2011-13410. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).

Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.

Title: 2012 Economic Census Covering Utilities; Transportation and Warehousing; Finance and Insurance; and Real Estate and Rental and Leasing Sectors.

OMB Control Number: 0607-0931.

Form Number(s): The 36 report forms covered by this request are too numerous to list here.

Type of Request: Reinstatement, with change, of an expired collection.

Burden Hours: 811,142.

Number of Respondents: 623,955.

Average Hours per Response: 1.3 hours.

Needs and Uses: The 2012 Economic Census covering the Utilities; Transportation and Warehousing; Finance and Insurance; and Real Estate and Rental and Leasing sectors will use a mail canvass, supplemented by data from Federal administrative records, to measure the economic activity of more than 1,039,000 establishments in these sectors of the economy as classified in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

The Utilities sector comprises establishments primarily engaged in the provision of utility services through a permanent infrastructure. The Transportation sector comprises establishments primarily engaged in transporting people and goods. The Warehousing sector comprises establishments primarily engaged in the warehousing and storage of goods. The Finance and Insurance sector comprises two types of establishments: Those engaged in financial transactions, that is, transactions involving the creation, liquidation, or change in ownership of financial assets, or in facilitating financial transactions; and those engaged in the intermediating as the consequence of pooling risks and facilitating such intermediation. The Real Estate subsector comprises establishments primarily engaged in leasing real estate to others, as well as real estate managers, agents, and brokers. The Rental and Leasing subsector comprises establishments primarily engaged in acquiring, owning, and making available a wide variety of tangible goods such as machinery, equipment, computers, and consumer goods to businesses or individuals, in return for a periodic rental or lease payment. The economic census will produce basic statistics by kind of business on number of establishments, revenue, payroll, and employment. It also will yield a variety of subject statistics, including revenue by product line, and other industry-specific measures, such as insurance benefits paid to policyholders, exported services, purchased transportation, and exported energy. Basic statistics will be summarized for the United States, states, metropolitan areas and, in some cases, for counties and places. Tabulations of subject statistics also will present data for the United States and, in some cases, for states.

The economic census is the primary source of facts about the structure and functioning of the Nation's economy and features unique industry and geographic detail. Economic census statistics serve as part of the framework for the national accounts and provide essential information for government, business, and the general public. The Federal Government uses information from the economic census as an important part of the framework for the national income and product accounts, input-output tables, economic indices, and other composite measures that serve as the factual basis for economic policy-making, planning, and program administration. Further, the census provides sampling frames and benchmarks for current surveys of business which track short-term economic trends, serve as economic indicators, and contribute critical source data for current estimates of gross domestic product. State and local governments rely on the economic census as a unique source of comprehensive economic statistics for small geographic areas for use in policy-making, planning, and program administration. Finally, industry, business, academia, and the general public use information from the economic census for evaluating markets, preparing business plans, making business decisions, developing economic models and forecasts, conducting economic research, and establishing benchmarks for their own sample surveys.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit: Not-for-profit institutions.

Frequency: One time.

Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.

Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Sections 131 & 224.

OMB Desk Officer: Brian Harris-Kojetin, [phone].

Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained by calling or writing Diana Hynek, Departmental Paperwork Clearance Officer, [phone], Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at [e-mail]).

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to Brian Harris-Kojetin, OMB Desk Officer either by fax [phone]) or e-mail ([e-mail]).

Dated: May 25, 2011.

Glenna Mickelson,

Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.