[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 48 (Monday, March 15, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14304-14305]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-05295]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for

[[Page 14305]]

review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and 
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of 
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on December 17, 2020 during a 60-day comment period. 
This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: Census Bureau.
    Title: Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0175.
    Form Number(s): MQ-C2.
    Type of Request: Regular submission, Request for an Extension, 
without Change, 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 
governmental source of capacity utilization 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.
    The survey collects the value of quarterly production, the value of 
production that could be achieved if operating under ``full 
production'' capability, and the value of production that could be 
achieved if operating under ``emergency production'' capability. The 
ratio of the actual to the full is the basis of the estimates for 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 survey 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. To maintain the quality of the IP index, the 
collection of these quarterly data, including the utilization rate data 
and the workweek of capital, is critical to the indicators of capital 
input use and industry output.
    The FRB uses these data in several ways. First, the QPC data are 
the primary source of information for the capacity indexes and 
utilization rates published by the FRB. Second, the QPC utilization 
rate data are used as indicators of output for some industries 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 industrial base readiness and ramp-
up time 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 website, https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/qpc.html.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: Quarterly.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 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 the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB 
Control Number 0607-0175.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-05295 Filed 3-12-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P