Proposed collection; Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

Proposed collection; Comment Request

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to

reduce paperwork and respondent burden conducts a preclearance

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 (PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. 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.

Currently, the Employment and Training Administration is soliciting

comments concerning the proposed extension collection of the Domestic

Agricultural In-Season Wage Report, ETA-232 and Wage Survey Interview

Record, ETA-232A. A copy of the proposed information collection request

(ICR) can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the

addressee section of this notice.

[[Page 42821]]

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the

addressee section below on or before October 7, 1997. The Department of

Labor is particularly interested in comments which:

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; and

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.

ADDRESSES: James Norris, U.S. Employment Service, Employment and

Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-4470, 200

Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210-0001, 202-219-5263, X-162

(this is not a toll-free number), fax: 202-208-5844.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Wagner-Peyser Act, as amended, provides that the U.S.

Employment Service shall assist in coordinating the State public

employment services throughout the country and in promoting uniformity

in their administrative and statistical procedures, furnishing and

publishing information as to opportunities for employment and other

information of value in the operation of the system and maintaining a

system for clearing labor between the States.

Pursuant to the Wagner Peyser Act, the U.S. Department of Labor has

established regulations at 20 CFR 653.500 covering the processing of

agricultural intrastate and interstate job orders. Section 653.501

provides that wages offered by employers must not be less than the

prevailing wages * * * or the applicable Federal or State minimum wage,

whichever is higher. Also regulations for the temporary employment of

alien agricultural and logging workers in the United States, 20 CFR,

Part 655, Subparts B and C, the H-2A program, under the Immigration

Reform and Control Act of 1986, require farmers and other agricultural

employers to pay workers the adverse effect wage rate, the prevailing

wage rate, or the legal Federal or State minimum wage rate, whichever

is highest.

The prevailing wage rate is used to implement these regulations

covering intrastate and interstate recruitment of farmworkers. The

vehicle for establishing the prevailing wage rate is Form ETA-232, The

Domestic Agricultural In-Season Wage Report, and Form ETA-232A, Wage

Survey Interview Record. The ETA-232 report contains the prevailing

wage finding based on survey data collected from employers and reported

by the State on the ETA-232A.

II. Current Actions: Activity covered by regulations at 20 CFR

653.500 and 20 CFR 655 (B)(C), particularly the H-2A program, continues

to expand, further increasing the need for accurate and timely wage

information on which to base prevailing agricultural wage

determinations. There is no similar wage information which is available

or can be used for these determinations which apply to a specific crop

or livestock activity, in a specific agricultural wage reporting area

for a specific period of time during the peak harvest season.

Type of Review: Extension.

Agency: Employment and Training Administration.

Title: Domestic Agricultural In-Season Wage Report, ETA-232 and

Wage Survey Interview Record, ETA-232A.

OMB Number: 1205-0017.

Agency Numbers: ETA-232 and ETA-232A.

Affected Public: Business and State Government.

Total Respondents: 39,375.

Frequency: Annually.

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Average time

Cite/ reference Total Frequency Total per response Burden

respondents responses (hours) (hours)

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ETA-232...................... 600 Annually......... 600 11 hours 6,600

ETA-232A..................... 38,775 Annually......... 38,775 \1/4\ hour 9,694

Totals................... .............. ................. 39,375 .............. 16,294

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Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): 0.

Total Burden Cost (operating/maintaining):

Business: The salary range of representatives of business

respondents (employees of small family owned farms up through large

agribusiness firms) could be from the minimum wage to several hundred

thousand dollars of a CEO. Therefore, the hourly salaries of

individuals participating in the wage survey can range from about $4.75

to $300.00 or more per hour.

State Government: Average cost to the State agencies conducting the

agricultural wage surveys range from $1,500.00 to $6,000.00 per survey,

depending upon the complexity of the crop or livestock activity to be

surveyed, including considerations such as size of employer and worker

universes, and geographic expanse of wage reporting areas.

Comments submitted in response to this comment request will be

summarized and/or included in the request for Office of Management and

Budget approval of the information collection request; they will also

become a matter of public record.

Dated: August 4, 1997.

James Norris,

Chief, Division of Foreign Labor Certifications, U.S. Employment

Service, Employment and Training Administration.

[FR Doc. 97-21026 Filed 8-7-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510-30-M