[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 134 (Wednesday, July 13, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41302-41304]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-17521]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Bureau of Labor Statistics


Proposed Collection, Comment Request

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

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and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or 
continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA95) [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 
collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. The 
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments concerning the 
proposed new collection of a module of questions about well-being, to 
follow the American Time Use Survey in 2012. A copy of the proposed 
information collection request (ICR) can be obtained by contacting the 
individual listed below in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
ADDRESSES section of this notice on or before September 12, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Carol Rowan, BLS Clearance Officer, 
Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 4080, 
2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE., Washington, DC 20212. Written comments 
also may be transmitted by fax to 202-691-5111 (this is not a toll free 
number).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carol Rowan, BLS Clearance Officer, at 
202-691-7628 (this is not a toll free number). (See ADDRESSES section.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    The ATUS is the Nation's first Federally administered, continuous 
survey on time use in the United States. It measures, for example, time 
spent with children, working, sleeping, or doing leisure activities. In 
the United States, several existing Federal surveys collect income and 
wage data for individuals and families, and analysts often use such 
measures of material prosperity as proxies for quality of life. Time-
use data substantially augment these quality-of-life measures. The data 
also can be used in conjunction with wage data to evaluate the 
contribution of non-market work to national economies. This enables 
comparisons of production between nations that have different mixes of 
market and non-market activities.
    The ATUS develops nationally representative estimates of how people 
spend their time. Respondents also report who was with them during 
activities, where they were, how long each activity lasted, and if they 
were paid. All of this information has numerous practical applications 
for sociologists, economists, educators, government policymakers, 
businesspersons, health researchers, and others.

II. Current Action

    Office of Management and Budget clearance is being sought for a 
2012 Well-being Module of questions to follow the American Time Use 
Survey (ATUS). The Well-being Module, if approved, will collect 
information about how people experience their time, specifically how 
happy, tired, sad, stressed, and in pain they felt yesterday. 
Respondents will be asked these questions about three randomly-selected 
activities from the activities reported in the ATUS time diary. The 
time diary refers to the core part of the ATUS, in which respondents 
report the activities they did from 4 a.m. on the day before the 
interview to 4 a.m. on the day of the interview. A few activities, such 
as sleeping and private activities, will never be selected. The module 
also will collect data on whether people were interacting with anyone 
while doing the selected activities and how meaningful the activities 
were to them. Some general health questions, a question about overall 
life satisfaction, and a question about respondents' overall emotional 
experience yesterday also will be asked.
    The data from the proposed Well-being Module will support the BLS 
mission of providing relevant information on economic and social 
issues. The data will provide a richer description of work; 
specifically, it will measure how workers feel (tired, stressed, in 
pain) during work episodes compared to non-work episodes, and how often 
workers interact on the job. It can also measure whether the amount of 
pain workers experience varies by occupation and disability status.
    The data also will closely support the mission of the module's 
sponsor, the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National 
Institutes of Health, to improve the health and well-being of older 
Americans. By analyzing the module data, the experience of pain and 
aging can be studied. Some of the questions that can be answered 
include:
     Do older workers experience more pain on and off the job?
     Is the age-pain gradient related to differences in 
activities or differences in the amount of pain experienced during a 
given set of activities?
     Do those in poor health spend time in different 
activities?
    Additionally, the proposed module will allow researchers to take 
advantage of an important change that was made to the ATUS in 2011. 
Questions that identify eldercare providers and eldercare activities 
were added to the survey. The well-being of eldercare providers is of 
interest to the NIA and policymakers because the elderly population is 
growing, along with a reliance on informal care providers to assist 
them. A 2012 Well-being Module would allow researchers to study the 
well-being of eldercare providers.
    The proposed Well-being Module is nearly identical to a module that 
was collected in 2010 under the ATUS OMB Number (1220-0175); however, 
the 2012 version includes two additional questions and will be 
collected under a new OMB Number as a supplement to the ATUS. These new 
questions will collect data on individuals' overall life satisfaction 
and their emotional experience yesterday. Information about life 
satisfaction will complement the moment-to-moment affect measures of 
well-being and provide an additional dimension to analyses of these 
data. Information about individuals' overall emotional experience 
yesterday will be used to explain variance in responses to the affect 
questions.
    The proposed Well-being Module will follow directly after the 2012 
ATUS. ATUS collection is done on a continuous basis with the sample 
drawn monthly. The survey sample is drawn from households completing 
their final month of interviews for the Current Population Survey 
(CPS). Households are selected to ensure a representative demographic 
sample, and one individual from each household is selected to take part 
in one Computer Assisted Telephone Interview. The interview asks 
respondents to report all of their activities for one pre-assigned 24-
hour day, the day prior to the interview. A short series of summary 
questions and CPS updates follows the core time diary collection.
    The proposed questions about well-being are being sponsored by the 
NIA. These questions will replace a module of questions about leave 
that is being fielded for the 2011 calendar year. Like the 2011 Leave 
Module, the proposed 2012 Well-being Module also will be included for 
12 months (through December 2012).

III. Desired Focus of Comments

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics is particularly interested in 
comments that:
     Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the

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functions of the agency, including whether the information will have 
practical utility.
     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.
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected.
     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.
    Type of Review: New collection.
    Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Title: American Time Use Survey.
    OMB Number: 1220-NEW.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Total Respondents: 13,200.
    Frequency: Monthly.
    Total Responses: 13,200.
    Average Time per Response: 5 minutes.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,100 hours.
    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintenance): $0.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget 
approval of the information collection request; they also will become a 
matter of public record.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 7th day of July 2011.
Kimberley Hill,
Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[FR Doc. 2011-17521 Filed 7-12-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-P