[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 122 (Monday, June 25, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37923-37926]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-15417]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Comment Request for Information Collection for the Workforce 
Investment Act (WIA) Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs Gold Standard 
Evaluation (WIA Evaluation); New Collection

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (Department), as part of its 
continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a 
preclearance consultation program to provide the general public 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 (PRA) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program 
helps to ensure that required 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 Department notes that a Federal agency cannot conduct or 
sponsor a collection of information unless it is approved by the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) under the PRA and displays a currently 
valid OMB control number, and the public is not required to respond to 
a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB 
control number. Also, notwithstanding any other provisions of law, no 
person shall be subject to penalty for failing to comply with a 
collection of information if the collection of information does not 
display a currently valid OMB control number (see 5 CFR 1320.5(a) and 
1320.6).
    This data collection request consists of follow-up surveys for a 
sample of WIA customers participating in the WIA Evaluation and data 
for use in estimating the costs of WIA services and training received 
by sample group members. In addition, it includes data for a 
supplemental study to learn about services to veterans, the services 
they receive, and their outcomes. Since the WIA Evaluation is excluding 
veterans from the net-impact study, this supplemental study provides 
the opportunity to analyze veterans' experiences in the 28 WIA 
Evaluation sites.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
addresses section below on or before August 24, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Eileen Pederson, Office of Policy 
Development and Research, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. 
Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave. NW., Room N-5641, 
Washington, DC 20210. Telephone number: (202) 693-3647 (this is not a 
toll-free number). Email address: [email protected]. Fax number: 
(202) 693-2766 (this is not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    Passage of WIA (Pub. L. 105-220) led to a major redesign of the 
country's workforce system. WIA programs serve more than 6 million 
people annually at a cost of over $3 billion (U.S. Department of Labor, 
Fiscal Year 2012 Budget in Brief). Among its goals, WIA aims to bring 
formerly fragmented

[[Page 37924]]

public and private employment services together in a single location 
within each community, make them accessible to a wider population than 
did prior employment services and training, empower customers with 
greater ability to choose from services and training options, and 
provide localities greater local flexibility in using funds and greater 
accountability for customers' employment outcomes.
    Congress mandated in Section 172 of the WIA legislation that the 
Secretary of Labor conduct at least one multi-site control group 
evaluation. Accordingly, the Department is undertaking the WIA 
Evaluation to provide rigorous, nationally representative estimates of 
the net-impacts of WIA intensive services and training. Intensive 
services involve substantial staff assistance and include assessments, 
counseling, and job placement. Training includes education and 
occupational skills--building. This evaluation will offer policymakers, 
program administrators, and service providers information about the 
relative effectiveness of services and training, how the effectiveness 
varies by target population, and how the services and training are 
provided. The study will also produce estimates of the benefits and 
costs of WIA intensive services and training. The Department contracted 
with Mathematica Policy Research and its subcontractors--Social Policy 
Research Associates, MDRC, and the Corporation for a Skilled 
Workforce--to conduct this evaluation.
    The WIA Evaluation was launched in November 2011 when seven local 
Workforce Investment Areas (LWIAs) began customer intake. By August 
2012, all 28 of the evaluation's LWIAs will be enrolling customers into 
the evaluation. For most sites, the sample intake period will last 
between 12 and 18 months. The length of the intake period was 
determined in consultation with the local Workforce Investment Board 
and/or LWIA administrators WIA customers who are eligible for intensive 
services will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) The 
full-WIA group--adults and dislocated workers in this group can receive 
any WIA service for which they are eligible; (2) the core-and-intensive 
group--adults and dislocated workers in this group can receive any WIA 
intensive services for which they are eligible, but not training; and 
(3) the core-only group--adults and dislocated workers in this group 
can receive only core services and no WIA intensive services or 
training. Customers who do not consent to participate in the study will 
be allowed to receive core services only for the duration of the study 
intake period in the respective LWIA.
    Based on estimates using recent data, approximately 68,000 WIA 
adult and dislocated worker customers will be randomly assigned to the 
evaluation--about 64,000 customers to the full-WIA group and 2,000 
customers to each of the restricted-service groups. All 4,000 members 
of the restricted-service groups and a random sample of 2,000 customers 
in the full-WIA group will be asked to complete two follow-up surveys.
    The WIA Evaluation will address the following research questions:
    1. Does access to WIA intensive services, alone or in conjunction 
with WIA-funded training, lead adults and dislocated workers to achieve 
better educational, employment, earnings, and self-sufficiency outcomes 
than they would achieve in the absence of access to those services?
    2. Does the effectiveness of WIA vary by population subgroup? Is 
there variation by sex, age, race/ethnicity, unemployment insurance 
receipt, prior education level, previous employment history, adult and 
dislocated worker status, and veteran and disability status?
    3. How does the implementation of WIA vary by LWIA? Does the 
effectiveness of WIA vary by how it is implemented? To what extent do 
implementation differences explain variations in WIA's effectiveness?
    4. Do the benefits from WIA intensive services and training exceed 
program costs? Do the benefits of intensive services exceed their 
costs? Do the benefits of training exceed its costs? Do the benefits 
exceed the costs for adults? Do the benefits exceed the costs for 
dislocated workers?
    An initial package, approved in September 2011 (OMB No. 1205-0482), 
received clearance for the customer intake process which included: a 
form to check the study eligibility of the customer; a customer study 
consent form (indicating the customer's knowledge of the evaluation and 
willingness to participate); the collection of baseline data through a 
study registration form; and a contact information form. The package 
also included site visit guides for the collection of qualitative 
information on WIA program processes and services.
    Subsequent to receiving OMB approval for qualitative data 
collection during site visits to the 28 LWIAs participating in the 
study and because veterans are excluded from the net-impact study, ETA, 
in consultation with the Department's Veterans' Employment and Training 
Service and OMB, decided to collect additional qualitative and 
quantitative data in order to analyze veterans' experiences in the 28 
WIA Evaluation sites.
    This package requests clearance for the three remaining data 
collection efforts for the evaluation:
     Two follow-up surveys to be conducted at 15 and 30 months 
after random assignment, with a sample of WIA customers included in the 
evaluation; and
     A cost data collection package consisting of three forms--
a program costs questionnaire, a staff activity log, and a resource 
room sign-in sheet--for use in estimating the costs of WIA services and 
training received by sample members.
     The Veterans' Supplemental Study, consisting of 
qualitative and quantitative data collected on veterans served at the 
28 LWIAs participating in the WIA Evaluation. The study will add 
questions and several activities to the WIA Evaluation's second round 
of implementation study site visits to the 28 LWIAs. The supplemental 
study's qualitative component will address seven additional research 
questions:
    1. How do veterans learn about available services in the One-Stop 
Career Centers?
    2. What are the procedures for orienting and enrolling veterans 
into services, including WIA and Wagner-Peyser, and how do they differ 
from procedures for nonveteran customers?
    3. How do One-Stop Career Center staff members operationalize 
veterans' priority of service for WIA and Wagner-Peyser services?
    4. How do the Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program (DVOP) 
specialists and Local Veterans' Employment Representatives (LVERs) 
coordinate to provide services to veterans, and how do these staff 
members interact with other One-Stop Career Center staff?
    5. What services are provided to veterans through the One-Stop 
Career Center?
    6. What issues do staff face in providing services to veterans, and 
how do they differ from nonveteran customers?
    7. What innovative or promising practices have states or local 
areas implemented to provide employment and training services to 
veterans?

In addition to the quantitative data collection for the Veterans' 
Supplemental Study, two sets of administrative data that states report 
to the Department will be analyzed: The WIA Standardized Record Data 
(WIASRD) and Wagner-Peyser data. Because the data is already reported 
to the Department, there is no additional burden associated with this 
data collection.

[[Page 37925]]

    Follow-up surveys. The follow-up surveys will collect data on 
customers' receipt of services and customer outcomes on attainment of 
education credentials, labor market success, and family self-
sufficiency. The surveys will be administered by telephone to 6,000 
study participants--all 2,000 members of each of the core-only and 
core-and-intensive groups and 2,000 randomly selected study 
participants in the full-WIA group. These data will be used to estimate 
the impacts of WIA intensive services and training. The first and 
second follow-up surveys are similar in the questions they will ask; 
they differ only in the reference period. The first survey asks about 
months 1-15 following random assignment and the second survey asks 
about the next 15 months (months 16-30). If a sample member does not 
respond to the first survey, the second survey will ask about all 30 
months since random assignment.
    Cost data collection package. The benefit-cost analysis of 
intensive services and training requires data on the costs of the 
services received by sample members. Data on the quantity of services 
received will be obtained primarily from the follow-up surveys. Data on 
the cost of each service will be obtained from the sites by requesting 
that LWIA staff complete a program cost questionnaire, a front-line 
staff activity log, and administer resource room sign-in sheets.
     Program cost questionnaire. LWIA administrative staff will 
complete these detailed questionnaires on the salaries and fringe 
benefits of all staff in the local area whose salary is paid at least 
in part by WIA. This includes administrative/executive staff, managers 
and supervisors, front-line staff, and administrative assistants.
     Front-line staff activity log. The front-line staff 
activity log will collect information on what activities counselors 
engage in on a typical day. Counselors will use a template to record 
their activities using a set of pre-specified codes for each activity 
for one week. This information will be used to estimate the average 
preparation and follow-up time associated with one-on-one meetings with 
customers, time spent in resource rooms, and time spent in workshops 
and peer support groups.
     Resource room sign-in sheets. To calculate the average 
cost per visit to the resource room, the study will collect information 
on the number of people who use the resource room. For One-Stop Career 
Centers that already collect this information, the study will request 
it from all centers in the local area. However, for centers that do not 
already collect this information, or do not collect it in a way that 
can be used by the study, the study will provide a resource room sign-
in sheet for each of the LWIA's One-Stop Career Centers.
    Veterans' Supplemental Study. During site visits to all 28 sites 
participating in the WIA Evaluation, interviews about services to 
veterans will be conducted with One-Stop Career Center staff working 
with veteran customers. These staff members include DVOP specialists, 
LVERs, and WIA and Employment Service (ES) staff. In addition, the 
study team will interview the state veterans coordinators in the 19 
states represented in the WIA Evaluation.
    Eight of the 28 sites will be purposively selected for additional 
data collection activities to learn about the services veterans receive 
through the public workforce investment system and their experiences. 
The eight sites will be selected based on two factors: the number of 
veterans served by the LWIA; and evidence of particularly promising or 
innovative practices. In these sites, a focus group of 6-to-86 veterans 
who have received services at the One-Stop Career Center in the past 6 
months will be convened so that site visitors may speak directly with 
veterans to learn about the services they received and the programs in 
which they participated, and to obtain more detail about their 
experiences and their impressions of those experiences.
    Case files of three of the focus group participants at each site 
will be selected for review. The review will illustrate how veteran 
customers receive services through the One-Stop Career Center system. 
For both these activities, a diverse group of veterans representing a 
range of backgrounds and experiences will be selected. They will be a 
mix of male and female veterans, pre- and post-9/11 veterans, and 
veterans with and without service-connected disabilities.
    Second, the Veterans' Supplemental Study will analyze LWIA 
administrative data reported by states as part of WIASRD and Wagner-
Peyser data system. For the 28 LWIAs, this quantitative component of 
the study will explore the characteristics, services received, and 
outcomes of veterans who receive services through the public workforce 
system.

II. Desired Focus of Comments

    Currently, the Department is soliciting comments concerning the 
above data collections. Comments are requested which:
     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;
     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; and
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and minimize the burden of the information 
collection on those who are to respond, including 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.

III. Current Actions

    At this time, the Department is requesting clearance for the WIA 
Evaluation's 15- and 30-month follow-up surveys, the collection of cost 
data, and the collection of information on veterans' services through 
staff interviews and focus groups of veterans served by the workforce 
investment system.
    Type of Review: New collection.
    Title of Collection: WIA Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs Gold 
Standard Evaluation.
    OMB Number: 1205-0NEW.
    Affected Public: Public workforce system administrators and staff, 
low-income, disadvantaged adults and dislocated workers, and veterans 
who have received services from One-Stop Career Centers.
    Cite/Reference/Form/etc: Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Section 
172 (Pub. L. 105-220).

[[Page 37926]]



                   Annual Burden Estimates for WIA Evaluation Follow-Up Surveys, Cost Data Collection, and Veterans Supplemental Study
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                                                               Total
                                                  Number of     Responses per                                                               respondent
                   Activity                      respondents     respondent                    Average time per response                      burden
                                                     \1\                                                                                    (hours) \2\
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                    Follow-Up Surveys
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15-Month Follow-Up Survey....................           2,460               1  40 minutes...............................................           1,640
30-Month Follow-Up Survey....................           2,460               1  30 minutes...............................................           1,230
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  Cost Data Collection
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Program Costs Questionnaire..................              28               1  720 minutes (12 hours)...................................             336
Front-Line Staff Activity Log................             336               1  75 minutes (1.25 hours)..................................             420
Resource Room Sign-in Sheets.................          10,000               1  0.5 minutes..............................................              83
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
                                                               Veterans Supplemental Study
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WIA/ES Staff Interviews......................             168               1  20 minutes...............................................              56
DVOP/LVER Staff Interviews...................              56               1  60 minutes...............................................              56
State Veteran Coordinator Interviews.........              19               1  60 minutes...............................................              19
Staff Preparation for Focus Groups...........               8               1  60 minutes...............................................               8
Focus Groups--Veterans.......................              56               1  60 minutes...............................................              56
                                                                                                                                         ---------------
    Annual Total Burden......................  ..............  ..............  .........................................................           3,896
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Attempts will be made to complete interviews with 6,000 sample members in each wave of the follow-up surveys (at 15- and 30-months). To achieve the
  targeted response rate of 82 percent, we expect to complete interviews with 2,460 sample members for each survey each year. Each follow-up survey will
  be fielded over a 2-year period.
\2\ Numbers may not be exact due to rounding.

    Follow-Up Surveys. Each of the two evaluation follow-up surveys 
will be administered once to each respondent. The surveys were designed 
to take an average of 40 minutes to complete using computer-assisted 
telephone interviewing for the 15-month follow-up survey, and 30 
minutes for the 30-month follow-up survey. Therefore, the total annual 
burden to conduct the 15-month follow-up survey is 1,640 hours (= 4,920 
interviews / 2 years x \2/3\ hours per interview), and 1,230 hours to 
conduct the 30-month follow-up survey (= 4,920 interviews / 2 years x 
0.5 hours per interview).
    Cost Data Collection. Each of the program cost questionnaires will 
be administered once to each of the 28 sites participating in the WIA 
evaluation. The total annual burden for collection of cost data is 336 
hours (= 28 sites x 12 hours per questionnaire). The front-line 
activity logs will be completed by 12 front-line staff in each of the 
28 sites participating in the WIA evaluation. The total annual burden 
for completing the front-line activity logs will be 420 hours (= 12 
staff x 28 sites x 75 minutes / 60 minutes). The resource room sign-in 
sheets will be completed by 10,000 individuals accessing services in 
the 28 sites participating in the WIA Evaluation. Signing into the 
resource room will take an estimated 30 seconds (.5 minute) per 
respondent. Thus, the total annual burden for the resource room sign-in 
sheets will be 83 hours (= 10,000 respondents x 0.5 minutes / 60 
minutes).
    Veterans' Supplemental Study. The interviews with WIA and ES staff 
will be conducted once with 6 staff in each of the 28 sites for an 
expected 20 minutes per interview. Therefore, the total annual burden 
will be 56 hours (= 6 staff x 28 sites x 20 minutes / 60 minutes). The 
interviews with DVOP/LVER staff will be conducted once with 2 staff in 
each of the 28 sites for an expected 60 minutes per interview. The 
total annual burden will be 56 hours (= 2 staff x 28 sites x 60 minutes 
/ 60 minutes). The interviews with state veteran coordinators will be 
conducted once with 1 coordinator in each of 19 states with LWIAs 
participating in the evaluation and are expected to be 60 minutes per 
interview. The total annual burden will be 19 hours (= 1 staff x 19 
states x 60 minutes / 60 minutes). The staff preparation for veteran 
focus group discussions in 8 LWIAs will last 60 minutes per site. The 
total annual burden will be 8 hours (= 8 sites x 60 minutes / 60 
minutes). The focus groups with an average of 6-to-8 veteran 
respondents in 8 sites will last an estimated 60 minutes. The total 
annual burden for veterans focus group discussions will be 56 hours (= 
7 focus group discussants x 8 sites x 60 minutes / 60 minutes). The 
total annual burden estimate for collection in this package is 
estimated to be 3,896 hours.
    Comments submitted in response to this request will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval; they will also become 
a matter of public record.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 19th day of June 2012.
Jane Oates,
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training.
[FR Doc. 2012-15417 Filed 6-22-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-FN-P