[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 13 (Friday, January 19, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3695-3697]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-00940]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Bureau of Labor Statistics


Information Collection Activities; Comment Request

AGENCY: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor.

ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to 
reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre-clearance 
consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies 
with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing 
collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be 
provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial 
resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, 
and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be 
properly assessed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting 
comments concerning the proposed revision of the International Price 
Program (IPP) U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes. A copy of the 
proposed information collection request can be obtained by contacting 
the individual listed below in the Addresses section of this notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
Addresses section of this notice on or before March 19, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Nora Kincaid, BLS Clearance Officer, 
Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room G225, 
2 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20212. Written comments also 
may be transmitted by email to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nora Kincaid, BLS Clearance Officer, 
at 202-691-7628 (this is not a toll free number). (See Addresses 
section.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes, produced by the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics' International Price Program (IPP), measure price 
change over time for all categories of imported and exported products, 
as well as selected services. The IPP has produced the U.S. Import 
Price Indexes (MPI) continuously since 1973 and the U.S. Export Price 
Indexes (XPI) continuously since 1971. The Office of Management and 
Budget has listed the Import and Export Price Indexes (MXPI) as a 
Principal Federal Economic Indicator since 1982. The indexes are widely 
used in both the public and private sectors. The primary public sector 
use is the deflation of the U.S. monthly trade statistics and the 
quarterly estimates of U.S. Gross Domestic Product; the indexes also 
are used in formulating U.S. trade policy and in trade negotiations 
with other countries. In the private sector, uses of the Import Price 
Indexes include market analysis, inflation forecasting, contract 
escalation, and replacement cost accounting.
    The MXPI are closely followed statistics and are viewed as a key 
indicator of the economic environment. The U.S. Department of Commerce 
uses the monthly statistics to produce monthly and quarterly estimates 
of

[[Page 3696]]

inflation-adjusted trade flows. Without continuation of data 
collection, it would be extremely difficult to construct accurate 
estimates of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. In fact, a budget 
proposal to curtail publication of the export price indexes beginning 
in FY15 was not supported by the Commerce Department which explained 
that a viable substitute is not available.
    Additionally, Federal policymakers in the Department of Treasury, 
the Council of Economic Advisers, and the Federal Reserve Board utilize 
these statistics on a regular basis to improve these agencies' 
formulation and evaluation of monetary and fiscal policy and evaluation 
of the general business environment.

II. Current Action

    Office of Management and Budget clearance is being sought for a 
revision of the U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes information 
collection. The IPP revision is a transition from using survey data as 
a source of prices for approximately a third of the current sample of 
merchandise goods to using administrative data from the Census Bureau 
as an alternative source. This revision to data collection is in line 
with past actions to modernize data collection and to reduce reporter 
burden. Modernization was introduced in 2003 with the IPP web 
application. In 2018, paper surveys were eliminated, and the web 
application became the near universal method for respondents to update 
their data online and more rapidly than previously.
    The IPP has implemented several systems changes over the years in 
order to reduce burden for web respondents. In 2019, the IPP adopted 
the use of a new web application format/layout. Previously, the web 
survey used separate pages for each part of the repricing process; now, 
the web application utilizes modal windows in combination with separate 
pages. In September 2022, the Program introduced new functionality 
(referred to internally as ``Web Lite''), which allows respondents to 
upload files of price information without using a login; the files are 
reviewed by analysts who manually enter the price data into IPP's 
repricing application.
    The current revision is focused on the planned implementation of an 
alternative data source for some of the Import and Export Price Indexes 
(MXPI); the data source is administrative data in the form of trade 
transaction records of shipments reported by U.S. importers and 
exporters. Beginning in fiscal year 2025, the IPP will calculate unit 
value indexes based on the trade transaction records from the 
Department of Commerce for a range of homogenous commodity and product 
areas and will calculate upper level price indexes by blending these 
unit value indexes with directly collected survey data for the other 
product areas, to calculate and publish the MXPI for merchandise goods. 
This approach is based on new research and new statistical methods.
    Historically, unit value indexes have not been considered a good 
substitute for directly collected data in the calculation of price 
indexes for any but the most homogenous of commodities. The use of unit 
value indexes in the statistical community has been limited to 
homogenous commodities due primarily to the potential for unit value 
bias, which is a measurement of a price trend that imprecisely measures 
price changes due to product composition or quality change, instead of 
price changes due to markets. Advances and improvements in coverage, 
accuracy, and level of detail of the trade transaction records have 
improved, and new statistical methods for addressing and mitigating 
unit value bias have recently been developed. The necessity to address 
a recent downward trend in IPP's traditional data collection, in light 
of these improvements, prompted the Program to consider the use of unit 
value indexes in the MXPI.
    In 2018, the IPP launched a major research initiative to analyze 
the fitness for use of unit value indexes based on administrative trade 
data in place of directly collected data for more homogenous product 
areas. With the application of new methods for mitigating unit value 
bias, the IPP has constructed research import and export price indexes 
based on administrative trade data for January 2012 through December 
2021. Comparison of the research data sets to official (published and 
unpublished) import and export price indexes were sufficiently robust 
to indicate that unit value indexes based on administrative trade data 
can be used in place of directly collected data for many of IPP's 
homogenous product price indexes. Additional details and research data 
sets are accessible from the MXP Research page (https://www.bls.gov/mxp/data/research.htm).
    This new data source also allows for the expansion of published 
lower-level indexes and improves index quality; while the existing MXPI 
are based entirely on a modified Laspeyres formula (as current trade 
weights are not available), the availability of current period weights 
in the administrative trade data allows the IPP to apply a Tornqvist 
formula to lower-level aggregates. (The Tornqvist formula is considered 
superior to the Laspeyres formula for handling substitution bias, a 
well-known problem for fixed-basket price indexes which do not account 
for consumer expenditure switching from relatively more expensive 
products to cheaper ones as prices change.)
    In addition to the expansion of published indexes and improvement 
in index quality, the implementation of the unit value indexes will 
result in a considerable drop in respondent burden as fewer companies 
will be contacted because fewer survey-based prices will be needed to 
support publication of the MXPI. A detailed technical explanation 
regarding the use of the alternative administrative data source and the 
methodological approach used to integrate the data source into the 
official MXPI are available in IPP's Federal Register Notice published 
on September 11, 2023 (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/09/11/2023-19486/comment-request).

III. Desired Focus of Comments

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics is particularly interested in 
comments that:
     Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility.
     Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used.
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected.
     Minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting 
electronic submissions of responses.
    Title of Collection: International Price Program (IPP) U.S. Import 
and Export Price Indexes.
    OMB Number: 1220-0025.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Private Sector, Business or other for-profits.

[[Page 3697]]



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                                                                                   Average time      Estimated
             Form                    Total          Frequency          Total       per response    total burden
                                  respondents                        responses        (hours)          hours
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Form 3008.....................  ..............  Annually........
    Imports...................             900  ................             900             1.0             900
    Exports...................             400  ................             400             1.0             400
                               ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Total.................           1,300  ................           1,300  ..............           1,300
Repricing Form................  ..............  Monthly.........
    Imports...................           1,200  8.8 \1\.........          10,560        \2\ 4777           5,045
    Exports...................             850  9.0 \1\.........           7,650        \3\.4320           3,305
                               ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Total.................           2,050  ................          18,210  ..............           8,350
                               ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Totals............  ..............  ................          19,510  ..............           9,650
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\1\ During initiation, the respondent determines how many months he/she will need to supply data in a given year
  based upon how often the company changes its pricing information. The average company is requested to supply
  information 9.0 months per year for exports and 8.8 months per year for imports.
\2\ Time to reprice is based upon 5 minutes of response time per item x 5.732 items = 28.660 minutes/60 = .4777
  hours.
\3\ Time to reprice is based upon 5 minutes of response time per item x 5.184 items = 25.920 minutes/60 = .4320
  hours.

    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget 
approval of the information collection request; they also will become a 
matter of public record.

    Signed at Washington, DC, on this 12th day of January 2024.
Leslie Bennett,
Chief, Division of Management Systems.
[FR Doc. 2024-00940 Filed 1-18-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-P