Notice2023-01147
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Annual Business Survey
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
January 23, 2023
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentCensus Bureau
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 14 (Monday, January 23, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 14 (Monday, January 23, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3968-3970]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-01147]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Annual Business Survey
The Department of Commerce will submit the following information
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the
Federal Register on July 6, 2020 during a 60-day comment period. This
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.
Title: Annual Business Survey.
OMB Control Number: 0607-1004.
Form Number(s): ABS.
Type of Request: Regular submission, Request for a Revision of a
Currently Approved Collection.
Number of Respondents: 858,000.
Average Hours per Response: Employer businesses--58 minutes;
Nonprofit organizations who are R&D performers--3.5 hours; Nonprofit
organizations who are not R&D performers--20 minutes.
Burden Hours: 827,500.
Needs and Uses: In an effort to improve the measurement of business
dynamics in the United States, the Census Bureau plans to conduct the
2023 Annual Business Survey (ABS), covering reference year 2022. The
ABS combines Census Bureau firm-level collections to reduce respondent
burden, increase data quality, reduce operational costs, and operate
more efficiently. The ABS provides information on selected economic and
demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by sex,
ethnicity, race, and veteran status. Further, the survey measures
research and development for microbusinesses, new business topics such
as innovation and technology, as well as other business
characteristics. The 2023 ABS is co-sponsored by the National Center
for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National
Science Foundation (NSF) and conducted by the Census Bureau.
The ABS includes all nonfarm employer businesses filing Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) tax forms as individual proprietorships,
partnerships, or any other type of corporation, with receipts of $1,000
or more. For the 2023 ABS, approximately 850,000 employer businesses
will be sampled (reference year 2022). The large sample sized is needed
to produce detailed statistics by owner demographics. Results from the
large
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sample size will allow the Census Bureau to produce tabulations by
detailed NAICS (2-6 digit), detailed geography (US, state, metropolitan
statistical area (msa), county, and economic place), and detailed race
(i.e. Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Samoan, etc.). Starting with survey
year 2024 (reference year 2023), the sample is reduced to approximately
300,000 employer businesses annually (survey years 2024-2027) to reduce
the burden on the respondents. The reduced sample size will yield
summary-level estimates for women-owned, minority-owned, and veteran-
owned businesses at the 3-digit NAICS, U.S., state and metropolitan
statistical area (MSA) levels. The Census Bureau uses administrative
data to estimate the probability that a firm is minority- or women-
owned. Each firm is then placed in one of eight frames for sampling.
The sampling frames are: American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian,
Black or African American, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific
Islander, Non-Hispanic White Men, Publicly Owned, and Women. The sample
is stratified by state, industry, and frame. The Census Bureau selects
some companies with certainty based on volume of sales, payroll, and
number of paid employees or NAICS. All certainty cases are sure to be
selected and represent only themselves.
The 2023 ABS (reference year 2022) will also sample 8,000 nonprofit
organizations to collect their research activities. Historically,
nonprofit organizations were in scope to the ABS, however, they were
not surveyed before the 2021 ABS because the survey does not expect
nonprofit organizations to be classifiable by sex, ethnicity, race, or
veteran status. To include the nonprofit organizations, the sample size
increased to approximately 858,000 (850,000 employer businesses + 8,000
nonprofit organizations). Of note, nonprofit organizations will only
see questions relating to research activities and will not be asked any
questions relating to owner demographics.
The ABS is designed to allow for incorporating new content each
survey year based on topics of relevance. Each year new questions will
be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval.
Employer businesses will be asked questions about the sex,
ethnicity, race, and veteran status for up to four persons owning the
majority of rights, equity, or interest in the business (Section B of
the questionnaire). Organizations sampled as nonprofits and respondents
with 1-9 employees will be asked about research and development (R&D)
activities, R&D costs, and R&D capital expenditures. Further, employer
businesses sampled will be asked about the following topics: Goods,
Services, and Business Processes; Financing; Technology and
Intellectual Property and Sustainability and Climate Impact.
The ABS is primarily collected via an electronic or web-based
instrument. Respondents selected for the survey receive an initial
letter informing them of their requirement to complete the survey as
well as instructions on accessing the survey. The 2023 ABS initial
mailing is scheduled for July 2023. Responses will be due approximately
30 days from initial mailing. Respondents will also receive a due date
reminder approximately one week before responses are due. The Census
Bureau plans to conduct two follow-up mailings and an optional third
follow-up if deemed necessary based on check-in. Nonrespondents may
receive a certified mailing for the second and third follow-up
mailings. The Census Bureau may also plan to conduct an email follow-up
to select nonrespondents reminding them to submit their report in the
electronic instrument. The Census Bureau may include a paper
questionnaire during the follow-up activities to assist with collecting
data from select nonrespondents. Closeout of mail operations is
scheduled for December 2023 but may be extended to allow ample time to
receive returned forms if necessary. Response data will be processed as
they are received. Upon the close of the collection period, data
processing will continue, and records will be edited, reviewed,
tabulated, and disseminated.
The Annual Business Survey uses the collection year in the survey
name rather than a single reference year. Therefore, the 2023 ABS
covers mostly reference year 2022.
Statistics from the ABS will be used by government program
officials, industry organization leaders, economic and social analysts,
business entrepreneurs, and domestic and foreign researchers in
academia, business, and government. Estimates produced on owner
demographic data may be used to assess business assistance needs,
allocate available program resources, and create a framework for
planning, directing, and assessing programs that promote the activities
of disadvantaged groups; to assess minority-owned businesses by
industry and area and to educate industry associations, corporations,
and government entities; to analyze business operations in comparison
to similar firms, compute market share, and assess business growth and
future prospects. Estimates produced on R&D and innovation may be used
to compare R&D costs across industries, determine where R&D activity is
conducted geographically, and identify the types of businesses with
R&D; to contribute to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) system of
national accounts; to increase investments in research and development,
strengthen education, and encourage entrepreneurship; and to compare
business innovation in the United States to other countries, including
those in the European Union. Results of the research activities data
collected from nonprofit organizations will be used to report updated,
valid, and reliable estimates of U.S. nonprofit R&D in National
Patterns of R&D Resources and BEA's system of national accounts.
The data collected by ABS will also be incorporated into the
National Science Board's biennial report, Science and Engineering
Indicators (SEI). The R&D data from the nonprofit module will be
reported in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) periodic publications and for international comparisons of R&D
efforts. NCSES also anticipates professional associations will use data
from the nonprofit module. Likely users in this category include, but
are not limited to, the Science Philanthropy Alliance, the Association
of Independent Research Institutes, and the Health Research Alliance.
Additional examples of data use include:
<bullet> The Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Minority
Business Development Agency (MBDA) to assess business assistance needs
and allocate available program resources.
<bullet> Local government commissions on small and disadvantaged
businesses to establish and evaluate contract procurement practices.
<bullet> Federal, state and local government agencies as a
framework for planning, directing and assessing programs that promote
the activities of disadvantaged groups.
<bullet> The National Women's Business Council to assess the state
of women's business ownership for policymakers, researchers, and the
public at large.
<bullet> Consultants and researchers to analyze long-term economic
and demographic shifts, and differences in ownership and performance
among geographic areas.
<bullet> Individual business owners to analyze their operations in
comparison to similar firms, compute their market share, and assess
their growth and future prospects.
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Frequency: Annually.
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, sections 8(b), 131,
and 182; Title 42, United States Code, section 1861-76 (National
Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended); and section 505 within the
America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 authorize this collection.
Sections 224 and 225 of Title 13, United States Code, require a
response from sampled firms.
This information collection request may be viewed at
<a href="http://www.reginfo.gov">www.reginfo.gov</a>. Follow the instructions to view the Department of
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of
this notice on the following website <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>.
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB
Control Number 0607-1004.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2023-01147 Filed 1-20-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on January 23, 2023.
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