Notice2021-26055
Labor Surplus Area Classification Correction
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
November 30, 2021
Effective
October 1, 2021
Issuing agencies
Labor DepartmentEmployment and Training Administration
Abstract
The purpose of this notice is to alert the public to an error in the previously published annual Labor Surplus Area (LSA) list for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, and to announce the corrected LSA list for FY 2022.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 227 (Tuesday, November 30, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 227 (Tuesday, November 30, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 67974]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-26055]
[[Page 67974]]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Labor Surplus Area Classification Correction
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to alert the public to an error
in the previously published annual Labor Surplus Area (LSA) list for
Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, and to announce the corrected LSA list for FY
2022.
DATES: The corrected 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#5f282d3638372b712c3e322a3a33713a1f3b303371383029"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="dfa8adb6b8b7abf1acbeb2aabab3f1ba9fbbb0b3f1b8b0a9">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The previously published FY 2022 LSA list
contained more areas than it should have, due to an error caused by a
miscalculation of the two-year unemployment rate average. The correct
two-year unemployment rate average is rounded to 5.86 percent and the
correct LSA unemployment rate is rounded to 7.03 percent.
The Department of Labor's (DOL'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 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
An 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 as an LSA. Any civil jurisdiction that has a ``ceiling
unemployment rate'' of 10 percent or higher is classified as an 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
The DOL 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 5.86 percent. Twenty percent higher than the national
unemployment rate during this period is rounded to 7.03 percent.
Therefore, a civil jurisdiction must have a two-year unemployment rate
of 7.03 percent or higher in order to be classified an 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 an
LSA, that city is identified in the LSA list, the balance of county,
not the entire county, will be identified as an 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>.
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
two-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 an LSA under the exceptional circumstance
criteria, the state workforce agency must submit a petition requesting
such classification to DOL's ETA. The current criteria for an
exceptional circumstance classification are:
1. An area's unemployment rate is at least 7.03 percent for each of
the three most recent months; and
2. A projected unemployment rate of at least 7.03 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#83f4f1eae4ebf7adf0e2eef6e6efade6c3e7ecefade4ecf5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2b5c59424c435f05584a465e4e47054e6b4f4447054c445d">[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. 2021-26055 Filed 11-29-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-FN-P
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