[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 79 (Tuesday, April 27, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22135-22136]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-08757]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

U.S. Census Bureau


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Manufacturers' Unfilled Orders Survey

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
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 February 17, 2021 during a 60-day comment period. 
This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: Manufacturers' Unfilled Orders Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0561.
    Form Number(s): MA-3000.
    Type of Request: Regular submission, Request for an Extension, 
without Change, of a Currently Approved Collection.
    Number of Respondents: 6,000.
    Average Hours per Response: 30 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 3,000.
    Needs and Uses: The data collected in the Manufacturers' Unfilled 
Orders (M3UFO) Survey will be used to benchmark the new and unfilled 
orders information published in the monthly Manufacturers' Shipments, 
Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey. The M3 Survey collects monthly 
data on the value of shipments, inventories, and new and unfilled 
orders from manufacturing companies. The orders, as well as the 
shipments and inventory data, are valuable tools for analysts of 
business cycle conditions. The data are used by the Bureau of Economic 
Analysis, the Council of Economic Advisers, the Federal Reserve Board, 
the Conference Board, as well as businesses, trade associations, and 
the media.
    The monthly M3 Survey estimates are based on a panel of 
approximately 5,000 reporting units that represent approximately 3,100 
companies and provide an indication of month-to-month change for the 
Manufacturing Sector. These reporting units may be divisions of 
diversified large companies, large homogenous companies, or single-unit 
manufacturers. The M3 estimates are periodically benchmarked to 
comprehensive data on the manufacturing sector from the Annual Survey 
of Manufactures (ASM), the Economic Census (shipments and inventories) 
and the M3UFO Survey, which is the subject of this notice. To obtain 
more accurate M3 estimates of unfilled orders, which are also used in 
deriving M3 estimates of new orders, we conduct the M3UFO Survey 
annually to be used as the source for benchmarking M3 unfilled orders 
data.
    Additionally, the M3UFO data are used to determine which North 
American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industries continue to 
maintain unfilled orders; this is done in order to minimize burden on 
businesses by only requesting unfilled orders as part of the monthly M3 
Survey for industries that still maintain unfilled orders.
    Unfilled orders data are not currently collected in the ASM or the 
Economic

[[Page 22136]]

Census. Research is currently being conducted on the feasibility of 
adding M3UFO questions to the ASM for Survey Year 2021 at the 
establishment levels.
    There are no changes to the MA-3000 form, which is used to conduct 
the M3UFO survey.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Sections 131 and 182.
    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 0607-0561.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-08757 Filed 4-26-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P