Federal Register Notice

APPENDIX E
60-DAY FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 157 / Friday, August 14, 2015 / Notices

reproduction cost) payable to the United
States Treasury.
Susan M. Akers,
Assistant Section Chief, Environmental
Enforcement Section, Environment and
Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 2015–19982 Filed 8–13–15; 8:45 am]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training
Administration
Comment Request for Information
Collection for the Workforce
Investment Act (WIA) Adult and
Dislocated Worker Programs Gold
Standard Evaluation (WIA Evaluation);
Extension Request Without a Change
to an Existing Collection
Employment and Training
Administration (ETA), Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

The Department of Labor
(Department), as part of its continuing
effort to reduce paperwork and
respondent burden, conducts a
preclearance 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 (PRA) [44 U.S.C.
3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program helps to
ensure that required 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 Department notes that a Federal
agency cannot conduct or sponsor a
collection of information unless it is
approved by the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) under the PRA and
displays a currently valid OMB control
number, and the public is not required
to respond to an information collection
request unless it displays a currently
valid OMB control number. Also,
notwithstanding any other provisions of
law, no person shall be subject to
penalty for failing to comply with a
collection of information if the
collection of information does not
display a currently valid OMB control
number (see 5 CFR 1320.5(a) and
1320.6).
This information collection request is
to obtain extended clearance for
Mathematica Policy Research, under
contract to ETA, to continue to
administer a follow-up survey to WIA

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SUMMARY:

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customers participating in the WIA
Evaluation for an additional six months.
The customers are being surveyed 30
months after they were randomly
assigned.
DATES: Written comments must be
submitted to the office listed in the
addresses section below on or before on
or before October 13, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Eileen
Pederson, Office of Policy Development
and Research, Employment and
Training Administration, U.S.
Department of Labor, 200 Constitution
Ave. NW., Room N–5641, Washington,
DC 20210. Telephone number: (202)
693–3647 (this is not a toll-free
number). Email address:
[email protected]. Fax number:
(202) 693–2766 (this is not a toll-free
number).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Passage of WIA (Pub. L. 105–220) led
to a major redesign of the country’s
workforce system. WIA programs serve
more than 6 million people annually at
a cost of over $3 billion (U.S.
Department of Labor, Fiscal Year 2012
Budget in Brief). Among its goals, WIA
aims to bring formerly fragmented
public and private employment services
together in a single location within each
community, make them accessible to a
wider population than did prior
employment services and training,
empower customers with greater ability
to choose from services and training
options, and provide localities greater
local flexibility in using funds and
greater accountability for customers’
employment outcomes. In July 2014, the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
Act of 2014 (WIOA) was signed into
law, superseding the Workforce
Investment Act of 1998. Although
WIOA makes some important changes to
the public workforce investment system,
the Adult and Dislocated Worker
programs continue to exist and offer job
seekers a similar set of services. Lessons
learned from the WIA Evaluation can
inform policymakers and program
administrators as WIOA is
implemented.
Congress mandated in section 172 of
the WIA legislation that the Secretary of
Labor conduct at least one multi-site
control group evaluation. Accordingly,
the Department has undertaken the WIA
Evaluation to provide rigorous,
nationally representative estimates of
the net-impacts of WIA intensive and
training services. Intensive services
involve substantial staff assistance and
include assessments, counseling, and
job placement. Training services include

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education and occupational skills
building. This evaluation will offer
policymakers, program administrators,
and service providers information about
the relative effectiveness of services,
including training, how the
effectiveness varies by target
population, and how the services are
provided. The study will also produce
estimates of the benefits and costs of
WIA intensive and training services.
The Department contracted with
Mathematica Policy Research and its
subcontractors—Social Policy Research
Associates, MDRC, and the Corporation
for a Skilled Workforce—to conduct this
evaluation.
Random assignment occurred in 28
randomly-selected Local Workforce
Investment Areas (LWIAs) between
November 2011 and April 2013. The
length of the intake period was
determined in consultation with the
Local Workforce Investment Board and/
or LWIA administrators. WIA customers
who were eligible for intensive services
were randomly assigned to one of three
groups: (1) The full-WIA group—adults
and dislocated workers in this group
could receive any WIA service for
which they are eligible; (2) the core-andintensive group—adults and dislocated
workers in this group could receive any
WIA core and intensive services for
which they are eligible, but not training;
and (3) the core-only group—adults and
dislocated workers in this group could
receive only core services and no WIA
intensive or training services. Customers
who did not consent to participate in
the study were allowed to receive core
services only for the duration of the
study intake period in the respective
LWIA.
About 36,000 WIA adult and
dislocated worker customers were
randomly assigned to the evaluation—
about 32,000 customers to the full-WIA
group and about 2,000 customers to
each of the restricted-service groups. All
4,000 members of the restricted-service
groups and a random sample of 2,000
customers in the full-WIA group are
being asked to complete two follow-up
surveys.
The WIA Evaluation will address the
following research questions:
1. Does access to WIA intensive services,
alone or in conjunction with WIA-funded
training, lead adults and dislocated workers
to achieve better educational, employment,
earnings, and self-sufficiency outcomes than
they would achieve in the absence of access
to those services?
2. Does the effectiveness of WIA vary by
population subgroup? Is there variation by
sex, age, race/ethnicity, unemployment
insurance receipt, prior education level,
previous employment history, adult and

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 157 / Friday, August 14, 2015 / Notices
dislocated worker status, and veteran and
disability status?
3. How does the implementation of WIA
vary by LWIA? Does the effectiveness of WIA
vary by how it is implemented? To what
extent do implementation differences explain
variations in WIA’s effectiveness?
4. Do the benefits from WIA intensive and
training services exceed program costs? Do
the benefits of intensive services exceed their
costs? Do the benefits of training services
exceed their costs? Do the benefits exceed the
costs for adults? Do the benefits exceed the
costs for dislocated workers?

An initial package for the WIA
Evaluation, approved in September
2011 (OMB No. 1205–0482), requested
clearance for the customer intake
process which included: A form to
check the study eligibility of the
customer; a customer study consent
form (indicating the customer’s
knowledge of the evaluation and
willingness to participate); the
collection of baseline data through a
study registration form; and a contact
information form. The package also
included site visit guides for the
collection of qualitative information on
WIA program processes and services.
A second package, approved in
January 2013 (OMB No. 1205–0504),
requested clearance for the two followup surveys to be conducted at 15 and 30
months after random assignment, a cost
data collection package consisting of
three forms, and the Veterans’
Supplemental Study consisting of
qualitative and quantitative data to be
collected at the 28 LWIAs participating
in the WIA Evaluation.
In March 2015, a nonsubstantive
change request was approved to modify

the incentives used for both follow-up
surveys approved under OMB No.
1205–0504.
This new request is to extend OMB
clearance of the final 30-month followup survey administration (OMB No.
1205–0504), which will expire on
January 31, 2016, for an additional six
months, to July 31, 2016. This extension
will allow additional time to locate
sample members for administration of
the survey. There are no revisions to the
information collection forms or total
respondent burden. This request does
not include an extension to the 15month follow-up survey, the cost data
collection package, or the Veterans’
Supplemental Study.
The 30-month follow-up survey
collects data on study participants’
receipt of services and study participant
outcomes on attainment of education
credentials, labor market success, and
family self-sufficiency. The survey is
administered by telephone to 6,000
study participants—all 2,000 members
of each of the core-only and core-andintensive groups and 2,000 randomly
selected study participants in the fullWIA group. These data will be used to
estimate the impacts of WIA intensive
and training services.
II. Desired Focus of Comments
Currently, the Department is soliciting
comments concerning the above data
collection. Comments are requested
which:
• Evaluate whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of the
functions of the agency, including

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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;
and
• Enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and minimize the burden of
the information collection on those who
are to respond, including 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
At this time, the Department is
requesting clearance for a six-month
extension of OMB clearance allowed to
complete the WIA Evaluation’s 30month follow-up survey.
Type of Review: Extension without a
change.
Title of Collection: WIA Adult and
Dislocated Worker Programs Gold
Standard Evaluation.
OMB Number: 1205–0504.
Affected Public: Low-income,
disadvantaged adults and dislocated
workers who have received services
from American Job Centers (formerly
One-Stop Career Centers).
Cite/Reference/Form/etc.: Workforce
Investment Act of 1998, section 172
(Pub. L. 105–220) and Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act,
section 169 (Pub. L. 113–128).

AUNNAL BURDEN ESTIMATES FOR THE WIA EVALUATION 30–MONTH FOLLOW–UP SURVEY BETWEEN FEBRUARY 1, 2016
AND JULY 31, 2016
Activity

Number of
respondents1

Responses
per
respondent

Average time per response

Total
respondent
burden
(hours)

30-Month Follow-Up Survey ...................................................

1,230

1

30 minutes ..............................

615

1Attempts

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will be made to complete interviews with 6,000 sample members in each wave of the follow-up survey. To achieve the targeted response rate of 82 percent, interviews will be completed with 4,920 sample members. The 30-Month follow-up survey will be fielded through July
31, 2016. We expect to have completed interviews with 3,690 sample members by January 31, 2016, when the current OMB clearance expires.
We expect to complete 1,230 additional interviews between February 1 and July 31, 2016, the extension proposed in this request.

The 30-month follow-up survey will
be administered once to each
respondent. The survey is designed to
take an average of 30 minutes to
complete using computer-assisted
telephone interviewing. Therefore, the
total annual burden to conduct the 30month follow-up survey is 1,230 hours
((4,920 interviews × 0.5 hours per
interview) ÷ 2 years). This amount will
not change with this extension request.
However, the burden to conduct the 30-

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month follow-up survey during the six
month extension period is a total of 615
hours (1,230 interviews × 0.5 hours per
interview). The total estimated annual
other cost burden for the six month
extension period is $4,458.75 (1,230
interviews × 0.5 hours per interview ×
$7.25 per hour).
Comments submitted in response to
this request will be summarized and/or
included in the request for OMB

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approval; they will also become a matter
of public record.
Portia Wu,
Assistant Secretary for Employment and
Training, Labor.
[FR Doc. 2015–19928 Filed 8–13–15; 8:45 am]
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