Notice2024-00940
Information Collection Activities; Comment Request
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 19, 2024
Issuing agencies
Labor DepartmentLabor Statistics Bureau
Abstract
The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre-clearance 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. This program helps to ensure that requested 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 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments concerning the proposed revision of the International Price Program (IPP) U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes. A copy of the proposed information collection request can be obtained by contacting the individual listed below in the Addresses section of this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 13 (Friday, January 19, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 13 (Friday, January 19, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3695-3697]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-00940]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Information Collection Activities; Comment Request
AGENCY: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to
reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre-clearance
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. This program helps to ensure that requested 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 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting
comments concerning the proposed revision of the International Price
Program (IPP) U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes. A copy of the
proposed information collection request can be obtained by contacting
the individual listed below in the Addresses section of this notice.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the
Addresses section of this notice on or before March 19, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Nora Kincaid, BLS Clearance Officer,
Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room G225,
2 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20212. Written comments also
may be transmitted by email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a3e1eff0fcf3f1e2fcf3d6c1cfcac0e3c1cfd08dc4ccd5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="bdfff1eee2edeffce2edc8dfd1d4defddfd1ce93dad2cb">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nora Kincaid, BLS Clearance Officer,
at 202-691-7628 (this is not a toll free number). (See Addresses
section.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes, produced by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics' International Price Program (IPP), measure price
change over time for all categories of imported and exported products,
as well as selected services. The IPP has produced the U.S. Import
Price Indexes (MPI) continuously since 1973 and the U.S. Export Price
Indexes (XPI) continuously since 1971. The Office of Management and
Budget has listed the Import and Export Price Indexes (MXPI) as a
Principal Federal Economic Indicator since 1982. The indexes are widely
used in both the public and private sectors. The primary public sector
use is the deflation of the U.S. monthly trade statistics and the
quarterly estimates of U.S. Gross Domestic Product; the indexes also
are used in formulating U.S. trade policy and in trade negotiations
with other countries. In the private sector, uses of the Import Price
Indexes include market analysis, inflation forecasting, contract
escalation, and replacement cost accounting.
The MXPI are closely followed statistics and are viewed as a key
indicator of the economic environment. The U.S. Department of Commerce
uses the monthly statistics to produce monthly and quarterly estimates
of
[[Page 3696]]
inflation-adjusted trade flows. Without continuation of data
collection, it would be extremely difficult to construct accurate
estimates of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. In fact, a budget
proposal to curtail publication of the export price indexes beginning
in FY15 was not supported by the Commerce Department which explained
that a viable substitute is not available.
Additionally, Federal policymakers in the Department of Treasury,
the Council of Economic Advisers, and the Federal Reserve Board utilize
these statistics on a regular basis to improve these agencies'
formulation and evaluation of monetary and fiscal policy and evaluation
of the general business environment.
II. Current Action
Office of Management and Budget clearance is being sought for a
revision of the U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes information
collection. The IPP revision is a transition from using survey data as
a source of prices for approximately a third of the current sample of
merchandise goods to using administrative data from the Census Bureau
as an alternative source. This revision to data collection is in line
with past actions to modernize data collection and to reduce reporter
burden. Modernization was introduced in 2003 with the IPP web
application. In 2018, paper surveys were eliminated, and the web
application became the near universal method for respondents to update
their data online and more rapidly than previously.
The IPP has implemented several systems changes over the years in
order to reduce burden for web respondents. In 2019, the IPP adopted
the use of a new web application format/layout. Previously, the web
survey used separate pages for each part of the repricing process; now,
the web application utilizes modal windows in combination with separate
pages. In September 2022, the Program introduced new functionality
(referred to internally as ``Web Lite''), which allows respondents to
upload files of price information without using a login; the files are
reviewed by analysts who manually enter the price data into IPP's
repricing application.
The current revision is focused on the planned implementation of an
alternative data source for some of the Import and Export Price Indexes
(MXPI); the data source is administrative data in the form of trade
transaction records of shipments reported by U.S. importers and
exporters. Beginning in fiscal year 2025, the IPP will calculate unit
value indexes based on the trade transaction records from the
Department of Commerce for a range of homogenous commodity and product
areas and will calculate upper level price indexes by blending these
unit value indexes with directly collected survey data for the other
product areas, to calculate and publish the MXPI for merchandise goods.
This approach is based on new research and new statistical methods.
Historically, unit value indexes have not been considered a good
substitute for directly collected data in the calculation of price
indexes for any but the most homogenous of commodities. The use of unit
value indexes in the statistical community has been limited to
homogenous commodities due primarily to the potential for unit value
bias, which is a measurement of a price trend that imprecisely measures
price changes due to product composition or quality change, instead of
price changes due to markets. Advances and improvements in coverage,
accuracy, and level of detail of the trade transaction records have
improved, and new statistical methods for addressing and mitigating
unit value bias have recently been developed. The necessity to address
a recent downward trend in IPP's traditional data collection, in light
of these improvements, prompted the Program to consider the use of unit
value indexes in the MXPI.
In 2018, the IPP launched a major research initiative to analyze
the fitness for use of unit value indexes based on administrative trade
data in place of directly collected data for more homogenous product
areas. With the application of new methods for mitigating unit value
bias, the IPP has constructed research import and export price indexes
based on administrative trade data for January 2012 through December
2021. Comparison of the research data sets to official (published and
unpublished) import and export price indexes were sufficiently robust
to indicate that unit value indexes based on administrative trade data
can be used in place of directly collected data for many of IPP's
homogenous product price indexes. Additional details and research data
sets are accessible from the MXP Research page (<a href="https://www.bls.gov/mxp/data/research.htm">https://www.bls.gov/mxp/data/research.htm</a>).
This new data source also allows for the expansion of published
lower-level indexes and improves index quality; while the existing MXPI
are based entirely on a modified Laspeyres formula (as current trade
weights are not available), the availability of current period weights
in the administrative trade data allows the IPP to apply a Tornqvist
formula to lower-level aggregates. (The Tornqvist formula is considered
superior to the Laspeyres formula for handling substitution bias, a
well-known problem for fixed-basket price indexes which do not account
for consumer expenditure switching from relatively more expensive
products to cheaper ones as prices change.)
In addition to the expansion of published indexes and improvement
in index quality, the implementation of the unit value indexes will
result in a considerable drop in respondent burden as fewer companies
will be contacted because fewer survey-based prices will be needed to
support publication of the MXPI. A detailed technical explanation
regarding the use of the alternative administrative data source and the
methodological approach used to integrate the data source into the
official MXPI are available in IPP's Federal Register Notice published
on September 11, 2023 (<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/09/11/2023-19486/comment-request">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/09/11/2023-19486/comment-request</a>).
III. Desired Focus of Comments
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is particularly interested in
comments that:
<bullet> 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.
<bullet> 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.
<bullet> Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected.
<bullet> 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, e.g., permitting
electronic submissions of responses.
Title of Collection: International Price Program (IPP) U.S. Import
and Export Price Indexes.
OMB Number: 1220-0025.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Affected Public: Private Sector, Business or other for-profits.
[[Page 3697]]
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Average time Estimated
Form Total Frequency Total per response total burden
respondents responses (hours) hours
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Form 3008..................... .............. Annually........
Imports................... 900 ................ 900 1.0 900
Exports................... 400 ................ 400 1.0 400
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Total................. 1,300 ................ 1,300 .............. 1,300
Repricing Form................ .............. Monthly.........
Imports................... 1,200 8.8 \1\......... 10,560 \2\ 4777 5,045
Exports................... 850 9.0 \1\......... 7,650 \3\.4320 3,305
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Total................. 2,050 ................ 18,210 .............. 8,350
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Totals............ .............. ................ 19,510 .............. 9,650
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\1\ During initiation, the respondent determines how many months he/she will need to supply data in a given year
based upon how often the company changes its pricing information. The average company is requested to supply
information 9.0 months per year for exports and 8.8 months per year for imports.
\2\ Time to reprice is based upon 5 minutes of response time per item x 5.732 items = 28.660 minutes/60 = .4777
hours.
\3\ Time to reprice is based upon 5 minutes of response time per item x 5.184 items = 25.920 minutes/60 = .4320
hours.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget
approval of the information collection request; they also will become a
matter of public record.
Signed at Washington, DC, on this 12th day of January 2024.
Leslie Bennett,
Chief, Division of Management Systems.
[FR Doc. 2024-00940 Filed 1-18-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-P
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