Notice2023-20515
Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request; National Training, Education, and Workforce 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
September 22, 2023
Issuing agencies
National Science Foundation
Abstract
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is announcing plans to renew this collection. In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we are providing an opportunity for public comment on this action. After obtaining and considering public comment, NSF will prepare the submission requesting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clearance of this collection for no longer than 3 years.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 183 (Friday, September 22, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 183 (Friday, September 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65407-65408]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-20515]
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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request;
National Training, Education, and Workforce Survey
AGENCY: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics,
National Science Foundation.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) is announcing plans to
renew this collection. In accordance with the requirements of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we are providing an opportunity for
public comment on this action. After obtaining and considering public
comment, NSF will prepare the submission requesting Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) clearance of this collection for no longer
than 3 years.
DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by November 21,
2023 to be assured consideration. Comments received after that date
will be considered to the extent practicable. Send comments to the
address below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports Clearance
Officer, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Suite
E7400, Alexandria, Virginia 22314; telephone (703) 292-7556; or send
email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f48784989d9984809bb49a8792da939b82"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a4d7d4c8cdc9d4d0cbe4cad7c28ac3cbd2">[email protected]</span></a>. Individuals who use a telecommunications
device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay
Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339, which is accessible 24 hours a day, 7
days a week, 365 days a year (including Federal holidays).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title of Collection: The 2024 National Training, Education, and
Workforce Survey.
OMB Control Number: 3145-0264.
Expiration Date: November 30, 2024.
Type of Request: Intent to seek approval to extend an information
collection for three years.
Abstract: The CHIPS Act of 2022, Public Law 117-167, Sec. 10314,
requires the Director of NSF to provide a portfolio analysis of NSF's
investments in the skilled technical workforce. With the widespread
integration of science and technology in society, including its central
role in the economy, work has changed for individuals at all education
levels, making skilled technical workers increasingly important to U.S.
economic competitiveness, national security, and scientific progress.
American workers who use science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) knowledge and skills in their jobs but do not
require a bachelor's degree or above comprise the skilled technical
workforce (STW). While some limited federal data exist to quantify the
number of skilled technical workers, the National Training, Education,
and Workforce Survey (NTEWS) allows for a longitudinal analysis to
measure the pathways of how individuals enter, maintain relevance, or
seek advancement in STW occupations.
The NTEWS continues to be a voluntary response data collection
sponsored by the National Center for
[[Page 65408]]
Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science
Foundation and cosponsored by the National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education. The NTEWS
serves the purpose of measuring and understanding two research concepts
that are of national interest: (1) the education, training, and career
pathways of skilled technical workers, and (2) the prevalence and
interplay of education (postsecondary degrees and certificates), work
credentials (certifications and licenses), and work experience programs
among American workers.
The NTEWS will collect information on the following topics to
examine the relationship between credentials and employment outcomes:
<bullet> Credential types
<bullet> Education characteristics
<bullet> Initial work training
<bullet> Employment characteristics
<bullet> Demographic characteristics
Given these areas of mutual interest for NCSES and NCES, the NTEWS
will reduce public burden by fielding one cosponsored survey that meets
the information needs of both federal agencies.
The 2024 NTEWS data collection effort will be the second cycle for
a planned, biennial, rotating-panel design. Respondents can complete
the survey in English or Spanish by web, paper, or computer-assisted
telephone interviewing. The sponsoring agencies plan to include
questions about sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) as
experimental modules to examine the response rates and data quality for
possible future inclusion of SOGI questions in the NTEWS. The agencies
will analyze the 2024 NTEWS data to inform and resolve any statistical,
methodological, operational, and content issues before the subsequent
NTEWS collection cycle in the planned, biennial survey cycle design.
The U.S. Census Bureau, the agency responsible for the American
Community Survey (ACS), will serve as the Federal data collection
contractor for NCSES and NCES. The 2024 NTEWS sample will be selected
from the 2022 ACS and the 2022 NTEWS, providing the needed coverage of
the STW working in the United States. The NTEWS collection and data
will be protected under the applicable Census Bureau confidentiality
statutes.
Use of the information: NCSES and NCES intend to publish national
estimates from the 2024 NTEWS and use the results to inform the next
survey cycle. NCSES anticipates that the NTEWS data will be used for
the two congressionally mandated biennial reports authored by NCSES:
Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and
Engineering (<a href="https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/women/">https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/women/</a>) and Science and
Engineering Indicators (<a href="https://ncses.nsf.gov/indicators">https://ncses.nsf.gov/indicators</a>). NCES plans
to release statistical reports and web tables on the status of
educational and professional credentials in the United States. In
addition, a public release file of collected data, designed to protect
respondent confidentiality, will be made available to policymakers,
researchers, and the public on the internet.
Established within NSF by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act
of 2010 Sec. 505, codified in the NSF Act of 1950, as amended, NCSES
serves as a central Federal clearinghouse for the collection,
interpretation, analysis, and dissemination of objective data on
science, engineering, technology, and research and development for use
by practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and the public. NCSES also
provides data to support the Science and Engineering Equal
Opportunities Act of 1980, which directs NSF to provide to Congress and
the Executive Branch an ``accounting and comparison, by sex, race, and
ethnic group and by discipline, of the participation of women and men
in scientific and engineering positions.''
NCSES has historically met these legislative mandates through its
surveys and biennial publications measuring the education, employment,
and demographic characteristics of the nation's college-educated
scientists and engineers. However, an emerging research and policy
interest in the STW creates a need for continued collection of the
relatively new NTEWS data to expand and supplement NCSES's efforts on
the college-educated science and engineering workforce.
Expected Respondents: Eligible individuals are ages 16 through 75,
not enrolled in high school or institutionalized, and living in the
U.S. or Puerto Rico. The NTEWS sample design will meet the needs of the
sponsoring agencies by providing coverage of the workforce-eligible
adult population and including an oversample of adults in skilled
technical occupations. A statistical sample of approximately 120,000
individuals (17,000 returning sample members from the 2022 NTEWS and
103,000 new sample members from the 2022 ACS) will be contacted in 2024
for the NTEWS production. Another 3,000 individuals known to have a
certificate will form a seeded sample that will not be included in the
production of NTEWS official statistics. Information from the seeded
sample will be used for agencies' research purposes to evaluate
questions on the NTEWS.
Estimate of Burden: The expected response rate is 62.5 percent, or
75,000 completed cases, a calculation that is based on the 2022 NTEWS.
The time to complete the survey may vary depending on an individual's
circumstances and response mode (web, paper, or telephone). NCSES
estimates an average completion time of 15 minutes. NCSES estimates
that the average annual burden for the initial NTEWS over the course of
the three-year OMB clearance period will be no more than 6,250 hours
[75,000 completed cases x 15 minutes) / 3 years].
Comments: Comments are invited on (a) aspects of the data
collection effort (including, but not limited to, the following: the
availability of administrative and supplemental sources of data on the
skilled technical workforce, survey content, contact strategy, and
statistical methods); (b) whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
NCSES, including whether the information shall have practical utility;
(c) the accuracy of the NCSES's estimate of the burden of the proposed
collection of information; (d) ways to enhance the quality, use, and
clarity of the information on respondents, including through the use of
automated collection techniques or other forms of information
technology; and (e) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of
information on those who are to respond, including through the use of
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
Dated: September 18, 2023.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2023-20515 Filed 9-21-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P
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