[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 162 (Friday, August 21, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50824-50825]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-20709]


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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: Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0175.
    Form Number(s): MQ-C2.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Number of Respondents: 7,500.
    Average Hours Per Response: 2 hours and 5 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 62,500.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau on behalf of the Federal 
Reserve Board (FRB) and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), within the 
Department of Defense (DOD), requests an extension of approval for the 
Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization (QPC). The survey 
provides information on use of industrial capacity in manufacturing and 
publishing plants as defined by the North American Industry 
Classification System (NAICS). The Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization 
began in the 1970's as an annual survey that collected fourth quarter 
data only. The annual survey continued through 2006. In 2007 the FRB 
requested that the survey be converted to a quarterly survey due to the 
necessity for quarterly data rather than annual. The survey is the only 
source of capacity rates at industry levels. Changes in capacity 
utilization are considered important indicators of investment demand 
and inflationary pressure. For these reasons, the estimates of capacity 
utilization are closely monitored by government policy makers and 
private sector decision makers.
    This survey utilizes a multi-mode data collection process that 
includes internet reporting, fax, telephone and mail. The survey 
collects the value of quarterly production and the value of production 
that could be achieved if operating under ``full production'' 
capability and ``emergency production'' capability. The ratio of the 
actual to the full is the basis of the estimates of full capacity 
utilization rates and similarly, the actual to the emergency for the 
emergency capacity utilization rates. The survey also collects 
information by shift, on work patterns at the actual production level.
    The FRB is the primary user of the current QPC data and expressed 
the need for these quarterly data. FRB publishes measures of industrial 
production (IP), capacity, and capacity utilization in its G.17 
statistical release, which has been designated by the federal 
government as a Principal Federal Economic Indicator. Utilization rates 
from the QPC are a principle source for the measures of capacity and 
capacity utilization. The indexes of IP are either estimated from 
physical product data or estimated from monthly data on inputs to the 
production process, specifically production worker hours and an 
indicator of capital input. For many years, data on electric power use 
was used as the indicator of industry capital input. The deregulation 
of electricity markets led to the deterioration in the coverage and 
quality of the electricity data. As a result, in November 2005, the FRB 
discontinued its use of the industrial electric power data in the 
current estimates of IP. In order to maintain the quality of the IP 
index, the collection of these quarterly data, including the 
utilization rate data and the workweek of capital, are critical 
indicators of capital input use and industry output.
    The FRB uses these data in several ways. First, the QPC data is the 
primary source of the benchmark information for the capacity indexes 
and utilization rates published by the FRB. Second, the QPC utilization 
rate data and the capital workweek data are used as an indicator of 
capital use in the estimation of monthly IP. Third, the QPC utilization 
rate data and the workweek data are used to improve the projections of 
labor productivity that are used to align IP with comprehensive 
benchmark information from the Economic Census covering the 
Manufacturing sector and the Annual Survey of Manufactures. Finally, 
utilization rate data will assist in the assessment of recent changes 
in IP, as most of the high-frequency movement in utilization rates 
reflect production changes rather than capacity changes.
    The DLA uses the data to assess readiness to meet demand for goods 
under selected national emergency scenarios.
    In addition to the FRB and DLA uses, these data are published on 
the Census Bureau's Web site, http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/capacity/index.html.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit.
    Frequency: Quarterly.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Section 8(b), 50 
U.S.C. Section 98, et. seq, and 12 U.S.C. Section 244.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce 
collections currently under review by OMB.

[[Page 50825]]

    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.

    Dated: August 18, 2015.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-20709 Filed 8-20-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P