[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 213 (Friday, November 4, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66643-66645]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-24035]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau

[Docket Number 221014-0215]
RIN 0607-XC065


Annual Integrated Economic Survey

AGENCY: Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of consideration and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Bureau of the Census (Census 
Bureau) is considering a proposal to conduct the Annual Integrated 
Economic Survey (AIES). The AIES is a new survey designed to integrate 
and replace seven existing annual business surveys into one survey and 
will provide the only comprehensive national and subnational data on 
business revenues, expenses, and assets on an annual basis. The AIES is 
designed to combine Census Bureau collections to reduce respondent 
burden, increase data quality, and allow the Census Bureau to operate 
more efficiently to reduce costs. These data are not publicly available 
from nongovernment or other governmental sources. Based on information 
and recommendations received by the Census Bureau, the data have 
significant application to the needs of other government agencies and 
the public.

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be submitted on or before 
December 5, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be addressed to Blynda Metcalf, U.S. 
Census Bureau, Associate Directorate for Economic Programs (ADEP), 
Washington, DC 20233-6600, (301) 763-4781, [email protected]. 
You may also submit comments, identified by Docket Number USBC-2022-
0015 to the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
All comments received are part of the public record. No comments will 
be posted to http://www.regulations.gov for public viewing until after 
the comment period has closed. Comments will generally be posted 
without change. All Personally Identifiable Information (for example, 
name and address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be 
publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or 
otherwise sensitive or protected information. You may submit 
attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe 
PDF file formats.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the information collection instrument(s) and instructions 
should be directed to Blynda Metcalf, U.S. Census Bureau, ADEP, 
Washington, DC 20233-6600, (301) 763-4781, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Census Bureau plans to conduct the AIES 
on an annual basis, beginning in survey year 2023. The Census Bureau 
will conduct the AIES under the authority of Title 13, United States 
Code, sections, 131 and 182. The AIES is a new survey designed to 
integrate and replace seven existing annual business surveys into one 
survey. The AIES will provide the only comprehensive national and 
subnational data on business revenues, expenses, and assets on an 
annual basis. The AIES is designed to combine Census Bureau collections 
to reduce respondent burden, increase data quality, and allow the 
Census Bureau to operate more efficiently to reduce costs. The existing 
collections integrated into the AIES are the Annual Retail Trade Survey 
(ARTS), Annual Wholesale Trade Survey (AWTS), Service Annual Survey 
(SAS), Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM), Annual Capital Expenditures 
Survey (ACES), Manufacturer's Unfilled Orders Survey (M3UFO), and the 
Report of Organization. The ARTS has been conducted annually since 1951 
to collect sales, expenses, and other items for the retail sector of 
the economy. The AWTS has been conducted annually since 1978 to collect 
data on sales, inventories, operational expenses, and purchases for 
wholesale trade. The SAS has been conducted annually since 1982 to 
collect revenues and other measures for most traditional service 
industries. The ASM has been conducted annually since 1948 to collect 
revenues, expenses, capital expenditures, fuels and electric energy 
used, and inventories in the manufacturing sector. The ACES has been 
conducted annually since 1996 to collect capital spending for new and 
used structures and equipment in agriculture, construction, mining, 
manufacturing, retail, wholesale, and service sectors. The M3UFO began 
collecting manufacturing revenue and unfilled orders data in 2010. The 
Report of Organization has been collecting information on organization 
and structure of firms to maintain the Business Register on an annual 
basis since 1973.
    Estimates currently published in ARTS, AWTS, SAS, ASM, and ACES 
will be produced as part of the AIES and expanded to include 
subnational data across the economy. Previously, the

[[Page 66644]]

ASM (manufacturing) was the only annual survey being integrated into 
AIES that produced subnational data. AIES will produce subnational data 
for manufacturing, retail, wholesale, and service sectors if quality 
standards are met. The AIES information previously collected on the 
Report of Organization will continue to be used to update the Business 
Register, and the AIES data previously collected on the M3UFO will 
continue to be used for the M3 benchmarking purposes. Data users will 
be able to access the AIES estimates through data.census.gov. Private 
businesses, organizations, industry analysts, educators and students, 
and economic researchers have used the data and estimates provided by 
these seven existing collections for analyzing and conducting impact 
evaluations on past and current economic performance, short-term 
economic forecasts, productivity, long-term economic growth, market 
analysis, tax policy, capacity utilization, business fixed capital 
stocks and capital formation, domestic and international 
competitiveness trade policy, product development, market research, and 
financial analysis. Trade and professional organizations have used the 
estimates to analyze industry trends and benchmark their own 
statistical programs, develop forecasts, and evaluate regulatory 
requirements. Government program officials and agencies have used the 
data for research, economic policy making, and forecasting. Based on 
the use of the data of the existing collections, estimates produced 
from the AIES will serve as a benchmark for Census Bureau indicator 
programs, such as the Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food 
Services (MARTS), the Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS), 
Manufacturers' Shipments Inventories & Orders (M3), Monthly Wholesale 
Trade Survey (MWTS), and the Quarterly Services Survey (QSS). Like the 
previous collections, the AIES will provide updates to the Longitudinal 
Research Database (LRD), and Census Bureau staff and academic 
researchers with sworn agent status will continue to use the LRD for 
micro data analysis. The Census Bureau will also continue to use 
information collected in the AIES to update and maintain the 
centralized, multipurpose Business Register that provides sampling 
populations and enumeration lists for the Census Bureau's economic 
surveys and censuses. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will 
continue to use the estimates to derive industry output for the input-
output accounts and for the gross domestic product (GDP). We expect 
that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will continue to use the data 
as input to its Producer Price Index (PPI) and in developing 
productivity measurements; the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) will 
continue to use the data to prepare the Index of Industrial Production, 
to improve estimates of investment indicators for monetary policy, and 
in monitoring retail credit lending; the Centers for Medicare and 
Medicaid Services (CMS) will continue to use the data to estimate 
expenditures for the National Health Accounts and for monitoring and 
evaluating healthcare industries; and the Department of the Treasury 
will continue use the data to analyze depreciation and to research 
economic trends.
    The AIES covers domestic, nonfarm employer businesses with 
operations during the survey year. Nonemployer businesses are not 
within the scope of this new AIES. The Census Bureau will submit a 
separate request for approval to collect data from nonemployer 
businesses, if it is determined that a collection is needed to produce 
those estimates.
    All proposed content for the AIES is currently being collected on 
the surveys it will replace. The AIES will collect the following 
information from employer businesses in the AIES sample:

--Business characteristics, including employment, operating status, 
organizational change, ownership information, and co-op status
--Business classification, including business activity, type of 
operation, and tax status
--Revenue, including sales, shipments, and receipts, revenue by class 
of customer, taxes, contributions, gifts, and grants, products, and e-
commerce activity
--Operating expenses, including purchased services, payroll, benefits, 
rental payments, utilities, interest, resales, equipment, materials and 
supplies, research and development, and other detailed operating 
expenses
--Assets, including capital expenditures, inventories, and depreciable 
assets
--Robotic equipment

    Additional topics of collections in the AIES include sources of 
revenue for providers (e.g., hospitals and other businesses in the 
health industry) of select services such as inpatient days, outpatient 
visits to hospitals, patient visits for other selected health 
industries, revenue from telemedicine services, and expenses for 
electronic health records. Product data will be collected from 
businesses operating in manufacturing and services industries. 
Merchandise lines data will be collected from businesses operating in 
select retail industries will collect merchandise lines data. Detailed 
inventories will be collected for trucks, truck tractors, and trailers.
    Starting with the 2024 survey, the AIES may include new questions 
each year based on relevant business topics. Potential topics for such 
new questions could include technological advances, management and 
business practices, exporting practices, and globalization.
    In survey years 2019 and 2020, research was conducted on the 
potential impacts of a coordinated collection of SAS, ARTS, and AWTS. 
This coordinated collection research was designed to investigate the 
impact of implementing the existing contact strategy that encompassed 
multiple survey requests. Following the 2019 and 2020 coordinated 
collection research effort, approximately 19 interviews were conducted 
with nonrespondents, and 35 interviews were conducted with respondents. 
In 2021, AIES data accessibility and recordkeeping studies were 
conducted with about 60 companies. In survey year 2021, a pilot AIES 
survey was administered to 78 companies, including 2,863 
establishments, to test the respondent experience; the 2021 pilot AIES 
survey focused on the layout and design of the collection instrument 
and harmonized content. From the pilot survey, 10 interviews were 
conducted with respondents, and 15 Response Analysis Surveys (RAS) were 
completed by respondents. Cognitive testing encompassing survey 
structure, instrument design, and respondent reporting process was 
conducted with about 40 companies in 2022. Usability testing on the 
electronic collection instrument will be conducted with up to 30 
companies at the end of 2022 and will continue into 2023.
    The 2023 AIES sample will be comprised of approximately 380,000 
employer businesses to produce statistics that measure economic 
activity. Businesses which reported business activity on Internal 
Revenue Service tax forms 941, ``Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax 
Return''; 944, ``Employer's Annual Federal Tax Return''; 1065 ``U.S. 
Return of Partnership Income''; or any one of the 1120 corporate tax 
forms will be eligible for selection.
    The AIES will be collected using only electronic instruments. 
Respondents will receive an email and/or letter notifying them of their 
requirement to respond and how to access the survey.

[[Page 66645]]

Responses will be due approximately 30 days from receipt. Select 
businesses will receive a due date reminder via a letter or email prior 
to the due date. Additionally, email follow-ups and up to three mail 
follow-ups to nonrespondents will be conducted at approximately one-
month intervals. Selected nonrespondents will receive a priority class 
mailing for the third follow-up if needed. Selected nonrespondents will 
also receive follow-up telephone calls.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person is required 
to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure 
to comply with a collection of information subject to the requirements 
of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) unless that collection of 
information displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) control number. This action will integrate into the AIES the 
following existing collections (listed with their corresponding OMB 
control numbers): the Annual Retail Trade Survey (ARTS) (0607-0013), 
the Annual Wholesale Trade Survey (AWTS) (0607-0195), Service Annual 
Survey (SAS) (0607-0422), the Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) 
(0607-0449), the Annual Capital Expenditures Survey (ACES) (0607-0782), 
the Manufacturer's Unfilled Orders Survey (M3UFO) (0607-0561), and the 
Report of Organization (0607-0444). In accordance with the PRA, 44 
U.S.C., chapter 45, the Census Bureau will submit a request for 
approval to the OMB for approval of the AIES.
    Robert L. Santos, Director, Census Bureau, approved the publication 
of this notification in the Federal Register.

    Dated: October 28, 2022.
Shannon Wink,
Program Analyst, Policy Coordination Office, U.S. Census Bureau.
[FR Doc. 2022-24035 Filed 11-3-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P