2012-24084. Comment Request for Information Collection for Placement Verification and Follow-Up of Job Corps Participants; Extension Without Revisions

AGENCY:

Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Department of Labor.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Department of Labor (Department), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance consultation program to provide the 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 [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)].

This program helps 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, ETA is soliciting comments concerning the extension of data collection regarding the Placement Verification and Follow-up of Job Corps Participants, using post-center surveys of Job Corps graduates and former enrollees (OMB Control Number 1205-0426), which expires November 30, 2012.

A copy of the proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the addresses section of this notice.

DATES:

Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the addresses section below on or before November 30, 2012.

ADDRESSES:

Submit written comments to Lawrence Lyford, Office of Job Corps, Room N-4507, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210. Telephone number: 202-693-3121(this is not a toll-free number). Individuals with hearing or speech impairments may access the telephone number above via TTY by calling the toll-free Federal Information Relay Service at 877-889-5627 (TTY/TDD). Fax: [phone]. Email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

Job Corps is an intensive, residential training program for at-risk youth ages 16 through 24. It addresses 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 125 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 125 current centers, 28 are operated by the United States Department of Agriculture, through an interagency agreement. The remaining 97 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 is particularly interested in comments which:

• Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for an agency to properly performs its functions, including whether the information will have practical utility;
• Evaluate the agency's accuracy in estimating the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
• Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
• Minimize the burden of information collection on those who are to respond—including that obtained through 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 comments on 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:

• Former enrollees who were placed in a job or school program; this group will be contacted 90 days after separation.
• Graduates who were placed in a job or school program; this group will be contacted 90 days after initial placement;
• Graduates who were placed in a job or school program; this group will be contacted 6 months after initial placement;
• 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 re-verification 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:

• Data to re-verify the initial job or school placements of placed graduates and former enrollees (only in the instruments administered at 90 days and the ICFE).
• Information about employment experiences in the previous week.
• Information about educational experiences in the previous week.
• Summary information about the work, school, and job search activities of those who were neither working nor in school the previous week.
• Information about satisfaction with the services provided by Job Corps.

Type of Review: Extension without changes.

Title: Placement Verification and Follow-up of Job Corps Participants.

OMB Number: 1205-0426.

Affected Public: Individuals or households and Business/Education for profit institutions.

Total Annual Burden Cost for Respondents: N/A.

Data collection activity	Number of respondents	Frequency	Total responses	Average time per response (hours)	Burden hours
Placed Former Enrollees at 90 days	1,596	1	1,596	0.25	399
Placed graduates at 90-120 days	16,924	1	16,924	0.25	4,231
Placed Graduates at Six Months	16,098	1	16,098	0.20	3,220
Placed Graduates at 12 Months	13,660		13,660	0.20	2,732
Employer/Institution Re-verification	5,045	1	5,045	0.17	858
Total	53,323		53,323		11,440

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 ICR; they will also become a matter of public record.

Signed in Washington, DC, this 24th day of September, 2012.

Jane Oates,

Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, Labor.