[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 165 (Tuesday, August 26, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45276-45278]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-22654]


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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 
an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing collections of 
information in

[[Page 45277]]

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 ``Multiple 
Worksite Report and the Report of Federal Employment and Wages.''
    A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be 
obtained by contacting the individual listed below in the address 
section of this notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
address section below on or before October 27, 1997. BLS is 
particularly interested in comments which help the agency to:
    <bullet> 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;
    <bullet> 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;
    <bullet> Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    <bullet> 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, NE., Washington, DC 20212. Ms. Kurz can be 
reached on 202-606-7628 (this is not a toll free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The ES-202 Program is a Federal/State cooperative effort in which 
monthly employment and quarterly wage data are compiled. These data are 
collected from State Quarterly Contribution Reports submitted to State 
Employment Security Agencies (SESAs) by employers subject to State 
Unemployment Insurance (UI) laws. The ES-202 Report, produced for each 
calendar quarter, is a summary of these employer (micro level) data by 
industry at the county level. Similar data for Federal Government 
employees covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal 
Employees (UCFE) Program also are included in each State report. These 
data are submitted by all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto 
Rico, and the Virgin Islands to BLS which then summarizes these macro 
level data to produce totals for the States and the Nation. The ES-202 
Report provides a virtual census of nonagricultural employees and their 
wages, with about 47 percent of the workers in agriculture covered as 
well.
    As part of the ES-202 Program, the States also send micro level 
employment and wages data, supplemented with the names and addresses of 
employers, to BLS. These States' data are used to create the BLS 
sampling frame, known as the Business Establishment List. This file 
represents one of the best sources of detailed industrial and 
geographical data on employers and is used as the sampling frame for 
most BLS surveys. The Business Establishment List includes individual 
employers' employment and wages data along with associated business 
identification information that is maintained by each State to 
administer the UI program as well as the UCFE program.
    For employers having only a single physical location (worksite) in 
the State and, thus, operating under a single assigned industrial and 
geographical code, the data from the States' UI accounting file are 
sufficient for BLS statistical purposes. Such data, however, are 
inadequate for BLS statistical purposes for those employers having 
multiple establishments or engaged in multiple industrial activities 
within the State. In such cases, the employer's Quarterly Contributions 
Report reflects only Statewide employment and wages, and is not 
disaggregated by establishment or worksite. More detailed information 
is required to create a sampling frame and meet the needs of several 
ongoing Federal/State statistical programs. As a result of the Multiple 
Worksite Report, improved establishment business identification data 
elements have been incorporated into and maintained on the Business 
Establishment List. The establishment identification data elements that 
are included in the Business Establishment List are the physical 
location address, secondary name (division, trade name, subsidiary, 
etc.), and reporting unit description (store number, plant name or 
number, etc.) for each worksite of single-establishment and multi-
establishment employers.
    Employers with more than one establishment reporting under the same 
UI account number within a State are asked to complete the Multiple 
Worksite Report if the sum of the employment in all of their secondary 
establishments is ten or greater. (The primary worksite is defined as 
the establishment with the greatest number of employees.) Upon receipt 
of the first Multiple Worksite Report form, each employer is asked to 
supply business location identification information. Thereafter, this 
reported information is computer-printed on the Multiple Worksite 
Report each quarter. The employer is asked to verify the accuracy of 
the business identification information and provide the employment and 
wages for each worksite for the quarter. By using a standardized form, 
the reporting burden on many large employers, especially those engaged 
in multiple economic activities at various locations across numerous 
States, has been reduced.
    Comparable to the Multiple Worksite Report, the function of the 
Report of Federal Employment and Wages is to collect employment and 
wage data for each installation of a Federal agency. The Report of 
Federal Employment and Wages aids in the development and maintenance of 
business identification information by installation. The Report of 
Federal Employment and Wages was modeled after the Multiple Worksite 
Report and is used only to collect data from Federal agencies covered 
by the UCFE Program.
    No other standardized report is available to collect current 
establishment-level employment and wages data by SESAs for statistical 
purposes each quarter. Also, no other standardized report is available 
currently to collect installation-level Federal employment and wages 
data by SESAs for statistical purposes.

II. Current Actions

    BLS has taken steps to help reduce employer reporting burden by 
developing a standardized format for employers to use to send these 
data to the States in an electronic medium. BLS also established an 
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Collection Center to improve and 
expedite the Multiple Worksite Report collection process. Employers who 
complete the Multiple Worksite Report for multi-location businesses now 
can submit employment and wages information on any electronic medium 
(tape, cartridge, diskette, or computer-to-computer) directly to the 
data collection center,

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rather than to each State agency separately. The data collection center 
then distributes the appropriate data to the respective States.
    The confidentiality statement used on the survey forms, which is 
very similar to one of the alternative statements used earlier with 
this program, is as follows:

    The information collected on this form by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics and the State agencies cooperating in its statistical 
programs will be used for statistical and Unemployment Insurance 
program purposes, and other purposes in accordance with law.

    BLS is submitting a request for three-year clearance of the MWR 
with this confidentiality statement. The statement conforms to the 
following factors:
    <bullet> BLS uses of the data are exclusively statistical.
    <bullet> BLS may share the data with other Federal agencies for 
statistical purposes; however, as in the past, BLS will not share a 
State's confidential ES-202 data with another Federal agency unless 
that State has given BLS written permission to do so.
    <bullet> BLS makes no confidentiality statement regarding State 
uses of the data.
    <bullet> In some States, uses are not exclusively statistical.
    Type of Review: Revision.
    Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Title: Multiple Worksite Report (MWR) and the Report of Federal 
Employment and Wages (RFEW).
    OMB Number: 1220-0134.
    Frequency: Quarterly.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit institutions; Not-
for-profit institutions; Federal Government; and State, Local or Tribal 
Government.

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                                                                                                                           Average time                 
                  Form number                        Total                     Respondent                      Total       per response    Total burden 
                                                  respondents                                                responses       (minutes)         hours    
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BLS 3020 (MWR)................................         112,666  Non-Federal.............................         450,664            22.2         166,746
BLS 3021 (RFEW)...............................           2,154  Federal.................................           8,616            22.2           3,188
                                               ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Totals:.................................         114,820  ........................................         459,280  ..............         169,934
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    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintaining): $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, DC, this 21st day of August, 1997.
W. Stuart Rust, Jr.,
Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[FR Doc. 97-22654 Filed 8-25-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-M