Note to Reviewer of 1220-0189

March 28, 2017

MEMORANDUM FOR: REVIEWER of 1220-0189

FROM: Jennifer Coleman

Division Chief, National Compensation Survey

Office of Compensation and Working Conditions

Bureau of Labor Statistics

SUBJECT: Non-substantive Change Request for the
Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS)

Clearance is being sought for the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS) program to stop collection of the current ORS questions that describe the cognitive demands of work.

The Information Collection for the ORS was initially approved by the of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on August 26, 2015. This clearance package covers the first three years of ORS collection which started in 2015 and ends in 2018.

The current cognitive question wording is not yielding data that meet Social Security Administration (SSA) needs or BLS expectations. As a result, BLS is revising and currently testing some revisions of cognitive questions through the Office of Survey Methods Research (OSMR) generic Clearance 1220-0141, and plans further field testing of these questions in the future.

The BLS included cognitive questions in the production survey although both BLS and SSA recognized the likely need for more research and revisions. The SSA did not plan to use the cognitive question data from the first (3 years) ORS sample in their Occupation Information System. SSA wanted to see the data and refine the questions to produce data they needed. Collecting these questions through the production clearance reduced the cost of collection versus conducting separate testing. The BLS requested and received OMB approval to change the cognitive questions under the current OMB Clearance on 4/12/2016 through the OMB non-substantive change process.  BLS began using these revised questions for collection in the second production sample group in May 2016, however with 50% of the sample collected, it appears these revisions were not sufficient.

Removing ORS cognitive data collection for the remaining one cycle will reduce respondent burden by approximately 20 minutes a schedule. This will reduce respondent burden of the third year cohort by 3,195 hours. The revised Private respondent burden is 13,352 hours (16,261 hours minus 2,729) and the revised State and local government burden is 2,188 hours (2,654 hours minus 466). A portion of this reduction will offset respondent burden necessary for field testing of new questions. This will enable larger-scale testing of the ORS cognitive and physical demands questions in the future.  From this testing and evaluation, BLS will have more refined and tested questions to incorporate into the next full OMB Clearance for ORS collection, which will be submitted in FY2018. 

Attachment A documents the questions to be dropped.

Approval is sought for revising forms OMB_ORS_Form_Gov_4PPD-4G and OMB_ORS_Form_Priv_4PPD-4P. (Attachments B and C)

If you have any questions about this non-substantive change request, please contact Paul Carney at 202-691-5180 or e-mail at [email protected], or Jennifer Coleman at 202-691-7128 or e-mail at [email protected]

Attachment A: Currently approved cognitive questions to be dropped.

Attachment B: Revised Government form

Attachment C: Revised Private form

Attachment A

ORS Questions to be dropped.

Decision-making

What is the highest level of independent judgment a worker is expected to use to perform the tasks of this occupation?

• Employee uses independent judgment to select from a limited number of predetermined actions.

• Employee uses independent judgment to determine the most appropriate course of action in situations that do not have set responses.

• Employee uses independent judgment to make decisions by choosing from a large number of possibilities in situations where a high degree of uncertainty or complexity may exist.

Work Review

How frequently is work checked in the occupation?

• More than once per day.

• Once per day.

• At least once per week, but less than daily.

• Less than weekly.

Pace

Are there faster and slower periods of work?

• Yes

• No

What is the fastest pace performed?

• Rapid with no periods of waiting.

• Steady with rare periods of waiting.

• Unhurried with much time spent observing or waiting, rushed periods rarely or never occur.

Control of Work Flow

Can a worker intervene and control the flow of work?

• Yes. The worker can change the priority of work tasks or the amount of time allotted to complete them.

• No. The work is primarily driven by business processes, production line speed, or customer demands.

Adaptability

Work tasks are the regular duties of an occupation. How often do work tasks change in this occupation?

• At least once per day.

• At least once per week, but less than daily.

• At least once per month, but less than weekly.

• Less than monthly, including never.

Work location is the physical site where work is performed. How often does the work location change in this occupation?

• Does not change unless it is permanent.

• Changes up to four times a year.

• Changes more than four times a year.

Work schedule is the work hours and days for the occupation set by the employer. Does the work schedule change in this occupation?

• Yes

• No

Personal Contacts
Regular Contacts: People with whom there is an established working relationship.
Other Contacts: People with whom there is no established working relationship.
Select ONLY one (A, B, C, D) for each contact type:
How often does this occupation require verbal interaction (work related) with:	Regular Contacts	Other Contacts
(A) Constantly, every few minutes.
(B) More than once per hour, but not constantly.
(C) More than once per day, but not more than once per hour.
(D) No more than once per day; includes never.
Select ONLY one (A, B, C, D, E) for each contact type:
What type of work-related interactions does this occupation have with:	Regular Contacts	Other Contacts
(A) Exchanging straightforward, factual information.
(B) Coordinating work with others; solving recurring problems with cooperative parties.
(C) Some gentle persuading or soft-selling; discussing.
(D) Influencing; hard-selling; asserting control in situations.
(E) Resolving controversial or long-rage issues; defending; negotiating.

Notes:

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