[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 162 (Friday, August 21, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50824-50825]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-20709]
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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: Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization.
OMB Control Number: 0607-0175.
Form Number(s): MQ-C2.
Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.
Number of Respondents: 7,500.
Average Hours Per Response: 2 hours and 5 minutes.
Burden Hours: 62,500.
Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau on behalf of the Federal
Reserve Board (FRB) and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), within the
Department of Defense (DOD), requests an extension of approval for the
Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization (QPC). The survey
provides information on use of industrial capacity in manufacturing and
publishing plants as defined by the North American Industry
Classification System (NAICS). The Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization
began in the 1970's as an annual survey that collected fourth quarter
data only. The annual survey continued through 2006. In 2007 the FRB
requested that the survey be converted to a quarterly survey due to the
necessity for quarterly data rather than annual. The survey is the only
source of capacity rates at industry levels. Changes in capacity
utilization are considered important indicators of investment demand
and inflationary pressure. For these reasons, the estimates of capacity
utilization are closely monitored by government policy makers and
private sector decision makers.
This survey utilizes a multi-mode data collection process that
includes internet reporting, fax, telephone and mail. The survey
collects the value of quarterly production and the value of production
that could be achieved if operating under ``full production''
capability and ``emergency production'' capability. The ratio of the
actual to the full is the basis of the estimates of full capacity
utilization rates and similarly, the actual to the emergency for the
emergency capacity utilization rates. The survey also collects
information by shift, on work patterns at the actual production level.
The FRB is the primary user of the current QPC data and expressed
the need for these quarterly data. FRB publishes measures of industrial
production (IP), capacity, and capacity utilization in its G.17
statistical release, which has been designated by the federal
government as a Principal Federal Economic Indicator. Utilization rates
from the QPC are a principle source for the measures of capacity and
capacity utilization. The indexes of IP are either estimated from
physical product data or estimated from monthly data on inputs to the
production process, specifically production worker hours and an
indicator of capital input. For many years, data on electric power use
was used as the indicator of industry capital input. The deregulation
of electricity markets led to the deterioration in the coverage and
quality of the electricity data. As a result, in November 2005, the FRB
discontinued its use of the industrial electric power data in the
current estimates of IP. In order to maintain the quality of the IP
index, the collection of these quarterly data, including the
utilization rate data and the workweek of capital, are critical
indicators of capital input use and industry output.
The FRB uses these data in several ways. First, the QPC data is the
primary source of the benchmark information for the capacity indexes
and utilization rates published by the FRB. Second, the QPC utilization
rate data and the capital workweek data are used as an indicator of
capital use in the estimation of monthly IP. Third, the QPC utilization
rate data and the workweek data are used to improve the projections of
labor productivity that are used to align IP with comprehensive
benchmark information from the Economic Census covering the
Manufacturing sector and the Annual Survey of Manufactures. Finally,
utilization rate data will assist in the assessment of recent changes
in IP, as most of the high-frequency movement in utilization rates
reflect production changes rather than capacity changes.
The DLA uses the data to assess readiness to meet demand for goods
under selected national emergency scenarios.
In addition to the FRB and DLA uses, these data are published on
the Census Bureau's Web site, http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/capacity/index.html.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit.
Frequency: Quarterly.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Section 8(b), 50
U.S.C. Section 98, et. seq, and 12 U.S.C. Section 244.
This information collection request may be viewed at
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce
collections currently under review by OMB.
[[Page 50825]]
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: August 18, 2015.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-20709 Filed 8-20-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P