Supporting Statement A

Status: Original and derived artifacts are available for this document.

Download: pdf

Supporting Statement for the
Intermittent Survey of Businesses
(FR 1374; OMB No. 7100-0302)
Summary
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), under authority
delegated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has extended for three years,
without revision, the ad hoc Intermittent Survey of Businesses (FR 1374; OMB No. 7100-0302).1
The survey data are used to gather information to enable the Federal Reserve System (System) to
carry out its policy and operational responsibilities. Under the guidance of the Board, Reserve
Banks survey business contacts as economic developments warrant. Usually, these voluntary
surveys are conducted using an online survey tool, such as Qualtrics, to collect responses from
purchasing managers, economists, or other knowledgeable individuals at selected, relevant
businesses, and occasionally state and local governments. Occasionally, the survey will be
conducted via telephone or email. The frequency and content of the questions, as well as the
entities contacted, vary depending on developments in the economy. These surveys are
conducted to provide Board members and Reserve Bank presidents real-time insights into
economic conditions. The Board tailors these survey questions to match current concerns and
interests, but they are not meant to supplant the more rigorous, existing economic reporting. The
Board collects aggregate responses from the Reserve Banks and then distributes the information
to Board members and Reserve Bank presidents.
The estimated total annual burden for the FR 1374 is 1,125 hours. There is no formal
reporting form for this information collection.
Background and Justification
Prior to the 2002 implementation of this survey, the System found it helpful to collect
real-time information on an ad hoc basis from the business community. This information
typically reflected current business conditions and ongoing developments in the economy as well
as topical issues. Prior to 2002, however, the System limited its contacts to fewer than nine firms
and asked open-ended questions. The Board believes that it is valuable to gather information
from a broader variety of relevant firms and ask targeted questions to improve the System’s
understanding of the current economic situation and outlook. An in-depth understanding of these
types of special issues can be more accurately obtained in real time through direct inquiries with
contacts at relevant entities. Results derived from the collected information are distributed both
1

Certain criteria apply to information collections conducted under the Board’s ad hoc clearance process. Such
collections will (1) be reviewed and approved by the Board’s clearance officer and the Division Director of the
sponsoring division, (2) display the appropriate OMB control number, expiration date, and PRA statement, (3) be
used only in cases where the obligation to respond is voluntary, (4) be conducted only and exactly as described in
the currently approved OMB submission, (5) involve only subject matter that is non-controversial and that will not
raise concerns for other Federal agencies, (6) include a detailed justification of the effective and efficient statistical
survey methodology that will be used to assess the data collected (if applicable), and (7) collect personally
identifiable information (PII) only to the extent necessary (if collecting sensitive PII (SPII), the collection
instrument(s) must display the appropriate Privacy Act Statement). In addition, the information collection instrument
and respondent burden will be tracked internally and submitted to OMB.

to Board members and to the presidents of the Reserve Banks. The information is used by the
System to provide an additional view of current economic conditions.
In 2010, the respondent panel was revised to include state and local governments as
warranted by economic conditions. At that time, understanding how these governments were
allocating funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was of particular
interest. Because spending by state and local governments currently accounts for about
11 percent of total Gross Domestic Product, understanding developments in this sector helps the
System better understand the likely path for overall economic activity. In March 2020, the Board
discontinued the surveys conducted solely by the Board, as they had not been conducted in
recent prior years and did not foresee a need to administer those surveys in the future. This
information is not available from other sources.
Description of Information Collection
The topics discussed with the respondents are time sensitive, and the questions vary with
the topic. There is no standard reporting form because typically some of the questions change
with each survey. The Board understands that respondents use information technology to comply
with these requirements, including email and electronic survey tools such as Qualtrics. For each
survey, the Board prepares questions in advance of specific topical interest and determines a
relevant target group of firms to contact.
The following questions are regularly included on each survey:
1. Do you expect your firm to increase employment, remain unchanged, or decrease
employment over the next twelve months?
a. Increase
b. Unchanged
c. Decrease
2. (If your firm is planning to increase employment, please answer question 2. Otherwise,
skip to question 3) What are the three most important factors behind your plans to
increase employment?
a. Expected growth of sales is high
b. Current staff are overworked
c. Need skills not possessed by current staff
d. Labor costs have fallen
e. Decreased economic or financial uncertainty
f. Firm’s financial position has improved
g. Other factors (please specify)
3. (If your firm is actively seeking to hire workers, either to increase employment or to
replace departing workers, then please answer question 3, otherwise skip.) Which of the
following best describes your use of changes in starting wages and/or salaries to attract
new hires?
a. We are raising starting wages and/or salaries for most job categories

2

b. We are raising starting wages and/or salaries for only selected job categories
c. We are not raising starting wages and/or salaries
In addition, questions related to other time-sensitive, ad hoc topics related to how
businesses are experiencing salient aspects of current economic conditions may be included.
Examples of previous ad hoc topics include experiences with hiring qualified workers, restraints
on hiring practices, and the use of changes to wages and salaries to retain existing employees.
Respondent Panel
The FR 1374 panel comprises businesses, and as warranted by economic conditions, state
and local governments.
Frequency and Time Schedule
The FR 1374 survey is typically conducted annually, but it may be conducted up to three
times a year depending on developments in the economy. The survey is generally conducted
during October and November in connection with interviews done by Reserve Banks with
managers, economists, or other knowledgeable individuals at selected, relevant businesses, and
as warranted by economic conditions, state and local governments.
Public Availability of Data
Individual survey responses to the FR 1374 are not published. Aggregate data regarding
responses to the FR 1374 are tabulated by each Reserve Bank and sent to the Board, where they
are compiled for review by Board members and Reserve Bank presidents. These data are
generally not published, but each Reserve Bank may use its own district-level results for any
official business purposes, including research that leads to publication, to the extent that
respondents have not been granted confidential treatment of their submissions as described
below.
Legal Status
The FR 1374 is authorized by sections 2A and 12A of the Federal Reserve Act (FRA).
Section 2A of the FRA requires that the Board and the Federal Open Market Committee
(FOMC) “maintain long-run growth of the monetary and credit aggregates commensurate with
the economy’s long run potential to increase production, so as to promote effectively the goals of
maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates” (12 U.S.C. § 225a).
Section 12A of the FRA further requires the FOMC to implement regulations relating to the open
market operations conducted by Federal Reserve Banks “with a view to accommodating
commerce and business and with regard to their bearing upon the general credit situation of the
country” (12 U.S.C. § 263). The Board and FOMC use the information obtained through the
FR 1374 to discharge these responsibilities. Responding to surveys under the FR 1374 is
voluntary.

3

The information sought through the FR 1374 will vary with each survey. The Board’s
ability to keep confidential responses to the FR 1374 must therefore be determined on a case-bycase basis. Much of the information collected is likely to constitute nonpublic commercial or
financial information, which is both customarily and actually treated as private by a respondent,
and may be kept confidential by the Board pursuant to exemption 4 of the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(4)). To the extent a respondent submits personal,
medical, or similar files, the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of
privacy, the respondent may request confidential treatment pursuant to exemption 6 of the FOIA
(5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6)).
Aggregate survey information from the FR 1374 is not considered confidential and may
be cited in published material such as Board studies or working papers, proposed or final rules,
professional journals, the Federal Reserve Bulletin, testimony before and reports to Congress, or
other work product.
Consultation Outside the Agency
There has been no consultation outside the Federal Reserve System.
Public Comments
On July 16, 2025, the Board published an initial notice in the Federal Register (90 FR
32008) requesting public comment for 60 days on the extension, without revision, of the
FR 1374. The comment period for this notice expired on September 15, 2025. The Board did not
receive any comments. The Board adopted the extension, without revision, of the FR 1374 as
originally proposed. On January 12, 2026, the Board published a final notice in the Federal
Register (91 FR 1185).
Estimate of Respondent Burden
As shown in the table below, the estimated total annual burden for the FR 1374 is 1,125
hours. The number of respondents is determined by referencing the number of respondents for
each Reserve Bank’s district who are affiliated with the Beige Book production process.2 The
burden estimate is based on the standard Board burden calculation methodology. These reporting
requirements represent less than 1 percent of the Board’s total paperwork burden.

FR 1374

Estimated
number of
respondents

Current

1,500

Estimated
Estimated
annual
average hours
frequency per response
3

2

0.25

Estimated
annual burden
hours
1,125

The Intermittant Survey of Businesses is conducted in conjunction with the Beige Book process in order for
Reserve Banks to efficiently gather information from respondents at the same time.

4

The estimated total annual cost to the public for the FR 1374 is $81,169.3
Sensitive Questions
This information collection contains no questions of a sensitive nature, as defined by
OMB guidelines.
Estimate of Cost to the Federal Reserve System
The estimated cost to the Federal Reserve System for collecting and processing this
information collection is $13,300.

3

Total cost to the responding public is estimated using the following formula: total burden hours, multiplied by the
cost of staffing, where the cost of staffing is calculated as a percent of time for each occupational group multiplied
by the group’s hourly rate and then summed (30% Office & Administrative Support at $24, 45% Financial
Managers at $87, 15% Lawyers at $88, and 10% Chief Executives at $126). Hourly rates for each occupational
group are the (rounded) mean hourly wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Occupational Employment
and Wages, May 2024, published April 2, 2025, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm. Occupations are
defined using the BLS Standard Occupational Classification System, https://www.bls.gov/soc/.

5