[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 123 (Thursday, June 26, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34487-34488]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-16769]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Forms and Multiple
Worksite Report Collections; Comment Request
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to inform the public of
developments regarding the confidentiality statement appearing on
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Annual Refiling Survey (ARS) form and
Multiple Worksite Report (MWR), which are conducted under the BLS
Covered Employment and Wages (ES-202) Program in cooperation with
participating State agencies.
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, D.C. 20212. Ms. Kurz can be
reached on 202-606-7628 (this is not a toll free number).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Prior to the Fiscal Year 1997 ARS and Calendar Year 1997 MWR forms,
three alternative confidentiality statements were used in the ARS and
four were used in the MWR. Each State used the statement that reflected
its laws and
[[Page 34488]]
confidentiality practices. In each of these statements, BLS made a
commitment to survey respondents regarding State uses of the data.
BLS recently proposed to the participating State agencies that a
single confidentiality statement be adopted that would accurately
reflect the treatment of data gathered in these surveys and give the
States full responsibility for determining their appropriate uses of
the data. States overwhelmingly favored this new approach, and the
confidentiality statement was revised for the 1997 forms.
Substantive changes to Federal information collections must be
approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) prior to
implementation. Due to a BLS oversight, the States were instructed to
use a revised confidentiality statement on the 1997 forms before the
statement was submitted to OMB for clearance. Consequently the prior
versions of the confidentiality statement, not the revised version
which appeared for 1997, are the officially-approved statements.
Questions concerning this matter arose when BLS submitted the ARS
clearance package for OMB approval, and a notice was published in the
Federal Register. During that process, OMB received a public comment
advising them that the confidentiality statement contained in the
clearance package was already in use. OMB determined that the revised
confidentiality statement is a substantive change which requires OMB
clearance. BLS withdrew the ARS clearance package from OMB's docket to
allow time for reconsideration of the new statement.
OMB has agreed that BLS and the States may continue 1997 ARS and
MWR data collection using the correct forms without interruption.
However, because the revised confidentiality statement on the
current forms is not approved by OMB, States are not required to use
it. BLS is taking the following steps to bring the collections into
full compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995:
BLS has prepared a new confidentiality statement to put
forward in emergency OMB clearances of the ARS and MWR. This statement
will be on the forms which will be printed this summer and mailed out
between October 1997 and January 1999. This statement is very similar
to one of the alternative statements used earlier with these programs,
and is as follows:
The information collected on this form by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics and the State agencies cooperating in its statistical
programs will be used for statistical and Unemployment Insurance
program purposes, and other purposes in accordance with law.
Following-up on the emergency clearances, BLS will submit
extension requests for three-year clearance of the ARS and MWR with the
revised confidentiality statement. This process will include requests
for public comment.
The confidentiality statements for the 1997 and 1998 forms conform
to the following factors:
BLS uses of the data are exclusively statistical.
BLS may share the data with other Federal agencies for
statistical purposes; however, as in the past, BLS will not share a
State's confidential ES-202 data with another Federal agency unless
that State has given BLS written permission to do so.
BLS makes no confidentiality statement regarding State
uses of the data.
In some States, uses are not exclusively statistical.
Signed at Washington, D.C., this 20th day of June, 1997.
W. Stuart Rust, Jr.,
Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[FR Doc. 97-16769 Filed 6-25-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-M
