[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 121 (Friday, June 24, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37889-37891]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-13481]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of Disability Employment Policy

[Agency Docket Number DOL-2022-0002]
RIN 1230-ZA01


Request for Information on Current Population Survey Disability 
Supplement 2024

AGENCY: Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of 
Labor.

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (Department) is seeking information 
from the public regarding a supplement to the Current Population Survey 
(CPS) on disability employment issues, which will be conducted by the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Census Bureau and is expected 
to be fielded in 2024. The Department is publishing this Request for 
Information (RFI) to gather information to aid in revising this CPS 
Disability Supplement and to inform its general disability employment 
research agenda.

DATES: Comments must be received by August 8, 2022.

ADDRESSES: To facilitate the receipt and processing of written comments 
on this RFI, the Department encourages interested persons to submit 
their comments electronically. You may submit comments, identified by 
Regulatory Information Number (RIN) 1230-ZA01, by either of the 
following methods:
    Electronic Comments: Follow the instructions for submitting 
comments on the Federal eRulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov.
    Mail: Address written submissions to David Rosenblum, Senior 
Economist, Research & Evaluation, Office of Disability Employment 
Policy, U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-1313, 200 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20210.
    Instructions: This RFI is available through the Federal Register 
and the http://www.regulations.gov website. You may also access this 
document via the Office of Disability Employment Policy's (ODEP) 
website at http://www.dol.gov/odep. All comment submissions must 
include the agency name and Regulatory Information Number (RIN 1230-
ZA01) for this RFI. Response to this RFI is voluntary and commenters 
need not reply to all questions listed below. The Department requests 
that no business proprietary information, copyrighted information, or 
personally identifiable information be submitted in response to this 
RFI. Submit only one copy of your comment by only one method (e.g., 
persons submitting comments electronically are encouraged not to submit 
paper copies). Please be advised that comments received will become a 
matter of public record and will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. All 
comments must be received by 11:59 p.m. on the date indicated for 
consideration in this RFI; comments received after the comment period 
closes will not be considered. Commenters should transmit comments 
early to ensure timely receipt prior to the close of the comment 
period. Electronic submission via http://www.regulations.gov enables 
prompt receipt of comments submitted as the Department continues to 
experience delays in the receipt of mail in our area. For access to the 
docket to read background documents or comments, go to the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Rosenblum, Senior Economist, 
Office of Disability Employment Policy,

[[Page 37890]]

U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-1313, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20210; telephone: (202) 693-7840 or visit https://www.dol.gov/dol/contact/contactphonecallcenter.htm (TTY), for 
information about this notice.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    BLS and the Census Bureau have previously conducted three 
supplements to the CPS on disability employment issues, in May 2012, 
July 2019, and July 2021. The basic monthly CPS has existed since the 
1940s and is the source of official government statistics on the 
unemployment rate and other labor market measures. Similar to the 
previous versions, the 2024 Disability Supplement will be conducted 
alongside the basic monthly CPS, and therefore the same detailed 
demographic information collected in the basic monthly CPS will be 
available for respondents to the Disability Supplement, allowing for 
comparisons across demographic characteristics, including sex, race, 
ethnicity, age, and educational attainment. It will also be possible to 
create estimates for those who are employed, unemployed, and not in the 
labor force. Because the CPS is a rich source of information on the 
employment status of the population, it will be possible to examine in 
detail the nature of various employment and unemployment situations for 
individuals with disabilities.
    The CPS began tracking disability status in June 2008 by asking six 
questions, with anyone answering affirmatively to at least one question 
classified as having a disability. These six questions are also used in 
other national surveys such as the American Community Survey and 
various other federal surveys. The six questions ask whether a person: 
(1) is deaf or has serious difficulty hearing, (2) is blind or has 
serious difficulty seeing (even with the assistance of corrective 
lenses), (3) has serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or 
making decisions, (4) has serious difficulty walking or climbing 
stairs, (5) has difficulty dressing or bathing, and (6) has difficulty 
doing errands alone.
    Data from the basic monthly CPS had revealed large disparities in 
labor market outcomes between people with and without disabilities, but 
more information was needed to understand the challenges facing people 
with disabilities and to improve programs and policies designed to help 
people with disabilities. To respond to this need, BLS and the Census 
Bureau have conducted three supplements to the CPS on disability 
employment issues, in May 2012, July 2019, and July 2021. The first 
round was sponsored by ODEP while the subsequent rounds were sponsored 
by DOL's Chief Evaluation Office. Given the work-related focus of the 
CPS, the Disability Supplement was designed to capture data on specific 
issues relating to employment. It aimed to (1) uncover more detail 
about the low labor force participation rates for people with 
disabilities, (2) understand the effectiveness of existing programs 
intended to prepare people with disabilities for employment, (3) 
provide more information about the work history of people with 
disabilities, (4) identify barriers to employment for people with 
disabilities, (5) learn more about workplace accommodations that assist 
people with disabilities, and (6) measure the extent and effectiveness 
of financial assistance programs. The 2012 Disability Supplement found 
that, of people with disabilities who were employed, more than half had 
some difficulty completing their work duties due to their disability. 
Barriers to employment included lack of education or training, lack of 
transportation, need for accommodations at the workplace, and a 
person's own disability.
    The 2019 CPS Disability Supplement, which included the same set of 
questions as the 2012 version, was conducted to capture the effects of 
changes in the intervening seven years in work patterns, assistive 
technologies, and public policies on employment barriers for people 
with disabilities. Of people with disabilities who were not employed, 
almost half reported at least one barrier to employment, such as a 
person's own disability, lack of education or training, lack of 
transportation, or the need for job accommodations.
    The third CPS Disability Supplement was conducted in July 2021 
during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the same set of questions from the 
prior versions of the survey. This update provided information about 
how barriers to employment for people with disabilities may have 
changed as a result of the pandemic. The 2021 survey showed, of persons 
with a disability who were not employed, there had been a small 
decrease in the proportion of those reporting some type of barrier to 
employment, relative to the 2019 CPS Disability Supplement.
    A fourth CPS Disability Supplement is being prepared, to be 
conducted in 2024. This Disability Supplement provides an opportunity 
to reconsider the questions asked in the survey in light of the 
socioeconomic changes that have taken places since the development of 
the current set of questions more than ten years ago.
    Interested parties can find the most recent questionnaire at 
Attachment 8 of: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/techdocs/cpsjul21.pdf.

Request for Information

    Through this RFI, we are soliciting feedback from interested and 
affected parties on the data collection that will be undertaken via the 
fourth CPS Disability Supplement, for addressing disability employment 
related issues addressed in the previous three Disability 
Supplements.\1\ Comments to this RFI will inform decisions regarding 
the topics, questions, and response options included in the Disability 
Supplement. We encourage commenters to provide detail about why they 
recommend certain revisions, which could include, but are not limited 
to, informing policy, identifying a relevant subpopulation of the 
disability community, reducing respondent burden, or making the 
questions clearer to survey respondents. This RFI notice is for 
internal planning purposes only and should not be construed as a 
solicitation or as an obligation on the part of DOL or any 
participating federal agencies.
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    \1\ Technical documentation for the 2021 CPS Disability 
Supplement can be downloaded at https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/time-series/demo/cps/cps-supp_cps-repwgt/cps-disability.html. The supplement begins on page 113 of the PDF file.
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    We ask commenters to address the following questions in the context 
of the preceding discussion in this document. Commenters do not need to 
address every question and should focus on those that relate to their 
expertise or perspective. To the extent possible, please clearly 
indicate the question(s) addressed in your response.

Questions

Work History

    1. Should the question about difficulty completing current work 
duties (location 1003-1004) be rephrased in any way? Should the 
response options be altered?
    2. Should there be more extensive questions about past work 
experience than the single one (location 1005-1006) previously used?
    3. Should the question on departure from a job (location 1007-1008) 
due to disability distinguish between voluntarily leaving a job and 
being terminated from a job in the response options?

Barriers to Employment

    4. Should the set of questions about barriers to employment 
(locations 1009-

[[Page 37891]]

1010 through--1025-1026), also be asked of those currently employed 
and/or those who are not identified as having a disability?
    5. Should the categorization of barriers (locations 1009-1010 
through 1025-1026) be altered in any way, whether by adding to, 
removing, or rephrasing the existing categories?
    6. Should the question asking about ability to work in the absence 
of barriers (location 1027-1028) consist of a set of questions, with 
the response to each recorded separately for each type of barrier 
identified in the preceding set of questions?

Employment Services and Vocational Rehabilitation

    7. Should the categorization of employment services (locations 
1029-1030 through 1055-1056) be altered in any way, whether by adding 
to, removing, or rephrasing the existing categories?
    8. Should the response options be altered for the corresponding set 
of questions (locations 1031-1032, 1035-1036, 1039-1040, 1043-1044, 
1047-1048, 1051-1052, and 1055-1056) asking, of those who received 
assistance from a particular type of employment service, how helpful 
these services were?

Job Accommodations

    9. Should the categorization of job accommodations (locations 1059-
1060 through 1075-1076) be altered in any way, whether by adding to, 
removing, or rephrasing the existing categories?
    10. Should there be any questions asked about past requests for job 
accommodations, prior to the job in the current workplace?

Commuting and Work Hours

    11. Should the categorization of transportation commuting modes 
(locations 1079-1080 through 1099-1100) be altered in any way, whether 
by adding to, removing, or rephrasing the existing categories?
    12. Should there be any questions about how telework/work-at-home 
options have changed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic?
    13. Should the categorization of reasons for work-at-home 
(locations 1109-1110 through 1127-1128) be altered in any way, whether 
by adding to, removing, or rephrasing the existing categories?

Financial Assistance

    14. Should the categorization of financial assistance programs 
(locations 1133-1134 through 1151-1152) be altered in any way, whether 
by adding to, removing, or rephrasing the existing categories?
    15. Should the question asking about having worked less due to a 
constraint from a financial assistance program (location 1153-1154) 
instead consist of a set of questions, with the response to each 
recorded separately, for each type of financial assistance program 
identified in the preceding set of questions?

General

    16. Are there any gaps in existing information about disability 
employment that have not been addressed by the questions contained in 
the past disability supplements but that could be considered for this 
future CPS Disability Supplement?
    17. Which existing questions or sets of questions, if any, should 
be removed from the survey? Please include a reason for your suggested 
removal. Some possible reasons for suggesting removal may include: lack 
of practical utility (or lesser utility compared with potential new 
questions), challenges to collecting accurate data through a household 
survey, or socioeconomic or policy changes obviating the continued need 
for a previously important question.

    Signed at Washington, DC this 17th day of June, 2022.
Taryn Williams,
Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy.
[FR Doc. 2022-13481 Filed 6-23-22; 8:45 am]
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