Job Training Partnership Act and Targeted Jobs Tax Credit; Lower Living Standard Income Level

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Job Training Partnership Act and Targeted Jobs Tax Credit; Lower

Living Standard Income Level

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Note of determination of lower living standard income level.

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SUMMARY: The Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) provides that the term

``economically disadvantaged'' may be defined as 70 percent of the

``lower living standard income level'' (LLSIL). To provide the most

accurate data possible, the Department of Labor is issuing revised

figures for the LLSIL. The Internal Revenue Code also provides that the

term ``economically disadvantaged'' may be defined as 70 percent of the

LLSIL for purposes of the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit (TJTC).

EFFECTIVE DATE: This notice is effective on April 22, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to: Mr. Hugh Davies, Director, Office

of Employment and Training Programs, Employment and Training

Administration, Department of Labor, room N-4666, 200 Constitution

Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Hugh Davies, Telephone: 202-219-

5580 (this is not a toll free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: It is a purpose of the Job Training

Partnership Act (JTPA) ``to afford job training to those economically

disadvantaged individuals * * * who are in special need of such

training to obtain productive employment.'' JTPA Section 2; see 20 CFR

626.1 and 626.3(b). JTPA section 4(8) defines, for the purposes of JTPA

eligibility, the term ``economically disadvantaged'' in part by

reference to the ``lower living standard income level'' (LLSIL). See 20

CFR 626.5.

The LLSIL figures published in this notice shall be used to

determine whether an individual is economically disadvantaged for

applicable JTPA purposes. JTPA section 4(16) defines the LLSIL as

follows:

The term ``lower living standard income level'' means that

income level (adjusted for regional, metropolitan, urban, and rural

differences and family size) determined annually by the Secretary

[of Labor] based on the most recent ``lower living family budget''

issued by the Secretary.

Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) sec- tions 44B and 51 established

the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit (TJTC) for a portion of the wages paid by

employers from ``targeted'' groups. Certain of the targeted groups

require that the worker be a member of ``an economically disadvantaged

family.'' See, e.q., 26 U.S.C. 51(d)(3)(A)(ii), (4)(C), (7)(B),

(8)(A)(iv), and (12)(A)(iv). The LLSIL figures published in this notice

shall be used to determine whether an individual is a member of an

economically disadvantaged family for applicable TJTC purposes.

The most recent lower living family budget was issued by the

Secretary in the fall of 1981. Using those data, the 1981 LLSIL was

determined for programs under the now-repealed Comprehensive Employment

and Training Act, and for the TJTC. The four-person urban family budget

estimates previously published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

provided the basis for the Secretary to determine the LLSIL for

training and employment program operators. BLS terminated the four-

person family budget series in 1982, after publication of the Fall 1981

estimates.

Under JTPA, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA)

published the 1993 updates to the LLSIL in the Federal Register of

March 23, 1993. 58 FR 15507. ETA has again updated the LLSIL to reflect

cost of living increases for 1993 by applying the percentage change in

the December 1993 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-

(U), compared with the December 1992 CPI-U, to each of the March 23,

1993 LLSIL figures. Those updated figures for a family of four are

listed in Table 1 below by region for both metropolitan and

nonmetropolitan areas. Since eligibility is determined by family income

at 70 percent of the LLSIL, pursuant to section 4(8) of JTPA, those

figures are listed below as well.

Jurisdictions included in the various regions, based generally on

Census Division of the U.S. Department of Commerce, are as follows:

Northeast

Connecticut

Maine

Massachusetts

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

Rhode Island

Pennsylvania

Vermont

Virgin Islands

North Central

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

Nebraska

North Dakota

Ohio

South Dakota

Wisconsin

South

Alabama

American Samoa

Arkansas

Delaware

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Northern Marianas

Oklahoma

Palau

Puerto Rico

South Carolina

Kentucky

Louisiana

Marshall Islands

Maryland

Mississippi

Micronesia

North Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Virginia

West Virginia

West

Arizona

California

Colorado

Idaho

Montana

Nevada

New Mexico

Oregon

Utah

Washington

Wyoming

Additionally, separate figures have been provided for Alaska,

Hawaii, and Guam as indicated in Table 2 below.

For Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam, the 1994 figures were updated by

creating a ``State Index'' based on the ratio of the urban change in

the State (using Anchorage for Alaska and Honolulu for Hawaii and Guam)

compared to the West regional metropolitan change, and then applying

that index to the West regional nonmetropolitan change.

Data on 25 selected Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) are also

available. These are based on monthly, bimonthly or semiannual CPI-U

changes for a 12-month period ending in December 1993. The updated

LLSIL figures for these MSAs, and 70 percent of the LLSIl, rounded to

the next highest ten, are set forth in Table 3 below.

Table 4 below is a listing of each of the various figures at 70

percent of the updated 1994 LLSIL for family sizes of one to six

persons. For families larger than six persons, an amount equal to the

difference between the six-persons, an amount equal to the difference

between the six-person and the five-person family income levels should

be added to the six-person family income level for each additional

person in the family. Where the poverty level for a particular family

size is greater than the corresponding LLSIL figure, the figure is

indicated in parentheses.

Section 4(8) of JTPA defines ``economically disadvantaged'' as,

among other things, an individual whose family income was not in excess

of the higher of the poverty level or 70 percent of the LLSIL. The

Department of Health and Human Services published the annual update of

the poverty-level guidelines at 59 FR 6277 (February 10, 1994).

Use of These Data

Based on these data, Governors should provide the appropriate

figures to service delivery areas (SDAs), State Employment Security

Agencies, and employers in their States to use in determining

eligibility for JTPA and TJTC. The Governor should designate the

appropriate LLSILs for use within the State from Tables 1 through 3.

Table 4 may be used with any of the levels designated.

Information may be provided by disseminating information on MSAs

and metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas within the State, or it may

involve further calculations. For example, the State of New Jersey may

have four or more figures: Metropolitan, nonmetropolitan, for portions

of the State in the New York City MSA, and for those in the

Philadelphia MSA. If an SDA includes areas that would be covered by

more than one figure, the Governor may determine which is to be used.

Pursuant to the JTPA regulations at 20 CFR 627.200, guidelines,

interpretations, and definitions adopted by the Governor shall be

accepted by the Secretary to the extent that they are consistent with

the JTPA and the JTPA regulations.

Disclaimer on Statistical Uses

It should be noted that the publication of these figures is only

for the purpose of determining eligibility for applicable JTPA and TJTC

programs. BLS has not revised the lower living family budget since

1981, and has no plans to do so. The four-person urban family budget

estimates series has been terminated. The CPI-U adjustments used to

update the LLSIL for this publication are not precisely comparable,

most notably because certain tax items were included in the 1981 LLSIL

but are not in the CPI-U.

Thus, these figures should not be used for any statistical

purposes, and are valid only for eligibility determination purposes

under the JTPA and TJTC programs.

Signed at Washington, DC, this 15th day of April, 1994.

Dolores Battle,

Administrator, Office of Job Training Programs.

BILLING CODE 4510-30-M

TN22AP94.037

TN22AP94.038

TN22AP94.039

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[FR Doc. 94-9808 Filed 4-21-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510-30-C