[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 200 (Friday, October 16, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62572-62574]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-26373]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Comment Request for Information Collection for the Self-
Employment Training (SET) Demonstration Evaluation (SET Evaluation);
Extension Request Without Change to an Existing Collection
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration (ETA); Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (Department), as part of its
continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a
preclearance consultation program to provide the general public and
Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or
continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program
helps to ensure that required 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
collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed.
The Department notes that a Federal agency cannot conduct or
sponsor a collection of information unless it is approved by the Office
of Management
[[Page 62573]]
and Budget (OMB) under the PRA and displays a currently valid OMB
control number, and the public is not required to respond to a
collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB
control number. Also, notwithstanding any other provisions of law, no
person shall be subject to penalty for failing to comply with a
collection of information if the collection of information does not
display a currently valid OMB control number (see 5 CFR 1320.5(a) and
1320.6).
This information collection request (ICR) is to obtain extended
clearance for Mathematica Policy Research, under contract to ETA, to
administer the follow-up survey for the SET Evaluation. A 20-month
extension is requested to the data-collection period for the follow-up
survey.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the
addressee section below on or before December 15, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Janet Javar, U.S. Department of Labor, Room
S-2312, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210. Telephone
number: (202) 693-5954 (this is not a toll-free number). Email address:
[email protected]. Fax number: (202) 693-5961 (this is not a toll-
free number).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: ETA seeks to implement and rigorously evaluate the
effectiveness of innovative strategies for promoting employment based
on the authority granted to the agency under the Workforce Innovation
and Opportunity Act and, formerly, the Workforce Investment Act. The
SET Demonstration focuses specifically on self-employment as a
reemployment strategy for dislocated workers. The demonstration is
premised on the hypotheses that: (1) Self-employment could be a viable
strategy for dislocated workers to become reemployed; (2) starting a
small business is difficult, especially for individuals who lack
business expertise or access to start-up capital; and (3) dislocated
workers might experience difficulties locating and accessing training
and counseling services that could effectively prepare them for self-
employment via the existing workforce infrastructure.
The SET Demonstration will implement a new service delivery model
that seeks to better connect dislocated workers to self-employment
services. This approach differs from previous large-scale demonstration
programs, which have provided mixed evidence on the effectiveness of
self-employment services on earnings and employment, because the SET
Demonstration will: (1) Rely on self-employment advisors to offer more
intensive business development counseling services than prior
demonstrations have offered; and (2) concentrate on dislocated workers
who have fairly limited traditional employment prospects but are well-
positioned to benefit from self-employment counseling and training. The
SET Evaluation will assess the effectiveness of the SET Demonstration
model.
To achieve the study's target sample size, enrollment in the SET
program began in July 2013 and will continue through December 2015.
About 3,000 eligible applicants will be randomly assigned to either
receive SET services or to a control group. All 3,000 applicants are
asked to complete the 18-month follow-up survey.
An initial clearance request for the SET Evaluation was approved by
OMB in January 2013 (ICR reference number 201209-1205-001; OMB control
number 1205-0505). Clearance covered the study's consent and
application forms, the program participation records, the evaluation
team's site visit and case study protocols, and the study participant
follow-up survey. This data collection was approved with an expiration
date of January 31, 2016 and an annualized total allowable burden of
5,344 hours.
A subsequent non-substantive change request related to the follow-
up survey (ICR reference number 201408-1205-005) was approved by OMB in
October 2014. This non-substantive request sought to preserve the most
critical outcome measures while shortening instrument length to reduce
respondent burden. The non-substantive change did not affect any data
collection efforts other than the follow-up survey. As with the
originally approved OMB package, all 3,000 applicants would be asked to
complete the survey, but the shortening of the instrument will reduce
the total annualized burden across the entire study from 5,344 to 4,277
hours.
This new request is to extend OMB clearance of the follow-up survey
administration, which will expire on January 31, 2016, for an
additional 20 months, to September 30, 2017. Given that study
enrollment has proceeded more slowly than originally planned, an 18-
month follow-up survey could be administered to only approximately 25
percent of the demonstration applicants by the current expiration date
of January 31, 2016. Assuming an 80 percent response rate, this would
result in approximately 630 respondents (= 3,000 respondents x 0.80
response rate x 0.25 of study participants). Extending the expiration
date to September 30, 2017 will allow sufficient time to field the
survey to all study applicants. This request does not cover any of the
other elements of the OMB-approved data collection; no extension is
required for the consent and application forms, the program
participation records, or the evaluation team's site visit and case
study protocols.
The 18-month follow-up survey is administered 18 months after study
participants apply to the SET program. It is the only source of
information needed to evaluate the impact program on the six groups of
study outcomes: (1) Current employment status; (2) receipt of self-
employment assistance services; (3) business development activities;
(4) self-employment experiences; (5) experiences in wage and salary
employment; and (6) job satisfaction and program participation. These
data will be used to determine the impacts of the SET Demonstration on
participants' outcomes.
Desired Focus of Comments: Currently, the Department of Labor is
soliciting comments concerning the above data collection. Comments are
requested to:
* 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;
* 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;
* enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and
* minimize the burden of the information collection on those who
are to respond, including 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.
Current Actions: At this time, the Department is requesting
clearance for a 20-month extension of time allowed to complete the SET
Evaluation's 18-month follow-up survey.
Type of review: Extension without a change.
Title of Collection: Self-Employment Training Demonstration
Evaluation.
OMB Control Number: 1205-0505.
Affected Public: Dislocated workers who applied for services
available through the SET Demonstration.
Cite/Reference/Form/etc.: Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Section
172
[[Page 62574]]
(Pub. L. 105-220) and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, Section
169 (Pub. L. 113-128).
Annual Burden Estimates for the Set Demonstration Evaluation 18-Month Follow-Up Survey Between February 1, 2016
and September 30, 2017
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Number of Total
Activity respondents Responses per Average time per respondent
\1\ respondent response burden (hours)
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18-Month Follow-Up Survey............. 1,770 1 20 minutes.............. 590
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\1\ Attempts will be made to complete interviews with all 3,000 eligible applicants who went through random
assignment. Given the targeted response rate of 80 percent, interviews are expected to be completed with 2,400
sample members. The 18-Month follow-up survey will be fielded through September 30, 2017. Interviews with 630
sample members are expected to be completed by January 31, 2016, when the current OMB clearance expires.
Another 1,770 interviews are expected to be completed between February 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017, the
extension proposed in this request.
This request includes no changes to the follow-up survey
instrument, and therefore implies no change in total respondent burden.
The study team expects to complete 2,400 interviews, as originally
planned, for a response rate of 80 percent. A total of 210 burden hours
((= 630 responses x 20 minutes per response) / 60 minutes/hour) are
anticipated for surveys completed prior to the expiration date. As seen
in the table above, another 590 burden hours ((= 1,770 responses x 20
minutes/response) / 60 minutes/hour) would occur for surveys completed
during the extension period, if granted. The total burden for the
follow-up survey as a whole would remain unchanged at 800 hours, the
amount originally approved by OMB.
The extension would also reduce the average annualized burden hours
because the survey fielding would occur over a longer period than
originally planned. The original OMB clearance package assumed that the
fielding period would last for 18 months, which implied an average
annualized hour burden of 533 (= 800 total hours/1.5 years). Given
study enrollment patterns, the follow-up survey began in early April
2015, and the fielding period will last until September 2017 if the
extension is granted, for a total of 30 months. The longer fielding
period implied a reduction in the average annualized hour burden of 320
(= 800 total hours/2.5 years). If granted, the extension would result
in an average annualized dollar burden of $5,737 ((= 2,400 responses x
20 minutes/response) / (60 minutes/hour x $17.93 per hour/2.5 years)),
which is lower than under the plan originally approved by OMB.
Comments submitted in response to this request will be summarized
and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget
approval; they will also become a matter of public record.
Signed:
Portia Wu,
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, Labor.
[FR Doc. 2015-26373 Filed 10-15-15; 8:45 am]
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