[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 189 (Monday, October 2, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45895-45896]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-20977]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Labor Surplus Area Classification

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to announce the annual list of 
labor surplus areas for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018.

DATES: The annual list of labor surplus areas is effective October 1, 
2017, 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 C-4514, Washington, DC 20210. Telephone: (202) 693-
2870 (This is not a toll-free number) or email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Labor's regulations 
implementing Executive Orders 12073 and 10582 are set forth at 20 CFR 
part 654, subpart A. 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. ETA uses only official unemployment estimates provided by the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics in making these classifications. The average 
unemployment rate for all states includes data for the Commonwealth of 
Puerto Rico. LSA classification criteria stipulate a civil jurisdiction 
must have a ``floor unemployment rate'' of 6.0% or higher to be 
classified a LSA. Any civil jurisdiction that has a ``ceiling 
unemployment rate'' of 10% or higher is classified a LSA.
    Civil jurisdictions are defined as follows:
    1. A city of at least 25,000 population on the basis of the most 
recently available estimates from the Bureau of the Census; or
    2. 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
    3. All counties, except for those counties which contain any type 
of civil jurisdictions defined in ``1'' or ``2'' above; or
    4. A ``balance of county'' consisting of a county less any 
component cities and townships identified in ``1'' or ``2'' above; or
    5. 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 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 2014 through December 2016. The 
national average unemployment rate (including Puerto Rico) during this 
period is rounded to 5.12 percent. Twenty percent higher than the 
national unemployment rate during this period is rounded to 6.14 
percent but 6.1453 percent (since 5 is the 3rd place behind the 
decimal) will be used for the unemployment qualifying rate. Therefore, 
areas included on the FY 2018 LSA list had an unemployment rate for the 
reference period of 6.1453 percent or higher. To ensure that 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, that city is 
identified in the LSA list, the balance of county, not the entire 
county, will be identified as a LSA if the balance of county also meets 
the LSA unemployment criteria. The FY 2018 LSA list, statistical data 
on the current and some previous year's LSAs are available at ETA's LSA 
Web site http://www.doleta.gov/programs/lsa.cfm.

Petition for Exceptional Circumstance Consideration

    The classification procedures also provide criteria for the 
designation of LSAs under exceptional circumstances 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, LSA classifications can be made for civil jurisdictions, 
Metropolitan Statistical Areas or Combined Statistical Areas, as 
defined

[[Page 45896]]

by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. 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 the Department of Labor's ETA. The current criteria 
for an exceptional circumstance classification are,
    (1) an area's unemployment rate is at least 6.1453 percent for each 
of the three most recent months;
    (2) a projected unemployment rate of at least 6.1453 percent for 
each of the next 12 months; and
    (3) documentation that the exceptional circumstance event has 
occurred. The state workforce agency may file petitions on behalf of 
civil jurisdictions, 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 C-4514, Washington, DC 
20210, Attention Samuel Wright. Data collection for the petition is 
approved under OMB 1205-0207, expiration date March 31, 2018.

    Signed at Washington, DC
Byron Zuidema,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training.
[FR Doc. 2017-20977 Filed 9-29-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4510-FN-P