[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 190 (Monday, October 1, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59989-59990]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-24086]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Labor Surplus Area Classification Under Executive Orders
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to announce the annual list of
labor surplus areas for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013.
DATES: Effective Date: The annual list of labor surplus areas is
effective October 1, 2012, for all states, the District of Columbia,
and Puerto Rico.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Samuel Wright, Office of Workforce
Investment, Employment and Training Administration, 200 Constitution
Avenue NW., Room S-4231, Washington, DC 20210. Telephone: (202) 693-
2870 (This is not a toll-free number).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Labor's regulations
implementing Executive Orders 12073 and 10582 are set forth at 20 CFR
Part 654, Subpart A. These regulations require the Employment and
Training Administration (ETA) to classify jurisdictions as labor
surplus areas pursuant to the criteria specified in the
[[Page 59990]]
regulations and to publish annually a list of labor surplus areas.
Pursuant to those regulations, ETA is hereby publishing the annual list
of labor surplus areas.
In addition, the regulations provide exceptional circumstance
criteria for classifying labor surplus areas when catastrophic events,
such as natural disasters, plant closings, and contract cancellations
are expected to have a long-term impact on labor market area
conditions, discounting temporary or seasonal factors.
Eligible Labor Surplus Areas
A Labor Surplus Area (LSA) is a civil jurisdiction that has a
civilian average annual unemployment rate during the previous two
calendar years of 20 percent or more above the average annual civilian
unemployment rate for all states during the same 24-month reference
period. Only official unemployment estimates provided to ETA by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics are used in making these classifications.
The average unemployment rate for all states includes data for the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The basic LSA classification criteria
include a ``floor unemployment rate.'' A civil jurisdiction must have
an unemployment rate of 6.0% or higher to be classified a LSA and a
``ceiling unemployment rate'' (10.0%). Any civil jurisdiction that has
an unemployment rate of 10% or higher is classified a LSA.
Civil jurisdictions are defined as follows:
(a) A city of at least 25,000 population on the basis of the most
recently available estimates from the Bureau of the Census; or
(b) A town or township in the States of Michigan, New Jersey, New
York, or Pennsylvania of 25,000 or more population and which possess
powers and functions similar to those of cities; or
(c) A county, except those counties which contain any type of civil
jurisdictions defined in A or B above and a county in the States of
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island; or
(d) A ``balance of county'' consisting of a county less any
component cities and townships identified in paragraphs A or B above;
or
(e) A county equivalent which is a town in the States of
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, or a municipio in the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Procedures for Classifying Labor Surplus Areas
The Department of Labor (DOL) issues the labor surplus area list on
a fiscal year basis. The list becomes effective each October 1 and
remains in effect through the following September 30. The reference
period used in preparing the current list was January 2010 through
December 2011. The national average unemployment rate (including Puerto
Rico) during this period was rounded to 9.4 percent. Twenty percent
higher than the national unemployment rate is 11.2 percent. Since the
ceiling unemployment rate is 10.0 percent, the qualifying rate for LSA
classification is 10.0 percent. Therefore, areas included on the FY
2013 labor surplus area list had an average unemployment rate of 10.0
percent or above during the reference period. When a city (that is a
civil jurisdiction) is part of a county and meets the unemployment
qualifier as a labor surplus area, then the balance of county, not the
county, will be used if the balance of county also meets the
unemployment criteria of a labor surplus area. The FY 2013 labor
surplus area list and the list of labor surplus areas in Puerto Rico
can be accessed, once the 2013 LSA list is published, at ETA's LSA Web
site http://www.doleta.gov/programs/lsa.cfm.
Petition for Exceptional Circumstance Consideration
The classification procedures also provide for the designation of
labor surplus areas under exceptional circumstance criteria. These
procedures permit the regular classification criteria to be waived when
an area experiences a significant increase in unemployment which is not
temporary or seasonal and which was not reflected in the data for the
2-year reference period. Under the program's exceptional circumstance
procedures, labor surplus area classifications can be made for civil
jurisdictions, Metropolitan Statistical Areas or Combined Statistical
Areas, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. In order for
an area to be classified as a labor surplus area under the exceptional
circumstance criteria, the state workforce agency must submit a
petition requesting such classification to the Department of Labor's
ETA. The current criteria for an exceptional circumstance
classification are: An area's unemployment rate is at least 10.0
percent for each of the three most recent months; a projected
unemployment rate of at least 10.0 percent for each of the next 12
months; and documentation that the exceptional circumstance event has
already occurred. The state workforce agency may file petitions on
behalf of civil jurisdictions, as well as Metropolitan Statistical
Areas or Micropolitan Statistical Areas. The addresses of state
workforce agencies are available on the ETA Web site at: http://www.doleta.gov/programs/lsa.cfm. State Workforce Agencies may submit
petitions in electronic format to [email protected], or in hard
copy to the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training
Administration, Office of Workforce Investment, 200 Constitution Avenue
NW, Room S-4231, Washington, DC 20210 Attention Samuel Wright. Data
collection for the petition is approved under OMB 1205-0207, expiration
date March 31, 2013.
Signed at Washington, DC, this 21st day of September, 2012.
Jane Oates,
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Administration.
[FR Doc. 2012-24086 Filed 9-28-12; 8:45 am]
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