[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 242 (Tuesday, December 21, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72210-72211]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-27601]


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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; Small Business Pulse 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 May 19, 2020 during a 60-day comment period. This 
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: U. S. Census Bureau, Commerce.
    Title: Small Business Pulse Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-1014.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular Submission, Request for a Revision of a 
Currently Approved Collection.
    Number of Respondents: 810,000 (22,500 responses per week for up to 
a maximum of 36 weeks of collection).
    Average Hours per Response: 6 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 81,000.
    Needs and Uses: Phase 1 of the Small Business Pulse Survey was 
launched on April 26, 2020 as an effort to produce and disseminate 
high-frequency, geographic- and industry-detailed experimental data 
about the economic conditions of small businesses as they experience 
the coronavirus pandemic. It is a rapid response endeavor that 
leverages the resources of the federal statistical system to address 
emergent data needs. Given the rapidly changing dynamics of this 
situation for American small businesses, the Small Business Pulse 
Survey has been successful in meeting an acute need for information on 
changes in revenues, business closings, employment and hours worked, 
disruptions to supply chains, and expectations for future operations. 
In addition, the Small Business Pulse Survey provided important 
estimates of federal program uptake to key survey stakeholders.
    Due to the ongoing nature of the pandemic, the Census Bureau 
subsequently conducted Phases 2 through 7 of the Small Business Pulse 
Survey. The Census Bureau now seeks approval to conduct Phase 8 of the 
Small Business Pulse Survey which will occur over 9 weeks starting 
February 14, 2022.
    The continuation of the Small Business Pulse Survey is responsive 
to stakeholder requests for high frequency data that measure the effect 
of changing business conditions during the Coronavirus pandemic on 
small businesses. While the ongoing monthly and quarterly economic 
indicator programs provide estimates of dollar volume outputs for 
employer businesses of all size, the Small Business Pulse Survey 
captures the effects of the pandemic on operations and finances of 
small, single location employer businesses. As the pandemic continues, 
the Census Bureau is best poised to collect this information from a 
large and diverse sample of small businesses.
    It is hard to predict when a shock will result in economic activity 
changing at a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly frequency. Early in the 
pandemic, federal, state, and local policies were moving quickly so it 
made sense to have a weekly collection. The problem is that while we 
are in the moment, we cannot accurately forecast the likelihood of 
policy action. In addition, we are not able to forecast a change in the 
underlying cause of policy actions: the effect of the Coronavirus 
pandemic on the economy. We cannot predict changes in the severity of 
the pandemic (e.g., will it worsen in flu season?) nor future 
developments that will alleviate the pandemic (e.g., vaccines or 
treatments). In a period of such high uncertainty, the impossibility of 
forecasting these inflection points underscores the benefits of having 
a weekly survey. For these reasons, the Census Bureau will proceed with 
a weekly collection.
    SBPS Phase 8 content continues the inclusion of core concepts plus 
relevant topics to gauge the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on 
small businesses. There are 20 questions in total for phase 8. A Phase 
4/Phase 5 question inquiring about a businesses' plans for capital 
expenditures was updated to reference period 2021 and added to the 
questionnaire. The business norms questions 14 -17 were updated to 
inquire about the last six months rather than the March 2020 timeframe. 
The received assistance question was removed as it referenced 
legislature dates greater than a year ago in December 2020. The remarks 
field at the end of the survey still present.
    The Census Bureau is seeking formal approval for Phase 8 one week 
prior to starting data collection, by Friday, February 4, 2022.
    Based on the SBPS success, the Census Bureau is pursuing a 
permanent program, the Business Pulse Survey. The Business Pulse Survey 
will be an ongoing collection that will allow the Census Bureau to 
continuously provide high frequency, timely, and granular information 
about current economic conditions and trends as well as the impact of 
national, subnational, or sector-level shocks and their impact on 
business activity. The proposed Business Pulse Survey would also allow 
the Census Bureau to provide more detailed, timely data during times of 
economic or other emergencies. The Census Bureau is pursuing parallel

[[Page 72211]]

approval tracks for SBPS phase 8 and the new Business Pulse Survey. In 
the event that a postponement is required for the Business Pulse 
Survey, we will run data collection for phase 8 of the SBPS.
    All results from the Small Business Pulse Survey will continue to 
be disseminated as U.S. Census Bureau Experimental Data Products 
(https://portal.census.gov/pulse/data/). This and additional 
information on the Small Business Pulse Survey are available to the 
public on census.gov.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: Small business will be selected once to participate in a 
6-minute survey.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    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 0607-1014.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-27601 Filed 12-20-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P