fully 
understand associations between social, demographic, and economic 
events.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Frequency: Every 4 months.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Section 182.
    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: September 3, 2008.
Gwellnar Banks,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. E8-20782 Filed 9-8-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P