[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 178 (Thursday, September 13, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46521-46522]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-19905]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Labor Surplus Area Classification

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to announce the annual list of 
labor surplus areas for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019.

DATES: The annual list of labor surplus areas is applicable October 1, 
2018, for all states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Samuel Wright, Office of Workforce 
Investment, Employment and Training Administration, 200 Constitution 
Avenue NW, Room C-4514, Washington, DC 20210. Telephone: (202) 693-2870 
(This is not a toll-free number) or email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4334312a242b376d30222e36262f6d2603272c2f6d242c35"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="691e1b000e011d471a08041c0c05470c290d0605470e061f">[email protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Labor's regulations 
implementing Executive Orders 12073 and 10582 are set forth at 20 CFR 
part 654, subparts A and B. These regulations require the Employment 
and Training Administration (ETA) to classify jurisdictions as labor 
surplus areas pursuant to the criteria specified in the regulations, 
and to publish annually a list of labor surplus areas. Pursuant to 
those regulations, ETA is hereby publishing the annual list of labor 
surplus areas. In addition, the regulations provide exceptional 
circumstance criteria for classifying labor surplus areas when 
catastrophic events, such as natural disasters, plant closings, and 
contract cancellations are expected to have a long-term impact on

[[Page 46522]]

labor market area conditions, discounting temporary or seasonal 
factors.

Eligible Labor Surplus Areas

    A Labor Surplus Area (LSA) is a civil jurisdiction that has a 
civilian average annual unemployment rate during the previous two 
calendar years of 20 percent or more above the average annual civilian 
unemployment rate for all states during the same 24-month reference 
period. ETA uses only official unemployment estimates provided by the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics in making these classifications. The average 
unemployment rate for all states includes data for the Commonwealth of 
Puerto Rico. LSA classification criteria stipulate a civil jurisdiction 
must have a ``floor unemployment rate'' of 6.0 percent or higher to be 
classified an LSA. Any civil jurisdiction that has a ``ceiling 
unemployment rate'' of 10.0 percent or higher is classified an LSA.
    Civil jurisdictions are defined as follows:
    1. A city of at least 25,000 population on the basis of the most 
recently available estimates from the Bureau of the Census; or
    2. A town or township in the States of Michigan, New Jersey, New 
York, or Pennsylvania of 25,000 or more population and which possess 
powers and functions similar to those of cities; or
    3. All counties, except for those counties which contain any type 
of civil jurisdictions defined in ``1'' or ``2'' above; or
    4. A ``balance of county'' consisting of a county less any 
component cities and townships identified in ``1'' or ``2'' above; or
    5. A county equivalent, which is a town in the States of 
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, or a municipio in the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Procedures for Classifying Labor Surplus Areas

    The Department of Labor (DOL) issues the LSA list on a fiscal year 
basis. The list becomes effective each October 1 and remains in effect 
through the following September 30. The reference period used in 
preparing the current list is January 2016 through December 2017. The 
national average unemployment rate (including Puerto Rico) during this 
period is rounded to 4.66 percent. Twenty percent higher than the 
national unemployment rate during this period is rounded to 5.59 
percent. Since 5.59 percent is below the ``floor unemployment rate'' of 
6.0 percent, a civil jurisdiction must have a two-year unemployment 
rate of 6.0 percent in order to be classified an LSA. Therefore, areas 
included on the FY 2019 LSA list had an unemployment rate for the 
reference period of 6.0 percent or higher. To ensure that all areas 
classified as labor surplus meet the requirements, when a city is part 
of a county and meets the unemployment qualifier as an LSA, that city 
is identified in the LSA list; the balance of county, not the entire 
county, will be identified as an LSA if the balance of county also 
meets the LSA unemployment criteria. The FY 2019 LSA list and 
statistical data on the current and prior year's LSAs are available at 
ETA's LSA website at http://www.doleta.gov/programs/lsa.cfm.

Petition for Exceptional Circumstance Consideration

    The classification procedures also provide criteria for the 
designation of LSAs under exceptional circumstances criteria. These 
procedures permit the regular classification criteria to be waived when 
an area experiences a significant increase in unemployment that is not 
temporary or seasonal and that was not reflected in the data for the 
two-year reference period. Under the program's exceptional circumstance 
procedures, LSA classifications can be made for civil jurisdictions, 
Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or Combined Statistical Areas, as 
defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. In order for an 
area to be classified as an LSA under the exceptional circumstance 
criteria, the state workforce agency must submit a petition requesting 
such classification to the Department of Labor's ETA. The current 
criteria for an exceptional circumstance classification are:
    (1) An area's unemployment rate is at least 6.0 percent for each of 
the three most recent months;
    (2) a projected unemployment rate of at least 6.0 percent for each 
of the next 12 months because of an event; and
    (3) documentation that the exceptional circumstance event has 
occurred. The state workforce agency may file petitions on behalf of 
civil jurisdictions, Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or Micropolitan 
Statistical Areas.
    State Workforce Agencies may submit petitions in electronic format 
to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6c1b1e050b0418421f0d0119090042092c080300420b031a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3542475c525d411b4654584050591b5075515a591b525a43">[email protected]</span></a>, or in hard copy to the U.S. Department of 
Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Workforce 
Investment, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room C-4514, Washington, DC 
20210, Attention Samuel Wright. Data collection for the petition is 
approved under OMB 1205-0207, expiration date July 31, 2020.

    Signed at Washington, DC.
Rosemary Lahasky,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training.
[FR Doc. 2018-19905 Filed 9-12-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4510-FN-P


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