SUPPORTING STATEMENT
Necessity of the Information Collected
The purpose of this request for review is for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to obtain clearance for the continued monthly collection of labor force data through the Current Population Survey (CPS). The current clearance expires June 30, 2014; however, In April, the CPS program is planning to implement changes to the CPS sample, based on information from the 2010 decennial census.
Collection of labor force data through the CPS is necessary to meet the requirements in Title 29, United States Code, Sections 1 through 9 (Attachment B). Collection of the data is also authorized by Title 13 (Attachment E), United States Code, Section 182.
2. Needs and Uses
The CPS has been the principal source of the official Government statistics on employment and unemployment for over 70 years. The BLS and the Census Bureau share the responsibility for this survey and are submitting two separate clearance requests that reflect the way in which the two agencies divide the responsibilities for the analysis and dissemination of the data from the survey. The Census Bureau is submitting a request for clearance for the collection of the basic demographic information on the population being sampled. BLS is requesting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clearance for the collection of the labor force information that it analyzes and publishes monthly. The basic CPS items booklet, which includes the questions used to collect both demographic and labor force information, is shown in Attachment A.
The labor force information gathered through the survey is of paramount importance in keeping track of the economic health of the Nation. The survey is the official source of monthly data on total employment and unemployment, with the monthly Employment Situation report designated a Principal Federal Economic Indicator (PFEI). The CPS data are used monthly, in conjunction with data from other sources, to analyze the extent to which the various components of the American population are participating in the economic life of the Nation.
The labor force data gathered through the CPS are provided to users in the greatest detail possible, consistent with the demographic information obtained in the survey. In brief, the labor force data can be broken down by sex, age, race, ethnicity, marital status, family composition, educational level, disability status, and various other characteristics. Through such breakdowns, one can focus on the employment situation of specific population groups as well as on the general trends in employment and unemployment. Moreover, the survey yields data on the basic status and characteristics of people who have stopped looking for work because they believe no jobs are available – discouraged workers. Information of this type can be obtained only through demographically-oriented surveys such as the CPS.
In addition to being a source of much detailed data at the national level, the CPS provides information that is crucial in examining the employment situation at the sub-national level. For the 50 states, the District of Columbia, New York City, and the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metropolitan division and the respective balances of state, data are produced using estimating equations based on regression techniques. These models combine current and historical data from the CPS with data from other surveys.
The basic CPS data are also used as an important platform on which to base the data derived from the various supplemental questions administered in conjunction with the survey. By coupling the basic data from the monthly survey with the special data from supplements, one can gain valuable insights on the behavior of American workers and on the social and economic health of their families. Recent supplements have produced data on poverty, health insurance, volunteering, displaced workers, and veterans with service-connected disabilities, for example.
The monthly CPS data are first published by means of a news release, The Employment Situation (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf), and, on the same day, are often discussed by the Commissioner of Labor Statistics before the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress. There is wide interest in this initial release among Government policy makers, legislators, economists, the media, and the general public. The data are subsequently published in much greater detail on the BLS website and in a variety of publications. Special analyses of data by BLS economists often are reported in the Monthly Labor Review, also published by BLS.
While the data from the CPS are used in conjunction with data from other surveys—notably the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey—in assessing the economic health of the Nation, they are unique in various ways. They provide monthly, nationally representative measures of total employment that include self-employed workers, farm workers, and unpaid family workers. By contrast, establishment surveys are generally restricted to the nonagricultural wage and salary sector. The CPS provides timely and detailed data on all job seekers, and on all persons outside the labor force, while payroll-based surveys cannot, by definition, cover these sectors of the population, and other national surveys that include a few questions on employment (such as the American Community Survey) do not have sufficient space (or legal mandate) to collect information at this level of detail. Finally, the CPS data on employment, unemployment, and persons not in the labor force can be linked separately to the demographic characteristics of the many groups which make up the Nation’s population, while data from other surveys are often devoid of demographic information.
The Census Bureau, which conducts the actual collection of the CPS data—designing the sample, training and monitoring the interviewers, and conducting a continuous quality control program—is using methods designed to keep respondent burden as low as possible. These interviewing methods, which include the use of computer-assisted interviewing, were improved as part of a complete CPS redesign implemented in January 1994. The redesign was preceded by years of wide-ranging discussions, research, and large-scale field tests aimed at long-range improvements in the survey. The CPS and all of its supplements are collected 100 percent electronically by using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) and Computer Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI). Since January 2007, the data collection instrument has been programmed in Blaise, a Windows-based survey processing system developed by Statistics Netherlands and licensed by Westat in the United States.
4. Efforts to Identify Duplication
As noted above, the labor force data generally obtained through the CPS are not available with the same degree of quality from any other source. This is particularly the case in terms of the timeliness, comprehensiveness, versatility (through supplements), and reliability of the data. There is, therefore, no significant duplication of effort between the CPS and other surveys.
While other surveys provide data that serve as valuable complements to those obtained in the CPS, these surveys cannot substitute for the CPS as they are generally much more limited in scope, they are not conducted as frequently, or there is a greater lag between data collection and publication.
5. Minimizing Burden
The data are collected from households; their collection does not involve any small businesses or other small entities.
6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collection
Section 2 of Title 29, United States Code, mandates BLS to publish, at least once a month, complete statistics on levels and month-to-month changes in employment and unemployment.
7. Special Circumstances
The CPS data are collected monthly as part of the requirement in 29 USC, Chapter 1, relating to the Collection, Collation, and Reports of Labor Statistics.
8. Consultation Outside the Agency/Federal Register Notice
Federal Register Notice
Two comments were received as a result of the Federal Register notice published in 78 FR 61868 on October 4, 2013. One comment was supportive of the continued collection of the Current Population Survey (CPS), as the data collected are crucial to prepare estimates of compensation, employment, and personal consumption expenditures in the national income and product accounts.
One comment expressed concerns about the CPS; the following italicized paragraph summarizes these concerns. After the italicized paragraph, a BLS response is provided.
it is not necessary to do this every month and it is far too expensive to do it so frequently. especially since you already get unemployment reports hwich SHOWS THE PEOPLE WHO DONT HAVE JOBS. THAT IS REFLECTIVE OF THE ECONOMIC SITUATION OF THE LABOR MARKET VERY ACCURATELY. DO THIS REPORT EVERY QUARTER, WHICH IS FREQUENT ENOUGH. THESE REPORTS ARE HUGELY EXPENSIVE AND GOUGE TAXPAYERS. THIS AGENCY DOES NOTHING TO DOWNSIZE COSTS AND JUST SPENDS AND SPENDS AND SPENDS LIKE A DRUNKEN SAILOR. WE KNOW THE ECONOMY OF AMERICA IS IN SHAMBLES. ALL OF OUR PROFITEERS ARE PRODUCING THEIR PRODUCTS IN SOME OTHER COUNTRY THEN THEY HAVE THE GALL AND CHUTZPAH TO COME HERE TO SELL THOSE LOUSY PRODICTS. THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY WANT THAT CHANGED. IF YOU WANT TO SELL IT HERE, MAKE IT HERE. CLINTON AND HIS NAFTA HAS DONE IN AMERICA. WE ARE MAKING OTHER COUNTRIES WEALTHY AND MEANWHILE AMERICA IS GOING DOWN THE DRAINE. MANDATE OUR PRODUCTS BE MADE HERE IN AMERICA. THIS COMMENT IS FOR THE PUBLC RECORD. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT.
The BLS pursues and funds only the highest priority research and, thus, is strongly committed to not wasting taxpayers’ money. The commenter alludes to the Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims data that are produced by the Employment and Training Administration in the Department of Labor and are collected as a by-product of UI programs. Workers who lose their jobs and are covered by these programs typically file claims ("initial claims") that serve as notice that they are beginning a period of unemployment. Claimants who qualify for benefits are counted in the insured unemployment figures (as "continued claims").
These data are not used to measure total unemployment because they exclude several important groups. To begin with, not all workers are covered by UI programs. For example, self-employed workers, unpaid family workers, workers in certain not-for-profit organizations, and several other small (primarily seasonal) worker categories are not covered. In addition, the insured unemployed exclude the following: unemployed workers who have exhausted their benefits; unemployed workers who have not yet earned benefit rights (such as new entrants or reentrants to the labor force); disqualified workers whose unemployment is considered to have resulted from their own actions rather than from economic conditions, such as workers discharged for misconduct on the job; and otherwise eligible unemployed persons who do not file for benefits.
Outside Consultation
The following people have been in continuous consultation concerning the development of the survey:
Bureau of the Census
Lisa Clement
Associate Directorate for Demographic Programs Division
Bureau of Census
Department of Commerce
Washington, D.C. 20233
(301) 763-5482
In addition to the above, a statement soliciting comments for improving CPS data is prominently placed in all Census Bureau publications that cite CPS data. A similar statement is included in the technical documentation that accompanies the microdata files. Finally, the CPS advance letter (Attachment C) provides respondents with an address at the Census Bureau to which they can submit general comments on the survey, specifically those regarding respondent burden.
9. Paying Respondents
The Census Bureau does not make any payments or provide any gifts to individuals participating in the CPS.
10. Assurance of Confidentiality
The Census Bureau will collect the data in compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974 and OMB Circular A-130. Each sample household will receive an advance letter (Attachment C) approximately one week before the start of the initial CPS interview. The letter includes the information required by the Privacy Act of 1974, explains the voluntary nature of the survey, and states the estimated time required for participating in the survey. Field representatives must ask each respondent if he/she received the advance letter and, if not, must provide a copy of the letter to each respondent and allow sufficient time for him/her to read the contents. Also, interviewers provide households with the pamphlet "The U.S. Census Bureau Respects Your Privacy and Keeps Your Personal Information Confidential," which further states the confidentiality assurances associated with this data collection effort (Attachment D). All information given by respondents to Census Bureau employees is held in strict confidence under Title 13, United States Code, Section 9 (Attachment E). Each Census Bureau employee has taken an oath to that effect and is subject to a jail penalty and/or substantial fine if he/she discloses any information given to him/her.
11. Justification for Sensitive Questions
No sensitive questions are asked in this survey.
12. Estimate of Respondent Burden
The total respondent burden for the CPS is estimated at 100,847 hours for 2014. Of this total, the Census Bureau has estimated 18,334 hours to obtain basic demographic data and 82,500 hours for the collection of the labor force information, the main product of the survey. These estimates are based on interviewing 55,000 households on a monthly basis.
The estimated length of the labor force portion of each interview is 7.5 minutes. This is derived from the average respondent time that has been required to complete the labor force questions and reinterview in an average household across all months-in-sample for the past few years and the time required to answer the recently added disability questions. The actual respondent burden is dependent on the size of the household and the characteristics of its occupants. Generally, one respondent answers for the household. Each month about 10 percent of all CPS enumerators have a portion of their assignments reinterviewed for quality control purposes. Depending on the interviewer’s experience level and position, thay can be selected as many as three times every 15 months. Errors uncovered during the reinterview are discussed with the original interviewer and remedial action is taken. Also, 1 percent of cases are reinterviewed to measure response error.
The overall annualized dollar cost to the respondents for collection of the labor force information is $1,056,000. This estimate assumes a wage rate of $12.80 an hour (this figure was the median hourly wage for 2012) for all respondents regardless of whether they are employed, unemployed, or not in the labor force. The annual cost per household would be roughly $6.40, since an individual household would be in the survey at most 4 times a year for a total of about 30 minutes.
13. Estimate of Cost Burden
Capital start-up costs: $0
Total operation and maintenance and purchase of services: $0
14. Cost to the Federal Government
The estimated cost to the federal government is expected to be $92 million in fiscal year 2014 for the full CPS data collection program as administered by the Census Bureau. The BLS will contribute approximately $52 million through an interagency transfer of funds to the Census Bureau that covers costs associated with the labor force and disability data collected in the survey. A direct appropriation of $20 million from Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) legislation also contributes to the CPS program to fund the additional sample that is required for the precision requirements of health insurance data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the CPS. The Census Bureau will contribute $12 million for the collection of demographic data in fiscal year 2014. The remaining funds are received from various agencies to fund supplements and other projects. Additionally, BLS will spend approximately $8 million for review and dissemination of labor force data.
15. Changes in Respondent Burden
Total respondent burden for the collection of labor force information will be unchanged at 82,500 hours in 2014.
16. Time Schedule for Information Collection and Publication
A large portion of the labor force data obtained through the CPS is published on a monthly basis. Other data from the survey, such as those on earnings, are published on a quarterly basis. Still other data, such as the detailed information on employment and unemployment at the local level, are published on an annual basis. The monthly data are released soon after collection, the usual lag averaging 19 days after the start of interviewing.
Monthly data are published in the Employment Situation news release. This release can be found on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/schedule/archives/empsit_nr.htm, and a schedule of the release dates is available at www.bls.gov/schedule/news_release/empsit.htm. BLS also publishes a variety of other news releases and reports using CPS data, which are posted on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/cps/news.htm.
17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date
The Census Bureau does not wish to display the assigned expiration date of the information collection because the instrument is automated and the respondent, therefore, would never see the date. The advance letter sent to households by the Census Bureau contains Census’s OMB clearance number for the CPS and Census’s version of the failure to comply notice (Attachment C). Copies of this advance letter are stockpiled by the Census Bureau for use as needed; changes to the letter would make the current inventory of letters unusable.
18. Exceptions to the Certification
There are no exceptions to the certification.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT |
| Author | OEUS Network |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-28 |