[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 13 (Friday, January 19, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1410-1411]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-578]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Proposed Information Collection Request Submitted for Public
Comment and Recommendations; Consumer Price Index Commodities and
Services Survey
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. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be
provided in the desired format, reporting burden is minimized,
reporting forms 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 ``Consumer Price Index Commodities and
Services Survey.''
[[Page 1411]]
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 on or before March 19, 1996.
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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ms. Kurz on 202--606-7628 (this is not a toll free number).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Federal law requires BLS, under the direction of the Secretary of
Labor, to collect, collate, and report full and complete statistics of
the conditions of labor and the products and distribution of the
products of the same. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is one of these
statistics, and the collection of data from a wide spectrum of retail
establishments and government agencies is essential for the timely and
accurate calculation of the Commodities and Services component of the
CPI.
The CPI is the only index compiled by the U.S. Government that is
designed to measure changes in the purchasing power of the urban
consumer's dollar. The CPI is a measure of the average change in prices
paid by urban consumers for a fixed market basket of goods and
services.
The CPI is used most widely as a measure of inflation, and serves
as an indicator of the effectiveness of government economic policy. It
is also used as a deflator of other economic series, that is, to adjust
other series for price changes and to translate these series into
inflation-free dollars. A third major use of the CPI is to adjust
income payments. About 2.8 million workers are covered by collective
bargaining contracts which provide for increases in wage rates based on
increases in the CPI.
II. Current Actions
The continuation of the collection of prices for the CPI is
essential since the CPI is the nation's chief source of information on
retail price changes. If the information on prices of commodities and
services were not collected, Federal fiscal and monetary polices would
be hampered due to the lack of information on price changes in a major
sector of the U.S. economy, and estimates of the real value of the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could not be made. The consequences for
both the Federal and private sectors would be far-reaching and would
have serious repercussions of Federal government policy and
institutions.
The transient increase in the number of respondents is due to
recurrent replacement in item and geographic sampling. With the 1998
CPI revision, substantial changes are being made to the CPI item
classification structure. New pricing areas will be sampled to support
this new item structure and the overlapping geographic areas will have
new samples drawn wherever it is necessary in order to support this new
structure.
Currently, data for the CPI are collected by CPI field staff in
assigned retail outlets. The field staff record the data on schedules
and mail the data to Washington, D.C. for processing. A key element in
the 1998 CPI revision is the conversion of all data collection and
transmission to electronic systems. A fully-implemented Computer-
Assisted Data Collection (CADC) system for the CPI will result in
significant advantages by increasing productivity and improving the
overall quality of the CPI.
Electronic data collection and transmission will provide long-term
savings through a major reduction of mail, paper, and printing costs.
Electronic systems will provide the opportunity to reduce data capture,
survey logistics management, and review staffs.
Type of Review: Revision.
Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Title: Consumer Price Index Commodities and Services Survey.
OMB Number: 1220-0039.
Frequency: Semi-annually.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit
institutions; State, Local or Tribal Government.
Number of Respondents: 52,104.
Estimated Time Per Response: 16 minutes.
Total Burden Hours: 91,487 hours.
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 ICR; they also will become a matter of public record.
Signed at Washington, DC, this 16th day of January, 1996.
Peter T. Spolarich,
Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[FR Doc. 96-578 Filed 1-8-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-M
