30630 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 93 / Friday, May 12, 2000 / Notices

[FR Doc. 00–11977 Filed 5–11–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510–30–C

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training

Administration

Workforce Investment Act; Lower

Living Standard Income Level

AGENCY: Employment and Training

Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Notice of determination of lower

living standard income level.

SUMMARY: Under Title I of the Workforce

Investment Act (Pub. L. 105–220), the

Secretary of Labor annually determines

the Lower Living Standard Income

Level (LLSIL) for uses defined in the

Law. WIA defines the term ‘‘Low

Income Individual’’ as one who

qualifies under various criteria,

including an individual who received

income that does not exceed the higher

of the poverty line or 70 percent of the

lower living standard income level. This

issuance provides the Secretary’s annual

LLSIL for 2000 and references the

current 2000 Health and Human

Services ‘‘Poverty Guidelines.’’

EFFECTIVE DATE: This notice is effective

on May 12, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to:

Mr. Ron Putz, Office of Adult Services,

Employment and Training

Administration, Department of Labor,

Room N–4671, 200 Constitution Avenue

NW., Washington, DC 20210.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

Ron Putz, Telephone 202–219–7694

x134; Fax (202) 219–0376 (these are not

toll free numbers).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

purpose of the Workforce Investment

Act (WIA) is ‘‘to provide workforce

investment activities, through statewide

and local workforce investment systems,

that increase the employment, retention,

and earnings of participants, and

increase occupational skill attainment

by participants, and, as a result,

improve the quality of the workforce,

reduce welfare dependency, and

enhance the productivity and

competitiveness of the Nation.’’

The LLSIL is used for several

purposes under WIA: specifically, WIA

Section 101(25) defines the term ‘‘low

income individual for eligibility

purposes’’ Sections 127(b)(2)(C) and

132(b)(1)(iii)(IV) define the terms

‘‘disadvantaged adult,’’ and

‘‘disadvantaged youth’’ in terms of the

poverty line or LLSIL for purposes of

State allotments. The Governor and

State/local Workforce Investment

Boards need the LLSIL for determining

eligibility for youth, eligibility for

employed adult/dislocated workers for

certain services, and for the

reauthorized Work Opportunity Tax

Credit (WOTC). We encourage the

Governors and State/local Workforce

Investment Boards to consult WIA and

its Regulations and Preamble for more

specific guidance in applying the LLSIL

to program requirements. The

Department of Health and Human

Services published the annual update of

the poverty-level guidelines in the

Federal Register at 65, FR 7555, (Feb.

15, 2000). The HHS poverty-level

guidelines may also be found on the

Internet at http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/

00.htm. ETA plans to have the 2000

LLSIL available on its website at: http:/

/www.wdsc.org/llsil/llsil00.htm.

WIA section 101(24) defines the

LLSIL as ‘‘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.’’ The most recent lower living

family budget was issued by the

Secretary of Labor in the fall of 1981.

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. BLS terminated

the four-person family budget series in

1982, after publication of the Fall 1981

estimates. Currently BLS provides

current data to ETA, from which it

develops the LLSIL tables.

The Employment and Training

Administration (ETA) published the

1999 updates to the LLSIL in the

Federal Register on May 14, 1999, at 64

FR 26452. This notice again updates the

LLSIL to reflect cost of living increases

for 1999 by applying the BLS provided

percentage change in the December

1999 Consumer Price Index for All

Urban Consumers (CPI–U), compared

with the December 1998 CPI–U, to each

of the May 14, 1999 LLSIL figures.

Those updated figures for a family of

four are listed in Table 1 below by

region for both metropolitan and

nonmetropolitan areas. Figures in all of

the accompanying tables are rounded up

to the nearest ten. Since ‘‘low income

individual,’’ ‘‘disadvantaged adult, and

‘‘disadvantaged youth’’ may be

determined by family income at 70

percent of the LLSIL, those figures are

listed below as well.

Jurisdictions included in the various

regions, based generally on Census

Divisions of the U.S. Department of

Commerce, are as follows:

Northeast

Connecticut

Maine

Massachusetts

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

Vermont

Virgin Islands

Midwest

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

year 2000 figures were updated from the

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 93 / Friday, May 12, 2000 / Notices 30631

May 14, 1999 ‘‘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

metropolitan change.

Data on 23 selected Metropolitan

Statistical Areas (MSA’s) are also

available. These are based on

semiannual CPI–U changes for a 12

month period ending in December 1999.

The updated LLSIL figures for these

MSA’s and 70 percent of the LLSIL are

reported in Table 3.

Table 4 is a listing of each of the

various figures at 70 percent of the

updated 2000 LLSIL for family sizes of

one to six persons. For families larger

than 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. Table 5, 100 percent of

LLSIL, is used to determine selfsufficiency as noted at § 663.230 of WIA

Interim Final Regulations and WIA

section 134(d)(3)(A)(ii).

Use of Data

Governors should designate the

appropriate LLSIL’s for use within the

State from Tables 1 through 3. Tables 4

and 5 may be used with any of the

levels designated. The Governor’s

designation may be provided by

disseminating information on

Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA’s)

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 LLSIL figures: metropolitan,

nonmetropolitan, for portions of the

State in the New York City MSA, and

for those in the Philadelphia MSA. If a

Workforce Development Area includes

areas that would be covered by more

than one figure, the Governor may

determine which is to be used. Under 20

CFR 661.120, a State’s policies and

measures for the workforce investment

system will be accepted by the Secretary

to the extent that they are not

inconsistent with the WIA and the WIA

regulations.

Disclaimer on Statistical Uses

It should be noted that the publication

of these figures is only for the purpose

of meeting the requirements specified

by WIA as defined in the law and

regulations. BLS has not revised the

lower living family budget since 1981,

and has no plans to do so. The fourperson 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 those purposes under

WIA as defined in the law and

regulations.

Signed at Washington, DC, this 5th day of

May 2000.

Shirley M. Smith,

Administrator, Office of Adult Services.

Attachments

BILLING CODE 4510–30–P

30632 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 93 / Friday, May 12, 2000 / Notices

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 93 / Friday, May 12, 2000 / Notices 30633

30634 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 93 / Friday, May 12, 2000 / Notices

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 93 / Friday, May 12, 2000 / Notices 30635

30636 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 93 / Friday, May 12, 2000 / Notices

[FR Doc. 00–11978 Filed 5–11–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4530–30–C