[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 27 (Thursday, February 11, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9086-9087]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02808]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Bureau of Labor Statistics


Information Collection Activities, Comment Request

AGENCY: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor.

ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to 
reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre-clearance 
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. This program helps to ensure that requested 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 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting 
comments concerning the proposed revision of the ``The Consumer 
Expenditure Surveys: The Quarterly Interview and the Diary.'' A copy of 
the proposed information collection request can be obtained by 
contacting the individual listed below in the ADDRESSES section of this 
notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
Addresses section of this notice on or before April 12, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Nora Kincaid, BLS Clearance Officer, 
Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 4080, 
2 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20212. Written comments also 
may be transmitted by email to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nora Kincaid, BLS Clearance Officer, 
at 202-691-7628 (this is not a toll free number). (See ADDRESSES 
section.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    The Consumer Expenditure (CE) Surveys collect data on consumer 
expenditures, demographic information, and related data needed by the 
Consumer Price Index (CPI) and other public and private data users. The 
continuing surveys provide a constant measurement of changes in 
consumer expenditure patterns for economic analysis and to obtain data 
for future CPI revisions. The CE Surveys have been ongoing since 1979.
    The data from the CE Surveys are used (1) for CPI revisions, (2) to 
provide a continuous flow of data on income and expenditure patterns 
for use in economic analysis and policy formulation, and (3) to provide 
a flexible consumer survey vehicle that is available for use by other 
Federal government agencies. Public and private users of price 
statistics, including Congress and the economic policymaking agencies 
of the Executive branch, rely on data collected in the CPI in their 
day-to-day activities. Hence, data users and policymakers widely accept 
the need to improve the process used for revising the CPI. If the CE 
Surveys were not conducted on a continuing basis, current information 
necessary for more timely, as well as more accurate, updating of the 
CPI would not be available. In addition, data would not be available to 
respond to the continuing demand from the public and private sectors 
for current information on consumer spending.
    In the Quarterly Interview Survey, each consumer unit (CU) in the 
sample is interviewed every three months over four calendar quarters. 
The sample for each quarter is divided into three panels, with CUs 
being interviewed every three months in the same panel of every 
quarter. The Quarterly Interview Survey is designed to collect data on 
the types of expenditures that respondents can be expected to recall 
for a period of three months or longer. In general the expenses 
reported in the Interview Survey are either relatively large, such as 
property, automobiles, or major appliances, or are expenses which occur 
on a fairly regular basis, such as rent, utility bills, or insurance 
premiums.
    The Diary (or recordkeeping) Survey is completed at home by the 
respondent family for two consecutive one-week periods. The primary 
objective of the Diary Survey is to obtain expenditure data on small, 
frequently purchased items which normally are difficult to recall over 
longer periods of time.

II. Current Action

    Office of Management and Budget approval is being sought for the 
proposed revision of the Consumer Expenditure Surveys: The Quarterly 
Interview (CEQ) and the Diary (CED).
    The purpose of this request is to obtain clearance for 
modifications to the Consumer Expenditure (CE) Surveys and to test a 
self-administered Diary.
    CE requests clearance to remove several point of purchase questions 
from the CEQ Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) instrument 
that are no longer needed by CPI and to add point of purchase questions 
for gasoline on trips including the name of the gas station or store 
and the location (city and state) where gasoline on a trip was 
purchased.
    CE is also seeking clearance to add a `consent request' question to 
the CEQ. The consent request question will ask respondents for 
permission to record the interview for quality control purposes. This 
question will be added to test the impact of the consent request 
question on respondent behavior, as well as rates of consent, and 
overall interview duration. The question will be administered to half 
of the CUs in their fourth wave production interview between October 
and December 2021. Respondents in this test group will be asked the 
consent request question. However, no recordings of the interview will 
actually take place. The results of this Consent Request test will 
inform CE regarding plans to incorporate Computer Assisted Recording 
Instrument (CARI) technology into CE for quality control and research 
purposes.
    CE is requesting clearance to test a self-administered Diary. In 
lieu of the production procedures for an in-person interview in which 
FRs place the diaries and train respondents on how to record the 
household's daily expenditures, the Self-Administered Diary test will 
entail Diary placement and collection of sample unit, demographics, 
income, and select expenditure data through the Household Screener 
survey. Additionally, instead of the CED paper Diary, respondents will 
use the Online Diary with slight modifications.
    The purpose of the Self-Administered Diary test is to determine the 
sampling and measurement error by comparing the sample composition of 
those that complete an online diary to that of the BLS CE diary 
production sample to determine the differences in representativeness 
for various population subgroups. Additionally, response and 
cooperation rates, as well

[[Page 9087]]

as deviations in data quality will be evaluated. The test will be 
administered from October through December of 2021.
    As part of the self-administered Diary test, respondents will 
receive survey points redeemable for cash, merchandise, gift cards or 
game entries worth the equivalent of $2 cash for completing the 
Household Characteristics Survey and survey points redeemable for cash, 
merchandise, gift cards or game entries worth the equivalent of $50 
cash for successfully completing each day of the fourteen-day diary 
period.
    The Household Characteristics Survey and Consumer Expenditure 
Online Diary will be administered to a nationally representative sample 
of 2,000 persons (age 18 and older), with surveys conducted in English. 
Weighting the entire population to U.S. Census Bureau benchmarks 
secured from the latest American Community Survey (ACS) and the most 
recent March supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS) along 
several dimensions including gender, age, race/Hispanic origin, 
education, Census Region, income, home ownership status, household 
size, and metropolitan area.

III. Desired Focus of Comments

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics is particularly interested in 
comments that:
     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.
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected.
     Minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including through 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.

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                                                                                   Average time
            Activity                   Total         Frequency         Total       per response    Total burden
                                    respondents                      responses       (minutes)        (hours)
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Quarterly.......................           4,925            4.48          22,064        60.89195          22,392
Diary...........................           9,366            3.93          36,816        42.77542          26,247
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                                          14,291                          58,880                          48,639
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    Title of Collection: The Consumer Expenditure Surveys: The 
Quarterly Interview and the Diary.
    OMB Number: 1220-0050.
    Type of Review: Revision, of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget 
approval of the information collection request; they also will become a 
matter of public record.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 5th day of February 2021.
Mark Staniorski,
Division Chief, Division of Management Systems.
[FR Doc. 2021-02808 Filed 2-10-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-P