Justification

Employment and Training Administration, Office of Apprenticeship

Justification for Non-Material Change to

Title 29 CFR Part 29 -- Labor Standards for the Registration of Apprenticeship Programs

OMB Control Number 1205-0223

Expiration Date: 01/31/2020

Background: It was brought to the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Office of Apprenticeship’s (OA’s) attention, by a Registered Apprenticeship Sponsor, that our definitions for “race” in our current approved form ETA 671 under OMB control number 1205-0223 were outdated definitions used by Census in 1997. In particular, these definitions (esp. for Black or African American) were found to be offensive by some of the Sponsor’s apprentices, and the company requested an update to our race definitions. It should be noted that the race definitions were recently updated by the Census Bureau ahead of the 2020 Census collection.

Request: OA is requesting a non-material change to section 4b of form ETA 671 to modernize and codify our definitions for race in alignment with current OMB definitions. Specifically, the definitions will now refer to:

Item 4.b. Definitions - Race:

American Indian or Alaska Native. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.

Asian. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as "Black or African American," or report entries such as African American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian.

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.

White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.].