Proposed Collection; Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Bureau of Labor Statistics

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 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 (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 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments

concerning the proposed revision of the ``The Consumer Expenditure

Quarterly Interview and Diary Surveys.''

A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be

obtained by contracting the individual listed below in the addressee

section of this notice.

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

addressee section below on or before August 11, 1998.

BLS is particularly interested in comments which help the agency

to:

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: Send comments to Karin G. Kurz, BLS Clearance Officer,

Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 3255,

2 Massachusetts Avenue N.E., Washington, D.C. 20212. Ms. Kurz can be

reached on 202-606-7628 (this is not a toll free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Consumer Expenditure (CE) Survey, comprised of the Quarterly

Interview and Diary Surveys, collects data on consumer expenditures,

demographic information, and related data needed by the Consumer Price

Index (CPI) and other public and private data users. The continuing

surveys provide a constant measurement of changes in consumer

expenditures patterns for economic analysis and to obtain data for

future CPI revisions. The CE Survey has been an ongoing survey since

1979.

The data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey is used to 1) provide

data required for the CPI revision; 2) provide a continuous flow of

data on income and expenditure patterns for use in economic analysis

and policy formulation; and 3) provide a flexible consumer survey

vehicle that is available for use by other Federal Government agencies.

Public and private users of price statistics, including Congress and

the economic policy making agencies of the executive branch, rely on

data collected in the CPI in their day-to-day activities. Hence, data

users and policy makers widely accept the need to improve the process

used for revising the CPI. If the CE Survey was not conducted on a

continuing basis, current information necessary for more timely as well

as more accurate updating of the CPI would not be available. In

addition, data would not be available to respond to the continuing

demand--from the public and private sectors--for current information on

consumer spending.

In the Quarterly Interview Survey, each consumer unit (CU) in the

sample is interviewed every three months over five calendar quarters.

The sample for each quarter is divided into three panels, with CU's

being interviewed every three months in the same panel of every

quarter. The Quarterly Interview Survey is designed to collect data on

the types of expenditures which respondents can be expected to recall

for a period of three months or longer. In general the expenses

reported in the Interview Survey are either relatively large, such as

property, automobiles, or major appliances, or are expenses which occur

on a fairly regular basis, such as rent, utility bills, or insurance

premiums.

The Diary (or recordkeeping) Survey is completed at home by the

respondent family for two consecutive one-week periods. The primary

objective of the Diary Survey is to obtain expenditure data on small,

frequently purchased items which normally are difficult to recall over

longer periods of time.

Current Actions

The sample sizes for the Consumer Expenditure Quarterly Interview

and Diary Surveys will be expanded by approximately 50 percent. Data

from the CE are the basis for determining the market basket of the CPI.

Expansion of the CE sample size, taken together with other enhancements

planned by BLS, will enable BLS to cut substantially the time it takes

to update the CPI. The CPI market basket is updated approximately every

ten years and under current procedures the updated market is 3\1/2\

years old at the time of introduction. Under this proposed action, the

length of the required expenditure base period will be cut from three

years to two. Other processing changes will allow the length of time

required to install a new market basket in the index to be reduced from

two years to one. Thus, at the time of its introduction into the CPI,

the updated market will be only 2 years old. Moreover, these

enhancements to sample size and data processing will facilitate any

future decision to increase the frequency of market basket updates,

e.g., from a 10-year to a 5-year cycle beginning in 2002.

Expansion of CE sample sizes for the CE and the construction of the

computer systems required for faster data processing will have the

added benefit of allowing BLS to produce new ``superlative'' measures

of consumer price trends of an acceptable degree of reliability and on

a basis must closer to real time than would be possible in the absence

of the expansion. Such indexes, currently available only in

experimental form, are widely regarded a closer approximations to cost-

of-living index than the current CPI.

[[Page 32251]]

Type of Review: Revision of a currently-approved collection.

Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Title: Consumer Expenditure Quarterly Interview and Dairy Surveys.

OMB Number: 1220-0050.

Affected Public: Individuals or households.

Total Respondents: 18,108.

Frequency: Quarterly Interview Survey respondents are interviewed

quarterly for five consecutive quarters (four times in any one year).

Dairy Survey respondents complete two consecutive weekly reports.

Total Responses: 67,583.

Average Time Per Response: 87.7 minutes.

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 89,779 hours.

Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.

Total Burden Cost (operating/maintenance: $0.

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, D.C., the 9th day of June, 1998.

Karen A. Krein,

Acting Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor

Statistics.

[FR Doc. 98-15756 Filed 6-11-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510-24-M