[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 167 (Monday, August 29, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53699-53700]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-22003]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Labor Surplus Area Classification Under Executive Orders 12073 
and 10582

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Notice

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to announce the annual list of 
labor surplus areas for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012.

DATES: Effective Date: The annual list of labor surplus areas is 
effective October 1, 2011, for all states, the District of Columbia, 
and Puerto Rico.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Samuel Wright, Office of Workforce 
Investment, Employment and Training Administration, 200 Constitution 
Avenue, NW., Room S-4231, Washington, DC 20210. Telephone: (202) 693-
2870 (This is not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Labor's regulations 
implementing Executive Orders 12073 and 10582 are set forth at 20 CFR 
part 654, Subparts A and B. These regulations require the Employment 
and Training Administration (ETA) to classify jurisdictions as labor 
surplus areas pursuant to the criteria specified in the regulations and 
to publish annually a list of labor surplus areas.
    Pursuant to those regulations, ETA is hereby publishing the annual 
list of labor surplus areas.
    In addition, the regulations provide exceptional circumstance 
criteria for classifying labor surplus areas when catastrophic events, 
such as natural disasters, plant closings, and contract cancellations 
are expected to have a long-term impact on labor market area 
conditions, discounting temporary or seasonal factors.

Eligible Labor Surplus Areas

    A Labor Surplus Area (LSA) is a civil jurisdiction that has a 
civilian average annual unemployment rate during the previous two 
calendar years of 20 percent or more above the average annual civilian 
unemployment rate for all states during the same 24-month reference 
period. Only official unemployment estimates provided to ETA by the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics are used in making these classifications. 
The average unemployment rate for all states includes data for the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The basic LSA classification criteria 
include a ``floor unemployment rate'' (6.0%) and a ``ceiling 
unemployment rate'' (10.0%).
    Civil jurisdictions are defined as follows:
    (a) A city of at least 25,000 population on the basis of the most 
recently available estimates from the Bureau of the Census; or
    (b) A town or township in the States of Michigan, New Jersey, New 
York, or Pennsylvania of 25,000 or more population and which possess 
powers and functions similar to those of cities; or
    (c) A county, except those counties which contain any type of civil 
jurisdictions defined in A or B above and a county in the States of 
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island; or
    (d) A ``balance of county'' consisting of a county less any 
component cities and townships identified in paragraphs A or B above; 
or
    (e) A county equivalent which is a town in the States of 
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, or a municipio in the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Procedures for Classifying Labor Surplus Areas

    The Department of Labor (DOL) issues the labor surplus area list on 
a fiscal year basis. The list becomes effective each October 1 and 
remains in effect through the following September 30. The reference 
period used in preparing the current list was January 2009 through 
December 2010. The national average unemployment rate during this 
period was 9.5 percent. Twenty percent higher than the national 
unemployment rate is 11.4 percent. Since the ceiling unemployment rate 
is 10.0 percent, the qualifying rate is 10.0 percent. Therefore, areas 
included on the FY 2012 labor surplus area list had an average 
unemployment rate of 10.0 percent or above during the reference period. 
When a civil jurisdiction is part of a county and meets the 
unemployment qualifier as a labor surplus area, then the balance of 
county will be used if the balance of county also meets the 
unemployment criteria of a labor surplus area. The FY 2012 labor 
surplus area list and the list of labor surplus areas in Puerto Rico 
can be accessed at the ETA's LSA website at http://www.doleta.gov/programs/lsa.cfm.

[[Page 53700]]

Petition for Exceptional Circumstance Consideration

    The classification procedures also provide for the designation of 
labor surplus areas under exceptional circumstance criteria. These 
procedures permit the regular classification criteria to be waived when 
an area experiences a significant increase in unemployment which is not 
temporary or seasonal and which was not reflected in the data for the 
2-year reference period. Under the program's exceptional circumstance 
procedures, labor surplus area classifications can be made for civil 
jurisdictions, Metropolitan Statistical Areas or Primary Metropolitan 
Statistical Areas, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. 
In order for an area to be classified as a labor surplus area under the 
exceptional circumstance criteria, the state workforce agency must 
submit a petition requesting such classification to the Department of 
Labor's ETA. The current criteria for an exceptional circumstance 
classification are: an area's unemployment rate is at least 10.0 
percent for each of the three most recent months; a projected 
unemployment rate of at least 10.0 percent for each of the next 12 
months; and documentation that the exceptional circumstance event has 
already occurred. The state workforce agency may file petitions on 
behalf of civil jurisdictions, as well as Metropolitan Statistical 
Areas or Micropolitan Statistical Areas. The addresses of state 
workforce agencies are available on the ETA Web site at: http://www.doleta.gov/programs/lsa.cfm. State Workforce Agencies may submit 
petitions in electronic format to [email protected], or in hard 
copy to the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training 
Administration, Office of Workforce Investment, 200 Constitution 
Avenue, NW., Room S-4231, Washington, DC 20210, Attention Samuel 
Wright. Data collection for the petition is approved under OMB 1205-
0207, expiration date March 31, 2012.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 22nd day of August, 2011.
Jane Oates,
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Administration.
[FR Doc. 2011-22003 Filed 8-26-11; 8:45 am]
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