Notice2021-22703
Labor Surplus Area Classification
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
October 19, 2021
Effective
October 1, 2021
Issuing agencies
Labor DepartmentEmployment and Training Administration
Abstract
The purpose of this notice is to announce the annual Labor Surplus Area list for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 199 (Tuesday, October 19, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 199 (Tuesday, October 19, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57859-57860]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-22703]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Labor Surplus Area Classification
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to announce the annual Labor
Surplus Area list for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022.
DATES: The annual LSA list is effective October 1, 2021, 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 C-4514, Washington, DC 20210. Telephone: (202) 693-2870
(This is not a toll-free number) or email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#ccbbbea5aba4b8e2bfada1b9a9a0e2a98ca8a3a0e2aba3ba"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="710603181619055f02101c04141d5f1431151e1d5f161e07">[email protected]</span></a>.
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 (LSAs) pursuant to the criteria specified in the
regulations, and to publish annually a list of LSAs. Pursuant to those
regulations, ETA is hereby publishing the annual LSA list.
In addition, the regulations provide exceptional circumstance
criteria for classifying LSAs 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 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. ETA uses only
official unemployment estimates provided by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics in making these classifications. The average unemployment
rate for all states includes data for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
The LSA classification criteria stipulate a civil jurisdiction must
have a ``floor unemployment rate'' of 6 percent or higher to be
classified a LSA. Any civil jurisdiction that has a ``ceiling
unemployment rate'' of 10 percent or higher is classified a LSA.
Civil jurisdictions are defined as follows:
1. A city of at least 25,000 population on the basis of the most
recently available estimates from the Bureau of the Census; or
2. 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
3. All counties, except for those counties which contain any type
of civil jurisdictions defined in ``1'' or ``2'' above; or
4. A ``balance of county'' consisting of a county less any
component cities and townships identified in ``1'' or ``2'' above; or
5. 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
ETA issues the LSA 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 2019 through December 2020. The national average
unemployment rate (including Puerto Rico) during this period is rounded
to 4.45 percent. Twenty percent higher than the national unemployment
rate during this period is rounded to 5.34 percent. Since the
calculated unemployment rate plus 20 percent (5.34 percent) is below
the ``floor'' LSA unemployment rate of 6 percent, a civil jurisdiction
must have a two-year unemployment rate of 6 percent or higher in order
to be classified a LSA. To ensure that all areas classified as labor
surplus meet the requirements, when a city is part of a county and
meets the unemployment qualifier as a LSA, that city is identified in
the LSA list, the balance of county, not the entire county, will be
identified as a LSA if the balance of county also meets the LSA
unemployment criteria. The data on the current and previous years' LSAs
are available at <a href="http://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/lsa">www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/lsa</a>.
[[Page 57860]]
Petition for Exceptional Circumstance Consideration
The classification procedures also provide criteria for the
designation of LSAs under exceptional circumstances 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, LSA classifications can be made for civil jurisdictions,
Metropolitan Statistical Areas or Combined Statistical Areas, as
defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. In order for an
area to be classified as a LSA under the exceptional circumstance
criteria, the state workforce agency must submit a petition requesting
such classification to the ETA. The current criteria for an exceptional
circumstance classification are:
1. An area's unemployment rate is at least 6 percent for each of
the three most recent months; and
2. A projected unemployment rate of at least 6 percent for each of
the next 12 months because of an event.
When submitting such a petition, the state workforce agency must
provide documentation that the exceptional circumstance event has
occurred. The state workforce agency may file petitions on behalf of
civil jurisdictions, Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or Micropolitan
Statistical Areas.
State Workforce Agencies may submit petitions in electronic format
to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#403732292728346e33212d35252c6e2500242f2c6e272f36"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="413633282629356f32202c34242d6f2401252e2d6f262e37">[email protected]</span></a>, or in hard copy to the U.S. Department of
Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Workforce
Investment, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room C-4514, Washington, DC
20210, Attention Samuel Wright. Data collection for the petition is
approved under OMB 1205-0207, expiration date May 31, 2023.
Signed at Washington, DC.
Angela Hanks,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Administration.
[FR Doc. 2021-22703 Filed 10-18-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-FN-P
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