[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 86 (Monday, May 5, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25569-25570]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-10172]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44
U.S.C. chapter 35).
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey.
OMB Control Number: 0607-0190.
Form Number(s): SM4212-A, SM-4212-E.
Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.
Burden Hours: 5,880.
Number of Respondents: 4,200.
Average Hours per Response: 7 minutes.
Needs and Uses: The Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey (MWTS) canvasses
firms primarily engaged in merchant wholesale trade that are located in
the United States, excluding manufacturers' sales branches and offices
(MSBOs). This survey provides the only continuous measure of monthly
wholesale sales, end-of-month inventories, and inventories-to-sales
ratios. The sales and inventories estimates produced from the MWTS
provide current trends of economic activity by kind of business for the
United States. Also, the estimates compiled from this survey provide
valuable information for economic policy decisions by the government
and are widely used by private businesses, trade organizations,
professional associations, and other business research and analysis
organizations.
As one of the U.S. Census Bureau's principal economic indicators,
the estimates produced by the MWTS are critical to the accurate
measurement of total economic activity of the United States. The
estimates of sales made by wholesale locations represent only merchant
wholesalers, excluding MSBOs, who typically take title to goods bought
for resale to other companies. Wholesalers normally sell to industrial
distributors, retail operations, cooperatives, and other businesses.
The sales estimates include sales made on credit as well as on a cash
basis, but exclude receipts from sales taxes and interest charges from
credit sales.
The estimates of inventories represent all merchandise held in
wholesale locations, warehouses, and offices, as well as goods held by
others for sale on consignment or in transit for distribution to
wholesale establishments. The estimates of inventories exclude fixtures
and supplies not for resale, as well as merchandise held on
consignment, which are owned by others. Inventories are an important
component in the Bureau of Economic Analysis' (BEA) calculation of the
investment portion of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
We publish wholesale sales and inventories estimates based on the
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), which has been
widely adopted throughout both the public and private sectors.
The Census Bureau tabulates the collected data to provide, with
measurable reliability, statistics on sales, end-of-month inventories,
and inventories-to-sales ratios for merchant wholesalers, excluding
MSBOs.
The BEA is the primary Federal user of data collected in the MWTS.
The BEA uses estimates from this survey to prepare the national income
and product accounts (NIPA), input-output
[[Page 25570]]
accounts (I-O), and GDP by industry. End-of-month inventories are used
to prepare the change in private inventories component of GDP. Sales
are used to prepare estimates of real inventories-to-sales ratios in
the NIPAs, extrapolate proprietors' income for wholesalers (until tax
return data become available) in the NIPAs, and extrapolate annual
current-dollar gross output for the most recent year in annual I-O
tables, GDP-by-industry, and advance GDP-by-industry estimates.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics uses the data as input to its
Producer Price Indexes and in developing productivity measurements.
Private businesses use the wholesale sales and inventories data in
computing business activity indexes. Other government agencies and
businesses use this information for market research, product
development, and business planning to gauge the current trends of the
economy.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
Frequency: Monthly.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Section 182.
This information collection request may be viewed at reginfo.gov.
Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce collections
currently under review by OMB.
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice
to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.
Dated: April 29, 2014
Gwellnar Banks,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2014-10172 Filed 5-2-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P