[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 166 (Tuesday, August 29, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59544-59545]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-18536]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Labor Surplus Area Classification

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to announce the annual Labor 
Surplus Area (LSA) list for fiscal year (FY) 2024.

DATES: The annual LSA list is effective October 1, 2023, for all 
states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Samuel Wright or Donald Haughton, 
Office of Workforce Investment, Employment and Training Administration, 
200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room C-4514, Washington, DC 20210. 
Telephone: Samuel Wright (202) 693-2870 (this is not a toll-free 
number), or Donald Haughton (202) 693-2784 (this is not a toll-free 
number), or email [email protected], or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Labor's regulations 
implementing Executive Orders 12073 and 10582 are set forth at 20 CFR 
part 654, subpart A. These regulations require the Employment and 
Training Administration (ETA) to classify jurisdictions as LSAs 
pursuant to the criteria specified in the regulations, and to publish 
annually a list of LSAs. Pursuant to those regulations, ETA is hereby 
publishing the annual LSA list.
    In addition, the regulations provide exceptional circumstance 
criteria for classifying LSAs when catastrophic events, such as natural 
disasters, plant closings, and contract cancellations are expected to 
have a long-term impact on labor market area conditions, discounting 
temporary or seasonal factors.

Eligible Labor Surplus Areas

    A LSA is a civil jurisdiction that has a civilian average annual 
unemployment rate during the previous two calendar years of 20 percent 
or more above the average annual civilian unemployment rate for all 
states during the same 24-month reference period. ETA uses only 
official unemployment estimates provided by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics in making these classifications. The average unemployment 
rate for all states includes data for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 
The LSA classification criteria stipulate a civil jurisdiction must 
have a ``floor unemployment rate'' of 6 percent or higher to be 
classified an LSA. Any civil jurisdiction that has a ``ceiling 
unemployment rate'' of 10 percent or higher is classified an LSA.
    Civil jurisdictions are defined as follows:
    1. A city of at least 25,000 population on the basis of the most 
recently available estimates from the Bureau of the Census; or
    2. A town or township in the States of Michigan, New Jersey, New 
York, or Pennsylvania of 25,000 or more population and which possess 
powers and functions similar to those of cities; or
    3. All counties, except for those counties which contain any type 
of civil jurisdictions defined in ``1'' or ``2'' above; or
    4. A ``balance of county'' consisting of a county less any 
component cities and townships identified in ``1'' or ``2'' above; or
    5. A county equivalent which is a town in the States of 
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, or a municipio in the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Procedures for Classifying Labor Surplus Areas

    The Department of Labor (DOL) issues the LSA list on a fiscal year 
basis. The list becomes effective each October 1, and remains in effect 
through the following September 30. The reference period used in 
preparing the current list was January 2021 through December 2022. The 
national average unemployment rate (including Puerto Rico) during this 
period is rounded to 4.51 percent. Twenty percent higher than the 
national unemployment rate during this period is rounded to 5.41 
percent. Since this is below the floor rate, the qualifying rate is 6 
percent.
    To ensure that all areas classified as labor surplus meet the 
requirements, when a city is part of a county and meets the 
unemployment qualifier as a LSA, that city is identified in the LSA 
list, the balance of county, not the entire county, will be identified 
as a LSA if the balance of county also meets the LSA unemployment 
criteria. The data on the current and previous years' LSAs are 
available at www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/lsa.

Petition for Exceptional Circumstance Consideration

    The classification procedures also provide criteria for the 
designation of LSAs under exceptional circumstances criteria. These 
procedures permit the regular classification criteria to be waived when 
an area experiences a significant increase in unemployment which is not 
temporary or seasonal and which was not reflected in the data for the 
2-year reference period. Under the program's exceptional circumstance 
procedures, LSA classifications can be made for civil jurisdictions, 
Metropolitan Statistical Areas or Combined Statistical Areas, as 
defined

[[Page 59545]]

by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. In order for an area to be 
classified as a LSA under the exceptional circumstance criteria, the 
state workforce agency must submit a petition requesting such 
classification to the Department of Labor's ETA. The current criteria 
for an exceptional circumstance classification are:
    1. An area's unemployment rate is at least 6 percent for each of 
the three most recent months; and
    2. A projected unemployment rate of at least 6 percent for each of 
the next 12 months because of an event.
    When submitting such a petition, the state workforce agency must 
provide documentation that the exceptional circumstance event has 
occurred. The state workforce agency may file petitions on behalf of 
civil jurisdictions, Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or Micropolitan 
Statistical Areas.
    State Workforce Agencies may submit petitions in electronic format 
to [email protected], [email protected], or in hard copy 
to the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training 
Administration, Office of Workforce Investment, 200 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Room C-4514, Washington, DC 20210, Attention Samuel Wright. Data 
collection for the petition is approved under OMB 1205-0207, expiration 
date May 31, 2026.

    Signed at Washington, DC.
Brent Parton,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training.
[FR Doc. 2023-18536 Filed 8-28-23; 8:45 am]
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