02-16718. Proposed Collection; Comment Request

ACTION:

Notice.

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. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments concerning the proposed reinstatement of the “National Longitudinal Survey of Women.” A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be obtained by contacting the individual listed 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 September 3, 2002.

ADDRESSES:

Send comments to Amy A. Hobby, BLS Clearance Officer, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 4080, 2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE., Washington, DC 20212, telephone number 202-691-7628 (this is not a toll free number).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Amy A. Hobby, BLS Clearance Officer, telephone number 202-691-7628. (See ADDRESSES section.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

The National Longitudinal Survey of Women (NLSW) has been conducted since the late 1960s. Historically, the NLSW was collected as two surveys, the Survey of Work Experience for Mature Women (which includes women born from April 1, 1922 to March 31, 1937) and the Survey of Work Experience for Young Women (which includes women born in the years 1943 to 1953). In 1995, the Bureau of the Census, which collects the data for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, combined the mature and young women's cohorts into a single survey, a change that has improved the efficiency of survey operations.

The data collected in the NLSW contribute to the knowledge about opportunities and services for women who are in the labor force, want to re-enter the labor force, or choose not to participate in the labor force. Survey data also contribute to the knowledge about women's ability to succeed in the job market and how their levels of success relate to educational attainment, vocational training, prior occupational experiences, general and job-specific experiences, and retirement decisions.

The mission of the Department of Labor (DOL) is to promote the development of the U.S. labor force and the efficiency of the U.S. labor market. The BLS contributes to this mission by gathering information about the labor force and labor market and disseminating it to policy makers and the public so that participants in those markets can make more informed, and thus more efficient, choices. Research based on the NLSW contributes to the formation of national policy in the areas of education, training and employment programs, unemployment compensation, and retirement income from pensions and Social Security. In addition, members of the academic community publish articles and reports based on NLSW data for the Department of Labor (DOL) and other funding agencies. The DOL uses the measurement of changes in the labor market to design programs that would ease employment and unemployment problems. The survey design provides data gathered over time to form the only data set that contains this type of information for this important population group. Without the collection of these data, an accurate longitudinal data set could not be provided to researchers and policymakers, and the DOL could not perform its policy- and report-making activities, as described above.

II. Desired Focus of Comments

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is particularly interested in comments that:

• 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.

III. Current Actions

The Bureau of Labor Statistics seeks approval to conduct the 2003 NLSW. The 2003 NLSW will document work experience, labor force attachment, participation in educational or training programs, financial status, health, and health insurance coverage. The survey will continue to obtain detailed information on the work history and pension coverage of respondents and their husbands. In addition, the survey will obtain information on intergenerational transfers of time and money between respondents and their children or their spouses' children. Respondents living in long-term care institutions who are mentally competent to answer questions will be interviewed in the 2003 NLSW; institutionalized respondents were considered to be out of scope in prior rounds of the survey. The 2003 NLSW will include contacts with approximately 6,677 women (2,810 ages 66 to 80 and 3,867 ages 49 to 60). A subsample of 50 women will be selected for a pretest to be conducted in January 2003 to ensure that the survey instrument and all procedures are working properly before the main fielding begins in June. Assuming the pretest works successfully, these 50 women will not be interviewed a second time during the main fielding. As in previous administrations of the NLSW, 10 percent of the sample in 2003 will be asked to participate in a brief follow-up interview that will last approximately 5 minutes. This reinterview is a quality-control tool, in which managers at the Census Bureau ask respondents a few questions to verify that an interview took place.

Type of Review: Reinstatement, with change, of a previously approved collection for which approval has expired.

Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Title: National Longitudinal Survey of Women.

OMB Number: 1220-0110.

Affected Public: Individuals or households.

Form	Total respondents	Frequency	Total responses	Average time per response (minutes)	Estimated total burden (hours)
2003 NLSW Pretest	50	Biennially	50	70	58
2003 NLSW Main Fielding	6,627	Biennially	6,627	70	7789
Reinterview	663	Biennially	663	5	55
Totals	6,677		7,340		7,902
Note: The difference between the total number of respondents and the total number of responses reflects the fact that 663 respondents will be interviewed twice, once in either the pretest or the main fielding and a second time in the quality-control reinterview. An additional 58 burden hours have been included for the main fielding to account for the possibility of having to interview the 50 women selected for the pretest again in the main fielding in the unlikely event that the pretest fails completely.

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 24th day of June 2002.

Jesús Salinas,

Acting Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.