[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 205 (Wednesday, October 23, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63248-63249]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-24829]


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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) 2014.

DATES: The annual list of labor surplus areas is effective October 1, 
2013, 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 at 20 
CFR Part 654, Subpart A, require the Employment and Training 
Administration (ETA) to classify jurisdictions as labor surplus areas 
and to publish annually a list of labor surplus areas. This is the 
annual list of labor surplus areas.

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. ETA uses the Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment estimates 
to make 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'' and a 
``ceiling rate.'' A civil jurisdiction that has an unemployment rate of 
6.0% or lower will not be classified a LSA and any civil jurisdiction 
that has an unemployment rate of 10.0% or higher will be classified a 
LSA.
    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.
    Civil jurisdictions are any of the following:
    (a) A city of at least 25,000 population on the basis of the most 
recently available estimates from the Bureau of the Census
    (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
    (c) A county, except those counties in the States of Connecticut, 
Massachusetts, and Rhode Island
    (d) A ``balance of county'' consisting of a county less any 
component cities and townships identified in paragraphs A or B above
    (e) A county equivalent which is a town (with a population of at 
least 25,000) in the New England States or a

[[Page 63249]]

municipio in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Procedures for Classifying Labor Surplus Areas

    ETA issues the LSA 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 2011 through December 2012. The national average 
unemployment rate (including Puerto Rico) during this period was 
rounded to 8.56 percent. Twenty percent higher than the national 
unemployment rate is 10.27 percent. Since the ceiling unemployment rate 
is 10.0 percent, the qualifying rate for LSA classification is 10.0 
percent. Therefore, areas included on the FY 2014 LSA list had a 
rounded unemployment rate for the referenced period of 10.0 percent 
(actual rate, greater than or equal to 9.95) or above during the 
reference period. To ensure all areas classified as labor surplus meet 
the requirements, when a city is part of a county and meets the 
unemployment qualifier as a LSA, the city is identified in the LSA 
list. The balance of county, not the entire county, will be identified 
if the balance of county also meets the LSA unemployment criteria. The 
FY 2014 LSA list, statistical data on the current and some previous 
year's LSAs, and the list of LSAs in Puerto Rico can be accessed at 
ETA's LSA Web site http://www.doleta.gov/programs/lsa.cfm. In addition, 
the 2014 LSA list is available on the LMI Win-Win Network Community of 
Practice at https://winwin.workforce3one.org/view/Labor_Surplus_Area_List_Issued/info.

Petition for Exceptional Circumstance Consideration

    ETA can also designate LSAs under exceptional circumstance 
criteria. ETA can waive the regular classification criteria 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. In these situations, ETA can designate civil 
jurisdictions, Metropolitan Statistical Areas or Combined Statistical 
Areas, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget as LSAs. In 
order for an area to be classified as a LSA under the exceptional 
circumstance criteria, the state workforce agency must submit a 
petition requesting such classification to 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; has a projected unemployment rate of at least 10.0 
percent for each of the next 12 months; and has documentation that the 
exceptional circumstance event has already occurred. The state 
workforce agency may file petitions on behalf of civil jurisdictions, 
as well as a Micropolitan Statistical Areas, Metropolitan Statistical 
Areas or Combined Statistical Areas. The addresses of state workforce 
agencies are available on the ETA Web site at: http://www.doleta.gov/programs/lsa.cfm and https://winwin.workforce3one.org/view/Labor_Surplus_Area_List_Issued/info. 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, 2014.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 25th day of September, 2013.
Eric Seleznow,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Administration.
[FR Doc. 2013-24829 Filed 10-22-13; 8:45 am]
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