Note to Reviewer - Form v Letter Test (2020)

MEMORANDUM FOR: Reviewer of 1220-0011

FROM: Nic Johnson

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics

Division of Current Employment Statistics

Current Employment Statistics (CES)

SUBJECT: Enrollment Letter Test

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics (CES) program would like to conduct the 3^rd phase of testing the impact of using different approaches to enroll firms to participate in the CES program (Attachment A). Thus, the CES program is seeking OMB approval to conduct the 3^rd phase of this series of tests. This test involves sending a modified, single-page enrollment letter to firms during survey enrollment. The letter was developed in consultation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Office of Survey Methods Research.

Currently, the CES program sends a 4-page enrollment packet--which includes a collection form—to new enrollees. We would like to test sending the modified, single-page enrollment letter (Attachment B) instead for the purpose of testing whether it better facilitates the initial enrollment phone call. During this initial call, the interviewer will offer to provide the traditional 4-page enrollment packet either electronically or by mail. The primary focus of this test is to determine if providing the form electronically improves the enrollment process by allowing the interviewer to provide it to the respondent on demand, which is something that many respondents have requested.

We will first run the modified enrollment letter as a pilot test for 1-3 months on a sample of up to 100 firms per month. This pilot test is to work on the logistics of changing the process flow for the CES Data Collection Centers. If the pilot is successful, we will then run a second test on approximately 1000 firms per month for 3 months. The results will be compared with a controlled group and the hope is that we’ll obtain significantly higher cooperation and participation from the modified enrollment letter group.

If the test is successful, the CES program will seek OMB approval to revise the existing collection to include the use of the modified enrollment letter for all newly enrollment firms.

Attachments:

Attachment A – CES Enrollment Package Test Plan

Attachment B – Enrollment Letter