[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 74 (Tuesday, April 16, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16648-16649]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-9352]
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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
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 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments
concerning the proposed new collection of the COMP2000: Phase I. A copy
of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be obtained by
contacting the individual listed below in the addressee section of this
notice.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the
addressee section below on or before June 17, 1996. BLS is particularly
interested in comments which help the agency to:
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.
ADDRESSEE: 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. Ms. Kurz can be
reached on 202-606-7628 (this is not a toll free number).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
This collection comprises Phase I in the implementation of the new
COMP2000 program. The COMP2000 survey, when fully in place, will allow
the statistical series now generated by three separate BLS compensation
programs--Occupational Compensation Surveys Program (OCSP), Employment
Cost Index (ECI), and Employee Benefits Survey (EBS)--to be jointly
produced. Data of these type are critical for setting Federal white-
collar salaries, in determining monetary policy (as a Principal
Economic Indicator), and are widely used by compensation administrators
and researchers in the private sector. The need to decrease the cost of
gathering and processing these statistics while improving their
quality, along with reducing the burden on respondents, is driving the
creation of the new program.
II. Current Actions
The transition to a jointly collected and processed survey will
begin with the replacement of the current OCSP wage levels data with
those from the COMP2000 program. A new, area-based sample will be used
beginning in October 1996 to collect wage levels. A new way of
identifying and classifying occupations in establishments will be
implemented along with the new sample. Area and national bulletins
replacing the OCSP publications will be produced.
Another part of Phase I requires that testing be done to determine
how to best update wage rates and also on revised methods for
collecting benefit costs and provisions. These activities will be
critical in allowing ECI-type indexes and data similar to EBS incidence
and provisions information to be generated when Phase II of COMP2000
begins.
Type of Review: New collection.
Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Title: COMP2000: Phase I.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit
institutions; and State, Local or Tribal Government.
Total Respondents: 34,282.
Frequency: Annually, with some quarterly testing.
[[Page 16649]]
Total Responses: 34,282.
Average Time Per Response: 76.75 Minutes.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 43,858.
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Average Estimated
Total Total time per total
Activity respondents Frequency responses response burden
(minutes) (hours)
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Wage Initiations.................... 20,003 Annually.............. 20,003 82 27,337
Initiation updates.................. 212 Annually.............. 212 20 71
Wage updates........................ 1,785 Some annually, some 1,785 20 595
quarterly.
Benefit tests....................... 756 Annually.............. 756 262 3,301
FY96 OCSP surveys................... 325 Annually.............. 325 120 650
AK-HI-SJ survey..................... 901 Annually.............. 901 82 1,231
Service Contract Act survey......... 6,200 Annually.............. 6,200 82 8,473
Quality Assurance................... 4,100 Annually.............. 4,100 32 2,200
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Totals........................ ........... ...................... 34,282 ........... 43,858
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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, D.C., this 10th day of April, 1996.
Peter T. Spolarich,
Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[FR Doc. 96-9352 Filed 4-15-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-M
