Federal Register: July 19, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 137)
DOCID: FR Doc 04-16267
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
NOTICE: NOTICES
DOCUMENT ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request.
SUBJECT CATEGORY:
Government Employment Forms
DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before September 17, 2004.
DOCUMENT SUMMARY:
The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 10413 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).
SUMMARY:
Law enforcement reporting, [EDITORIAL NOTE: The page number for this document was incorrectly listed in the Friday, July 16, 2004 Federal Register table of contents. The correct page number is 42626]; Agency information collection activities; proposals, submissions, and approvals,
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
I. Abstract
The Census Bureau plans to request clearance for the forms necessary to conduct the public employment program which consists of an annual collection of information and a quinquennial collection in a census environment in years ending in ``2'' or ``7''. During the upcoming three years, we intend to conduct the 2005 and 2006 Annual Survey of Government Employment and the 2007 Census of Government Employment.
Under Title 13, Section 161, of the United States Code, the Secretary of Commerce is authorized to conduct the public employment program, which collects and disseminates data by function for fulltime and parttime employees, payroll, and number of parttime hours worked. The number and content of the data items collected are the same in the annual and census cycles.
The burden hours we will request are based on the expected 2005 annual survey mailout of 16,369 forms. During the Census survey, the mailout is expected to increase to approximately 87,500 local governments and approximately 6,500 state agencies. The respondent burden hours for a Census cycle would increase to 67,000 hours.
The state and local government statistics produced cover national, state, and local aggregates on various functions with comparative detail for individual governments for the pay period that includes March 12. The public employment program provides the only comprehensive count of employees and payrolls in state and local governments. Government employees constitute approximately onesixth of the entire U.S. workforce and their salaries are a major source of personal income.
The Census Bureau provides this employment data to the Bureau of Economic Analysis for constructing the functional payrolls in the public sector Gross Domestic Product, payroll being the single largest component of current operations. Other government users include the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as a benchmark for its monthly employment programs, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to establish payroll guidelines for local public housing authorities.
The public employment program has increasingly been used as the base for reimbursable programs of other Federal agencies such as: (1) The government portion of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey commissioned by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to provide timely, comprehensive information about health care use and costs in the United States; (2) The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) survey Criminal Justice Expenditure and Employment Survey which provides criminal justice expenditure and employment data on spending and personnel levels; and (3) The BJS Justice Assistance Data Survey, in sample verification and the existence of contracted services. Statistics are produced as data files in both electronic and printed formats. The program has made possible the dissemination of comprehensive and comparable governmental statistics since 1940.
The many users of the public employment program data include Federal agencies, state and local governments and related
organizations, public interest groups, and many business, market, and private research organizations.
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II. Method of Collection
Approximately 16,300 county governments, consolidated citycounty governments, independent cities, towns, townships, special district governments, and public school systems designated for the annual survey will be sent an appropriate form or the data will be collected through a data sharing arrangement between the Census Bureau and the state government.
We developed cooperative agreements with state and large local government officials to collect the data from their dependent agencies and report to us as one central respondent. These arrangements reduce the need for a mail canvass of approximately 3,250 state agencies and 700 school systems. Currently we have central collection agreements with 38 states, four local school district governments, and two state university systems. We continue to work at expanding the conversion of paper submissions into electronic formats, for both individual units and central collection units.
In 2001, the public employment program collected data for certain
form types through a Webbased instrument. Beginning with the 2003
annual collection cycle, all form types can be completed on the
Internet. For the 2003 annual survey, 3,470 governments responded using our Web site.
III. Data
OMB Number: 06070452.
Form Number: E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6, E7, E9.
Type of Review: Regular.
Affected Public: State governments, county governments, consolidated citycounty governments, independent cities, towns, townships, special district governments, and public school systems.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 16,369.
Estimated Time Per Response: The average for all forms is 51 minutes.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 13,865.
Estimated Total Annual Cost: $262,464.
(NoteBased upon the average hourly pay for fulltime employment
for the financial administration function within the 2002 census of local government employment.)
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Title 13 United States Code, section 161. IV. Request for Comments
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden (including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval of this information collection; they also will become a matter of public record.
Dated: July 13, 2004.
Madeleine Clayton,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer. [FR Doc. 0416267 Filed 71604; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 351007P
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Requests for additional information or copies of the information collection instrument(s) and instructions should be directed to Ellen Thompson, Chief, Employment Branch, Governments Division, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC 202336800 (3017631531) (or via the Internet at ellen.ann.thompson@census.gov).