[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 209 (Thursday, October 29, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58069-58070]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-29001]
[[Page 58069]]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Proposed Collection; Comment Request
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 pre-clearance
consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies
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 Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments concerning the proposed
revision of the currently approved ``Producer Price Index Survey.'' 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 to the office listed in the
address section below on or before December 28, 1998. The Bureau of
Labor Statistics is particularly interested in comments which:
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;
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;
Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
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.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Karin G. Kurz, BLS Clearance Officer,
Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 3255,
2 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20212. Ms. Kurz can be
reached on 202-606-7628 (this is not a toll free number.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Producer Price Index (PPI), one of the Nation's leading
economic indicators, is used as a measure of price movements, as an
indicator of inflationary trends, for inventory valuation, and as a
measure of purchasing power of the dollar at the primary-market level.
It also is used for market and economic research and as a basic for
escalation in long-term contracts and purchase agreements.
PPI data provide a description of the magnitude and composition of
price change within the economy, and serve a wide range of governmental
needs. These monthly indexes are closely followed and are viewed as
sensitive indicators of the economic environment. Price data are vital
in helping both the President and Congress set fiscal spending targets.
Producer prices are monitored by the Federal Reserve Board Open Market
Committee to help decide monetary policy. Federal policy-makers at the
Department of Treasury and the Council of Economic Advisors use these
statistics to help form and evaluate monetary and fiscal measurers, and
to help interpret the general business environment. Furthermore,
dollar-denominated measures of economic performance, such as the Gross
Domestic Product, require accurate price data in order to convert
nominal to constant-dollar values. Inflation-free national income
accounting figures are vital to fiscal and monetary policy-makers when
setting objectives and targets. In addition, it is common to find one
or more PPIs, alone or in combination with other measures, used to
escalate the diverted price of goods for government purchases.
In addition to governmental uses, PPI data are used by the private
sector. Private industry uses PPI data for contact escalation. For one
method of tax-related Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) inventory accounting,
the Internal Revenue Service recommends that firms use PPI data for
making calculations. Private businesses make extensive use of
industrial-price data for planning and operating. Price trends are used
to assess market conditions. Firms commonly compare the prices they pay
for material inputs and the prices they receive for products that they
make and sell with changes in similar PPIs.
Economic researchers and forecasters also use the PPI. Price
indexes are widely used to probe and measure the interaction of market
forces. Some examples of research topics that require extensive price
data include: The identification of varying price elasticities and the
degree of cost pass-through in the economy, the identification of
potential lead and lag structures among price changes, and the
identification of prices which exert major impacts throughout market
structures. In the end, both policy and business planning are affected
by the completeness of price trend descriptions.
II. Current actions
A description of recent and projected improvements meant to improve
data completeness, increase efficiency, and reduce overall respondent
burden to the maximum degree possible follows.
A. Disaggregation
Recent modifications made to disaggregation (i.e., item selection
procedures) help to better define a publication structure that: (1) Is
publishable in its entirety, (2) meets user needs, (3) is continuous,
and (4) permits meaningful classification of current production. In
order to obtain and maintain publishability of an entire structure,
data now are collected using a method where price quotation selection
is spread across predetermined product categories that correspond to
the publication cells for a Standard Industrial Classification (SIC).
The design of the revised disaggregation method nearly guarantees that
the PPI will include enough price quotations to populate more lightly
weighted cells. More heavily weighted (and populated) cells will
receive slightly fewer price quotations than would have been received
under the previous method. As a result, indexes constituting the PPI's
publication objectives are much more likely to remain published over
time. (For a complete description, see ``Change in PPI Publication
Structures for Resampled Industries Introduced in January 1997.'' PPI
Detailed Report, January 1997.)
B. Sampling
Recent modifications made to sampling procedures permit the PPI to
update weights of industry indexes without initiating a new set of
respondents. This process change is called ``recycling without
resampling.'' The PPI also has made it operationally feasible to
augment the sample of price quotations for a single product line within
an SIC when necessary, rather than having to initiate a new sample of
respondents. These capabilities are major breakthroughs, since they
enable the PPI program to reduce both data
[[Page 58070]]
collection expenses and respondent burden, while permitting efficient
re-allocation of program resources. Volatile, technologically
sophisticated, and never-before-sampled SICs now may be updated or
introduced into the PPI in a timelier manner.
C. Publication
The PPI mission includes a mandate requiring the program to work
toward publication, wherever possible, of output price indexes for
every four-digit industry defined by the SIC Manual. Historically, the
PPI had been a family of indexes focusing on the Mining, Manufacturing,
Agriculture, and Forestry sectors. This publication mandate has
resulted in expansion of coverage into non-goods producing sectors of
the economy. PPI sampling and data collection methodology have
permitted systematic retrieval of specific service-industry
classifications, and have resulted in the publication of various four-
digit SIC aggregate indexes, as well as service-line and detailed
service-category price indexes. The PPI currently publishes about fifty
industry-based indexes for service-sector activities. Over the
preceding decade, the PPI has introduced indexes encompassing
Transportation, Real Estate, Health, Legal, Accounting, and many other
service-based industries. Industry expansion continues on a regular
basis, as funding permits. As recently as the July 1998 data release,
the PPI introduced price indexes for SIC 6331 (Property and Casualty
Insurance). In addition, the PPI is conducting research and preparing
to collect data for Wholesale and Retail Trade Establishments, as well
as Investment Bankers and Stock Brokers.
D. NAICS Classification
At present, sampling and data collection are conducted according to
the SIC Manual system of organization. However, the PPI already has
begun to make modifications that will permit smooth conversion to the
North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS).
E. Electronic Data Collection
The PPI is developing electronic data collection procedures that
will further contribute to reducing respondent burden and increasing
efficiency. The program has been conducting a pilot project where a
subset of respondents receives monthly price quotation forms and
provides responses through fax technology. Response rates are better
using fax, suggesting that this method of distributing and receiving
the forms will be successful. Based on these results, the PPI plans to
offer faxing as an option to approximately 30 percent of respondents in
the near future.
F. Internet-Based Data Collection
BLS-wide efforts are being made to test the feasibility of
permitting respondents to provide data through an Internet web-browser
connection. While this procedure, if implemented, would result in a
major data collection enhancement, a large number of security issues
must be addressed first. Systems and procedures that protect the
confidentiality of individual respondents' micro-data, as well as the
integrity of the BLS network as a whole, must be developed and tested.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Title: Producer Price Index Survey.
OMB Number: 1220-0008.
Affected Public: Business and other for-profit.
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Total number Total annual Average time per Total burden
Form No. of respondents Frequency responses response hours
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BLS 1810A, A1, B, C, C1, and 6,342 Once............ 6,342 2 Hours......... 12, 684
E.
BLS 473P.................... 105,000 Monthly......... 1,260,000 18 Minutes...... 378,000
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Total annual burden: 390,684 hours.
Total Burden Cost (capital/startup: $0.
Total Burden Cost (operating/maintenance): $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.
Signed at Washington, DC, this 23rd day of October 1998.
W. Stuart Rust, Jr.,
Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[FR Doc. 98-29001 Filed 10-28-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-M
