OEWS Stakeholder Outreach Mini Supporting Statement

Request for Approval under the “DOL Departmental Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback”

(OMB Control Number: 1225-0088)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Stakeholder Outreach Survey for the Occupational Employment and Wages Survey (OEWS)

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this information collection is to obtain feedback from customers (aka data users) of data produced by the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Survey (OEWS). The feedback will be used to better understand the customer experience with OEWS data and information products and whether these products meet their needs (i.e., the data is easy to use and includes scope and detail that is useful). The information collected will be used to inform future changes and the next OEWS strategic plan.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Respondents are individuals who are broadly considered customers of OEWS data and information products. OEWS data is available through the BLS website and may be reproduced by states or other federal agencies. The OEWS website includes additional information products such as charts and maps highlighting OEWS data.

Customers of these products is defined as frequent or casual (including first time) users of OEWS data, or those who subscribe to receive updates when data is released. Respondents may represent individuals from other federal or state government agencies, or members of the general population that have an interest in data on employment and wages by occupation, industry, and geography. This can include (but not limited to) economic related researchers, employers or HR professionals, or job seekers.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [X] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________________

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Douglas Williams

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X] No

2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [X] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Unique OEWS website visitors	1,500	6 minutes	150 hours
OEWS product subscribers	3,800	6 minutes	380 hours
State Government Agencies (Customers)	350	6 minutes	35 hours
Totals	5,650		565 hours

The number of respondents was estimated based on assumed participation rates by customer group. For OEWS unique website visitors (who are not OEWS data product subscribers) a response rate of approximately 5% is assumed to a banner survey invitation link (based on historical data showing 30,000 unique website visitors). For OEWS product subscribers a response rate of approximately 10% is assumed to a single email invitation. For state government customers a higher rate of 25% is assumed to a single email invitation.

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $1375.60 (estimated based on an average GS-14/5 salary rate of $68.78 and an estimated 20 hours to develop the survey, post and submit, receive responses, and analyze and report on the responses.)

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [X] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan). If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

The survey(s) will solicit responses from customers using various methods:

• Include a link to the survey in email responses to customer inquiries related to OEWS.

• Include a link in a banner on the product survey homepage (OEWS public page).

Additionally, an email frame of customers who are subscribed to receive updates for OEWS data will receive a request to complete a survey. This also includes the following:

• Internal and External State Customers, including, but not limited to:

  • LMI directors and projections programs

• Federal Agencies, including, but not limited to:

  • Department of Labor (DOL) (e.g., Wage and Hours; ETA; and others)

  • Department of Transportation (DOT)

  • Department of Defense (DOD)

  • Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

  • National Science Foundation (NSF)

  • Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPac)

  • Department of Education (ED)

Survey invitations (with survey link) will only be sent for subscribers; directors or representatives for state and federal agencies will share the survey link.

The subscriber count to OEWS is approximately 38,000.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [X] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.