[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 189 (Tuesday, September 30, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51159-51160]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-25783]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Proposed Information Collection Request Submitted for Public 
Comment

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) [44U.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 new collection of the Lifelong 
Learning Demonstration Follow-Up Survey. A copy of the proposed 
information collection request can be obtained by contacting the 
individual listed below in the Addresses section of this notice.

DATES; Written comments must be submitted on or before December 1, 
1997.
    The Employment and Training Administration is particularly 
interested in comments which: (1) 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; (2) 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; (3) 
Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (4) 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 submission of responses.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Jon Messenger, Office of Policy and 
Research, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of 
Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room N-5631, Washington, D.C. 
20210--(202) 219-8680, Extension 113 (this is not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Employment and Training Administration 
(ETA) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is conducting a pilot 
project, the Lifelong Learning Demonstration, to encourage investment 
in education and training by currently employed workers. This pilot 
project addresses demands created by increasingly volatile global labor 
markets, in which workers must move with greater frequency to new jobs 
and new careers that require more knowledge and job-related skills. The 
project will make it easier for currently employed adults with 
substantial work experience to explore new career directions, plan for 
potential skill needs, and take action to pursue the education and 
training that will help them prosper in an increasingly competitive 
global labor market.
    A public information campaign undertaken by DOL with the assistance 
of the U.S. Department of Education (ED) targeted currently-employed 
adults with substantial work experience as a group likely to benefit 
from more information on its education and career options. The project 
will examine whether comprehensive information on educational 
opportunities--plus the availability of affordable financing through 
new and expanded Federal financial aid programs--prompts incumbent 
workers to seek additional education to upgrade their job-related 
skills and improve their careers. The promotion of post-secondary 
education and student financial aid is thus a means of increasing the 
skills and improving the labor market outcomes of these workers.
    The Lifelong Learning Demonstration provided targeted workers with 
comprehensive information about post-secondary education and training 
opportunities, and streamlined referrals of interested workers to 
participating educational institutions. This demonstration project is a 
controlled experiment, with random assignment of adult workers to a 
treatment group that received brochures promoting education and 
training and offering further information about local schools and 
opportunities for student financial aid, and a control group that does 
not receive this information. Public information campaigns aimed at 
targeted workers were conducted in the Greater Baltimore, Maryland, 
area in the summer and fall of 1996.
    The Lifelong Learning Demonstration Follow-Up Survey will be a 
telephone survey of 5,000 individuals in the Greater Baltimore area 
(2,500 treatment group members and 2,500 control group members). With 
an estimated 80 percent response rate, 4,000 individuals will complete 
the survey. Those individuals who have recently obtained additional 
schooling will be over sampled to allow more detailed analysis of their 
experiences.
    The first objective of the proposed survey is to determine the 
impact of the Lifelong Learning Demonstration on sample group members. 
Questions in the survey ask about the respondent's education, 
employment experiences, and use of student financial aid since June 
1996, the start of the demonstration in Baltimore. Background questions 
on the person's age, gender, race/ethnicity, household composition, and 
pre-demonstration level of education and use of student financial aid 
are also asked so that the impacts can be separately determined for 
various subgroups.
    The second objective of the survey is to collect information needed 
for a cost-benefit analysis of the demonstration. Questions ask about 
the respondent's earnings and income including benefits from government 
programs. For respondents who participated in education or training 
programs since the start of the demonstration, the survey also contains 
questions on the costs of schooling, sources of funds for schooling, 
and time spent doing course work outside of class.
    The third objective of the survey is to learn about financial and 
non-financial barriers for adult workers in getting additional 
education and training to inform any future public information 
campaigns and for other ETA and ED programs affecting the education and 
training of adults in the U.S. work force. Questions ask about the 
value of additional education and training for the respondent, and the 
financial and non-financial barriers people who have enrolled or 
applied to school have encountered, as well as barriers other adults 
think they will encounter if they decided to participate in education 
or training programs.
    Type of Review: New.
    Agency: Employment and Training Administration.
    Title: Lifelong Learning Demonstration Follow-Up Survey.
    Affected Public: Individuals.
    Total Respondents: 4,000.
    Frequency: One-time.

[[Page 51160]]

    Total Responses:
    Average Time per Response: 35 minutes.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 2,333 hours.
    Total Burden Cost to Respondents (capital/startup): $0.
    Total Burden Cost to Respondents (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.

    Dated at Washington, D.C. this 23rd day of September 1997.
Gerard F. Fiala,
Adminstrator, Office of Policy and Research, Employment and Training 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 97-25783 Filed 9-29-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-M