[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 47 (Thursday, March 12, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10776-10778]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-5320]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Proposed Information Collection Extension Without Change for 
Three Primary and Two Secondary Data Collection Instruments Used To 
Collect Follow-up Data About Individuals Who Are No Longer Actively 
Participating in Job Corps, But Had Graduated From Job Corps, or Had 
Been in the Program at Least 60 Days and Left Before Completing 
Graduation Requirements (Former Enrollees): Comment Request

AGENCY: Office of Job Corps.

[[Page 10777]]


ACTION: 60-day notice of information collection under review: OMB 
Control No. 1205-0426.

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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) [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 Office of Job Corps is soliciting comments concerning 
the collection of data for post-center surveys of Job Corps graduates 
and former enrollees (OMB Control Number 1205-0426).
    A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be 
obtained by contacting the office listed below in the addressee section 
of this notice or by accessing: http://www.doleta.gov/OMBCN/OMBControlNumber.cfm.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
ADDRESSES section on or before May 11, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to Aquila Branch, Room N-4507, 
Office of Job Corps, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20210. Telephone number: 202-693-3211 (this is not a toll free number). 
Fax: 202-693-2767. E-mail: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#244656454a474c0a4555514d484564404b480a434b52"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5a38283b343932743b2b2f33363b1a3e3536743d352c">[email protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Job Corps is an intensive, residential training program for at-
promise youth age 16 through 24 to address multiple barriers to 
employment faced by youth throughout the United States. Job Corps is 
authorized by Title I, Subtitle C, of the Workforce Investment Act 
(WIA) of 1998. The program is principally carried out through a 
nationwide network of 122 Job Corps centers. The centers are located at 
facilities either owned or leased by the Federal Government. The 
Department has a direct role in the operation of Job Corps, and does 
not serve as a pass-through agency for this program. It is the 
Department's responsibility to establish Job Corps centers and to 
select operators for them. Of the 122 current centers, 28 are operated 
by the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior, through interagency 
agreements. These centers are located on Federal lands controlled by 
these two agencies. The remaining 94 centers are managed and operated 
by large and small corporations and nonprofit organizations selected by 
the Department in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations, 
and in most cases through a competitive procurement process. Many of 
the current contractors manage and operate more than one center.

II. Review Focus

    The Department of Labor is particularly interested in comments 
which:
    <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.

III. Current Actions

    This submission requests approval of three primary and two 
secondary data collection instruments that will be used to collect 
follow-up data about individuals who are no longer actively 
participating in Job Corps. These youths either graduated from Job 
Corps or stayed in the program at least 60 days but left before 
completing graduation requirements (former enrollees). These data 
collection activities will be conducted with the following groups of 
recent Job Corps participants:
    <bullet> Former enrollees who were placed in a job or school 
program. This group will be contacted 90 days after separation.
    <bullet> Graduates who were placed in a job or school program. This 
group will be contacted 90 days after initial placement.
    <bullet> Graduates who were placed in a job or school program. This 
group will be contacted 6 months after initial placement.
    <bullet> Graduates who were placed in a job or school program. This 
group will be contacted 12 months after initial placement.
    The data collection instrument for graduates 90 to 120 days after 
their initial placement is called Interim Checkpoint for Eligibility 
(ICFE). Administration of the ICFE at this time will facilitate the key 
data collection at 6 and 12 months. This submission also requests 
approval for two brief questionnaires (one for employers and one for 
schools or training institutions) that will be used to collect 
reverification data about initial placement for the subset of placed 
graduates and former enrollees that cannot be contacted directly.
    To maximize the comparability of the data collected from the 
different subgroups of students, the ICFE, the 90-day follow-up for 
former enrollees, and the 6-month and 12-month follow-up sections of 
the data collection instruments use modules with identical sets of 
questions on the same topics. The questions are designed to obtain:
    <bullet> Data to reverify the initial job or school placements of 
placed graduates and former enrollees (only in the instruments 
administered at 90 days and the ICFE).
    <bullet> Information about employment experiences in the previous 
week.
    <bullet> Information about educational experiences in the previous 
week.
    <bullet> Summary information about the work, school, and job search 
activities of those who were neither working nor in school the previous 
week.
    <bullet> Information about satisfaction with the services provided 
by Job Corps.
    Type of Review: Extension without Change.
    Agency: Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor.
    Title: Job Corps Placement Verification and Follow-up of Job Corps 
Participants.
    OMB Number: 1205-0426.
    Agency Numbers: N/A.
    Recordkeeping: The respondent is not required to retain records; 
Career Transition Service providers and center staff are required to 
retain records of graduates and former enrollees, who are placed in a 
job, further education or military service, for three years.
    Affected Public: Individual or households and Business/Education 
for profit institutions.
    This data collection is envisioned as an annual process that will 
support the administration of approximately 73,373 Job Corps telephone 
interviews that, on average, are 10 to 15 minutes in duration. The 
combined reporting burden for respondents associated with

[[Page 10778]]

this data collection effort is anticipated to be about 15,593 hours. 
(See Table 1 below.)

                                     Table 1--Estimates of Respondent Burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                   Average time
                       Respondent category                           Number of      (hours) per      Estimated
                                                                    respondents     respondent         hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Placed Former Enrollees at 90 days..............................           1,824            0.25             456
Placed Graduates at 90-120 days.................................          21,330            0.25           5,333
Placed Graduates at Six Months..................................          22,420            0.20           4,484
Placed Graduates at 12 Months...................................          19,794            0.20           3,959
Employer/Institution Re-Verification............................           8,005            0.17           1,361
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................................          73,373  ..............          15,593
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    Total Respondents: 73,373.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 15,593.
    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): N/A.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintaining): The estimated cost of 
funding this data collection effort in 2008 was $2,712,035. This 
estimate includes the ongoing maintenance of the infrastructure needed 
to administer the CATI system, ongoing data communication to and from 
the Job Corps Data Center, data collection using telephone interviews 
from trained staff who are non-Job Corps employees, data processing 
including coding of occupational and industry information, and 
preparation of summary data tabulations. Supervision of this total 
system is also included here.
    There are no costs to the respondents for participating in this 
survey. All telephone or postage costs for contacting the respondents 
are borne by the Federal government through the data collection 
contractors.
    Comments submitted in response to this comment request will be 
summarized and/or included in the request for Office of Management and 
Budget approval of the information collection request; they will also 
become a matter of public record.

Esther R. Johnson,
Administrator, Office of Job Corps.
 [FR Doc. E9-5320 Filed 3-11-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-FT-P


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