[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 185 (Thursday, September 24, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57569-57570]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-24214]


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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: Service Annual Survey (SAS).
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0422.
    Form Number(s): There are 162 individual collection instruments in 
the SAS, each having its own form number.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Number of Respondents: 82,240.
    Average Hours per Response: 3.73063 hours.
    Burden Hours: 306,807.
    Needs and Uses: Over 50 percent of all economic activity is 
accounted for by ``services'' defined to exclude retail and wholesale 
trade. The U.S. Census Bureau currently measures the total output of 
most of these service industries annually in the Service Annual Survey 
(SAS). This survey currently covers all or some of: Utilities; 
Transportation and Warehousing; Information; Finance and Insurance; 
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing; Professional, Scientific, and 
Technical Services; Administration and Support and Waste Management and 
Remediation Services; Educational Services; Health Care and Social 
Assistance; Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation; and Other Services as 
defined by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). 
Beginning with survey year 2016, which will be mailed in January 2017, 
Accommodation and Food Services will also be collected as part of the 
SAS. Previously the accommodation and food services industry was 
collected as part of the Annual Retail Trade Survey (ARTS), OMB number 
0607-0013. The reason is that under the NAICS structure, the 
Accommodation and Food Services sector is classified under services 
rather than retail.
    Estimates from the SAS are essential to a better understanding and 
higher quality estimates of economic growth, real output, prices, and 
productivity for our nation's economy. A broad spectrum of government 
and private stakeholders use these estimates in analyzing business and 
economic sectors; developing statistics on services; forecasting 
economic growth; and compiling data on productivity, prices, and the 
gross domestic product

[[Page 57570]]

(GDP). In addition, trade and professional organizations use these 
estimates to analyze industry trends, benchmark their own statistical 
programs, and develop forecasts. Private businesses use these estimates 
to measure market share, analyze business potential, and plan 
investments. Comprehensive, comparative annual data on the services 
sector are not available from any other source.
    Annual Services Report is the collection instrument for the SAS. 
The key inquiries for the SAS are total revenue, total expenses, and 
general expense detail items. For some sectors, we also collect revenue 
detail items that are specific to a particular industry. The 
availability of these data greatly improves the quality of the 
intermediate-inputs and value-added estimates in BEA's annual input-
output and GDP by industry accounts.
    A new sample will be introduced with the 2016 SAS survey year. In 
order to link estimates from the new and prior samples, we will be 
asking companies to provide data for 2016 and 2015. The 2017 SAS and 
subsequent years will request one year of data until a new sample is 
once again introduced.
    The estimates produced in the SAS are critical to the accurate 
measurement of total economic activity.
     The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the primary Federal 
user, uses the estimates to develop the national income and product 
accounts, compile benchmark and annual input-output tables, and compute 
GDP by industry.
     The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) uses the estimates as 
inputs to its Producer Price Indexes and in developing productivity 
measurements.
     The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) use 
the estimates for program planning and development of the National 
Health Expenditure Accounts.
     The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) uses the 
estimates to assess the impact of regulatory policies.
     International agencies use the estimates to compare total 
domestic output to changing international activity.
     Private industry also uses the estimates as a tool for 
marketing analysis.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit, Not-for-profit 
institutions, Federal Government.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 131 and 182 
authorize the collection. Sections 224 and 225 make reporting 
mandatory.
    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.
    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.

Sheleen Dumas,
PRA Lead, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-24214 Filed 9-23-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P