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 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

[[Page 46486]]

(PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program helps to ensure that

requested data ca 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 ``Report on Employment, Payroll, and Hours (BLS-790.''

A copy of the proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) 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 below on or before November 2, 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,

Divsion of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 3255, 2

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

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

The BLS Current Employment Statistics (CES) Program produces

monthly estimates of employment, hours, and earnings of U.S.

nonagricultural establishment payrolls. The estimates produced from the

date are fundamantal inputs in econonmic decision processes at all

levels of private enterprise, government, and organized labor. The

estimates are vital to the calculation of the Gross Domestic Product,

the Federal Reserve Board's Index of Industrial Production, and the

Composit Index of Leading Economic Indicators among others. The

earnings data provide a proxy measure of the cost of labor for industry

cetail not available from the BLS Employment Cost Index program. The

early availability of employment and hours data provides early signals

of economic change.

II. Current Actions

The CES program is currently undergoing a sample redesign to

transition from a quota-based to a probability-based sample. The new

information will be phased-in one industry division at a time over the

next five years, beginning with the Wholesale Trade industry. A

parallel set of experimental estimates from the new probability-based

sample will be produced for a period of time before the estimates are

officially published. Information for CES estimates is derived from a

sample of 274,400 establishments which, each month, report their

employment, payroll, and hours on BLS-790 forms. Reports from an

additional 17,350 establishments currently are collected for the

probability-based sample design for the Wholesale Trade industry. BLS

expects to be collecting reports from 154,300 establishments for the

new design by the end of Calendar Year 2001. As industries are

converted to the new design, there will be a reduction in the number of

reports collected for the current design.

BLS-790 forms for both the current and probability-based sample

designs are being submitted for clearance. Letters and other materials

sent to establishments are included. Automated data collection methods

now are used for most of the sample. Approximately 232,000 reports are

collected using Touchtone Data Entry (TDE). In comparison, 48,500

reports are collected by mail. An additional 93,500 reports are

collected from the balance of the sample through other automated

methods, including Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI),

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), facsimile collection, and submission

of tapes and diskettes. Research on use of the World Wide Web for data

collection is continuing. For the probability-based design, data are

collected through CATI for initial enrollment, then by TDE, fax, or EDI

for most ongoing collection.

Type of Review: Revision.

Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Title: Report on Employment, Payroll, and Hours (BLS-790).

OMB Number: 1220-0011.

Affected Public: Federal Government; State or local governments;

Businesses or other for-profit; Not-for-profit institutions; Small

businesses or organizations.

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Annual

Form Number of Frequency of Total annual Minutes per burden

respondents response responses response hours

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Calendar Year 1999--Current Design

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BLS-790 BM...................... 400 Monthly............. 4,800 15 1,200

BLS 790-G, G-S.................. 39,600 Monthly............. 475,200 5 39,600

BLS 790-CU...................... \1\ 0 One-time............ 0 2 0

BLS 790-F1, F2, F3.............. \2\ 30,000 Monthly............. 360,000 7 42,000

All other BLS-790............... \3\ 297,200 Monthly............. 3,566,400 7 416,080

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Total....................... 367,200 .................... 4,406,400 ........... 498,880

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Calendar Year 1999--Probability Design

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BLS-790 BM...................... 0 Monthly............. 0 0 0

BLS 790-G, G-S.................. 0 Monthly............. 0 0 0

BLS 790-CU...................... \1\ 0 One-time............ 0 0 0

BLS 790-F1, F2, F3.............. \2\ 10,000 Monthly............. 120,000 7 14,000

All other BLS-790............... \3\ 59,300 Monthly............. 711,600 7 83,020

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Total....................... 69,300 .................... 831,600 ........... 97,020

[[Page 46487]]

Calendar Year 1999--Total

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BLS-790 BM...................... 400 Monthly............. 4,800 15 1,200

BLS 790-G, G-S.................. 39,600 Monthly............. 475,200 5 39,600

BLS 790-CU...................... \1\ 0 One-time............ 0 0 0

BLS 790-F1, F2, F3.............. \2\ 40,000 Monthly............. 480,000 7 56,000

All other BLS-790............... \3\ 356,500 Monthly............. 4,278,000 7 499,100

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Total....................... 436,500 .................... 5,238,000 ........... 595,900

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\1\ A subset of current reporters may receive this ``one-time'' supplemental form. This form is not used for the

probability sample.

\2\ The current design assumes 3,000 multi-unit firms reporting by fax for approximately 30,000 establishments.

The probability-based design assumes 1,000 multi-units firms reporting by fax for approximately 10,000

establishments.

\3\ All other BLS-790 forms are used to collect the same informaiton and differ only by industry definitions.

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 ICR; they also will become a matter of public record.

Signed at Washington, DC, this 27th day of August 1998.

W. Stuart Rust, Jr.,

Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

[FR Doc. 98-23537 Filed 8-31-98; 8:45 am]

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