[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 53 (Monday, March 20, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14012-14014]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-3969]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Proposed Information Collection Submitted for Public Comment and
Recommendations: Evaluation of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to
reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre-clearance
consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies
with an opportunity to comment on proposed collections of information
in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
3506)(c)(2)(A). This program helps to ensure that requested data can be
provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial
resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood,
and the impact of the collection requirements on respondents can be
properly assessed.
DATES: Submit comments on or before May 19, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Ms. Charlotte Schifferes, Employment and
Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution
Avenue, NW., Room N-5637, Washington, DC 20210; (202) 693-3655 (this is
not a toll-free number); e-mail: schifferes.charlotte@dol.gov; and fax:
(202) 693-2766 (this is not a toll-free number).
[[Page 14013]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Charlotte Schifferes, Employment
and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution
Avenue, NW., Room N-5637, Washington, DC 20210; (202) 693-3655 e-mail:
schifferes.charlotte@dol.gov; and fax: (202) 693-2766. Copies of this
Paperwork Reduction Act Submission Package are at this Web site: http:/
/www.doleta.gov/Performance/guidance/OMBControlNumber.cfm.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting
comments regarding data collection for the impact evaluation of the
Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, reauthorized and amended in
2002. The evaluation, begun in January 2004, was motivated by enactment
of new TAA legislation and is part of a planned cycle of evaluations in
response to the Program Assessment Rating Tool reviews by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB). The TAA evaluation is intended to generate
information that will be useful in responding to programmatic issues
and in developing administrative guidance, technical assistance, and
legislative or budgetary proposals.
The TAA program provides training, income support, and other
reemployment and supportive services to workers who lose their jobs or
have their work hours or salary reduced because of increased imports or
shifts in production to foreign countries. The Trade Adjustment
Assistance Reform Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-210) reauthorized the TAA
program for five years and amended the prior law in a number of ways.
It consolidated TAA and the North American Free Trade Agreement
Transitional Adjustment Assistance programs into a single program,
broadened eligibility to include secondarily affected workers, and
created two new benefits: the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) and
Alternative TAA for eligible workers 50 years old and above. The new
law also included provisions to change how the program is administered,
such as the requirement that states must ensure that rapid response
assistance and appropriate core and intensive services are made
available.
The primary focus of the evaluation of the TAA program is to
understand how TAA benefits and training services affect the employment
and earnings of participants. In order to estimate these net impacts,
outcomes of two groups of TAA participants will be compared to outcomes
of two statistically matched comparison groups of Unemployment
Insurance (UI) recipients. This quasi-experimental approach will
require extensive information on demographic and personal
characteristics as well as on programmatic experiences of both TAA
participants and the comparison group. This information will be gleaned
from state TAA and UI administrative records and from baseline and
follow-up surveys of individuals in the treatment and comparison
groups.
Finally, to understand how various program and administrative
practices affect TAA performance, including the various types of
collaboration and administrative arrangements through which TAA
operates in the One-Stop Career Center system under the Workforce
Investment Act (WIA), information will be gleaned from site visits to
states and localities and from a survey of all local TAA programs.
Administrative records will be requested from a sample of up to 25
states (randomly selected proportionate to size). These records will
include: (1) Rosters of TAA-eligible workers to be used for selecting
samples of workers; (2) UI and Trade Readjustment Allowance claims data
to measure claims amounts and draw the comparison-group sample; (3) UI
wage records to measure pre-separation and post-separation employment
and earnings for those in the treatment and comparison groups; and (4)
TAA and WIA participant files to measure participant characteristics
and service use. The baseline and follow-up surveys will be used to
supplement information available from the administrative records by
adding information about demographic and household characteristics,
reasons for participating (or not participating) in services, services
received, training outcomes, methods of job search, and employment
history before and after the job separation. The survey will be
administered by telephone in 2006 to a randomly selected sample of
approximately 10,000 workers, divided between those in the TAA
treatment and comparison groups. Smaller but still substantial numbers
will be re-interviewed 15 and 30 months after the initial baseline
survey.
Six rounds of site visits to states and localities will be
conducted during the course of the evaluation, including those for the
already completed Initial Implementation Study (that explored
implementation of key reform elements in the 2002 legislation). The
depth of information from the site visits will be complemented by a
breadth of information to be collected from a local survey to be
administered in 2006. This local survey will be administered nationwide
to local One-Stop Career Centers with substantial TAA activity to
elicit information about general issues of TAA operations, including
the types of TAA services provided, program integration within the One-
Stop system, recruitment efforts for the TAA program, and the
timeliness of early-intervention activities, among other issues.
II. Desired Focus of Comments
Currently, ETA is soliciting comments concerning data collection
for the five-year TAA evaluation that:
(a) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility;
(b) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
(c) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and
(d) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submissions of responses.
A copy of material relating to the proposed information collection
request (ICR) can be obtained by contacting the office listed above in
the addressee section of this notice. Items that can be obtained
include: (1) The proposed ``supporting statement'' which describes the
purpose, methodology, and respondent burdens of the evaluation, (2) a
technical appendix that includes mathematical formulas regarding
statistical aspects of the evaluation, (3) instruments for the baseline
and follow-up surveys of the comparison and treatment groups, (4) site
visit protocols for state and local visits, and (5) the instrument for
the survey of local areas.
III. Current Actions
Type of Review: New.
Agency: Employment and Training Administration.
Title: Evaluation of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program.
OMB Number: New.
Affected Public: Individuals eligible for TAA program benefits and
services; individuals receiving unemployment insurance; and state and
local
[[Page 14014]]
administrators of TAA, UI, and WIA programs.
Respondents and Burden Hours: See table below on the data
collection activities.
Respondent Hours Burden for the TAA Evaluation
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Average
Activity Total Frequency minutes per Burden
respondents response hours
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Impact Analysis
State Administrative Data:
Requests.......................... 25 Thrice........................... 480 600
Baseline Survey................... 7,965 One time......................... 35 4,646
15-Month Follow-up Survey......... 5,310 One time......................... 30 2,655
30-Month Follow-up Survey......... 3,540 One time......................... 30 1,770
Process Analysis
Administration of Site Visit
Protocols:
State staff (rounds 1 & 3)........ 150 Twice............................ 120 600
Local area staff (rounds 2, 4, and 600 One time......................... 120 1,200
5).
State staff (round 5)............. 125 One time......................... 120 250
Total......................... ........... ................................. ........... 2,500
Survey of All Local Areas
State phone screener.................. 50 One time......................... 10 8
Local mail survey..................... 700 One time......................... 20 233
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Total Burden Cost for capital and startup: $0. There are no start-
up costs; however, states will incur minimal costs associated with
providing data files for TAA and UI.
Total Burden Cost for operation and maintenance: $0. There are no
on-going costs for operation and maintenance.
Comments submitted in response to this request will be summarized
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of the information
collection request; they will also become a matter of public record.
Dated: March 10, 2006.
Emily Stover DeRocco,
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training.
[FR Doc. E6-3969 Filed 3-17-06; 8:45 am]
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