Notice2025-16018
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Annual Integrated Economic 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
August 21, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentCensus Bureau
Abstract
The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites 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. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on the proposed revision of the Annual Integrated Economic Survey (AIES), prior to the submission of the information collection request (ICR) to OMB for approval.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 160 (Thursday, August 21, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 160 (Thursday, August 21, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40814-40816]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-16018]
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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 Integrated Economic Survey
AGENCY: Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites 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. The
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on the
proposed revision of the Annual Integrated Economic Survey (AIES),
prior to the submission of the information collection request (ICR) to
OMB for approval.
DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed
information collection must be received on or before October 20, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by
email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#eabe8285878b99c4a0c4b987839e82aa898f84999f99c48d859c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="eeba8681838f9dc0a4c0bd83879a86ae8d8b809d9b9dc0898198">[email protected]</span></a> or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0a5a584b696567676f647e794a6e6569246d657c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="acfcfeedcfc3c1c1c9c2d8dfecc8c3cf82cbc3da">[email protected]</span></a>. Please
reference Annual Integrated Economic Survey (AIES) in the subject line
of your comments. You may also submit comments, identified by Docket
Number USBC-2025-0071, to the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. All comments received are part of the public
record. No comments will be posted to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> for
public viewing until after the comment period has closed. Comments will
generally be posted without change. All Personally Identifiable
Information (for example, name and address) voluntarily submitted by
the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential
Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
You may submit attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word,
Excel, or Adobe PDF file formats.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed
to Edward Watkins, AIES Assistant Survey Director, by phone at 301-763-
4750 or
[[Page 40815]]
by email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#672203100615034922493006130c0e0914492e2e2e2704020914121449000811"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="4f0a2b382e3d2b610a61182e3b2426213c610606060f2c2a213c3a3c61282039">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
Since survey year 2023 (collected in calendar year 2024), the
Census Bureau has conducted the AIES on an annual basis. The AIES was
created to integrate seven annual business surveys into one
comprehensive survey. It was designed to combine Census Bureau
collections to reduce respondent burden and increase data quality. The
collections that were integrated into the AIES were the Annual Retail
Trade Survey (ARTS), Annual Wholesale Trade Survey (AWTS), Service
Annual Survey (SAS), Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM), Annual
Capital Expenditures Survey (ACES), Manufacturers' Unfilled Orders
Survey (M3UFO), and the Report of Organization.
The AIES provides the only comprehensive national and subnational
data on business revenues and expenses on an annual basis. The AIES
covers domestic, nonfarm employer businesses with operations during the
survey year. Nonemployer businesses are not within the scope of the
AIES. The AIES will collect the following information from employer
businesses in the sample:
<bullet> Business characteristics: employment, operating status,
organizational change, and ownership information.
<bullet> Business classification: business activity, type of
operation, and tax status.
<bullet> Revenue: sales, shipments, and receipts; revenue by class
of customer; taxes; contributions, gifts, and grants; products; and e-
commerce activity.
<bullet> Operating expenses: purchased services, payroll, benefits,
rental payments, utilities, interest, resales, equipment, materials and
supplies, and other detailed operating expenses.
<bullet> Capital expenditures and inventories.
<bullet> Robotic equipment.
Additional topics of collection in the AIES include sources of
revenue for providers (e.g., hospitals and other businesses in the
health industry) of select services such as inpatient days, outpatient
visits to hospitals, patient visits for other selected health
industries, revenue from telemedicine services, and expenses for
electronic health records.
In survey year 2025 (which will be collected in calendar year
2026), the AIES will begin to use 2022 North American Industry
Classification System (NAICS) codes in its sampling, collection, and
dissemination operations. Prior to survey year 2025, the AIES employed
2017 NAICS codes.
Beginning with survey year 2025, the AIES will also implement a
modular and subsampled content strategy to reduce respondent burden
while still meeting data users' needs and preserving data quality. This
replaces the more uniform content strategy previously employed by the
AIES. Content will be structured into universal and subsampled modules.
All companies will answer core questions, but more detailed topics
(e.g., capital expenditures, product line data, and specialized
inventories) will be assigned to subsamples based on industry and
priority.
Furthermore, starting with survey year 2025, the AIES will collect
North American Product Classification System (NAPCS)-based data from
retail, wholesale, and services businesses. This expansion standardizes
product data collection across sectors of the economy, reduces the need
for trade-specific revenue detail questions that had previously been
asked in the AIES, and streamlines data collection by consolidating
multiple revenue questions into a unified format.
In preparation for survey year 2025, the Census Bureau contacted
stakeholders to identify items that could be removed from the AIES to
reduce respondent burden. As a result of those conversations, the
following items will be removed from the AIES:
<bullet> Depreciable asset questions.
<bullet> Select capital expenditure details (finance leases and
software).
<bullet> Company-level questions (leased employees and research and
development spending).
<bullet> Select revenue details (in select industries now covered by
NAPCS, where product-level data replaces detailed revenue categories).
The AIES will begin to collect capital expenditures by type
(structures and equipment) in survey year 2025. This will be collected
once every five years to meet stakeholder needs. Additionally, a new
sample will be selected for survey year 2025. The AIES may include a
prior year revenue question to aid with sample linking during survey
year 2025. However, a final decision has not been made yet regarding
the inclusion of the prior year revenue question.
The content and sampling changes that will be implemented for
survey year 2025 should lead to an overall reduction in respondent
burden. If the number of respondents and/or burden estimate presented
in this notice change when the new sample is selected, the Census
Bureau will include the updated information in the clearance request,
which will be submitted later this year.
Data users will be able to access the AIES estimates through
visualizations; the Census Bureau's dissemination platform,
<a href="http://data.census.gov">data.census.gov</a>; File Transfer Protocol (FTP) tables; Application
Programming Interface (API); and the Federal Reserve Economic Data
(FRED) database. Private businesses, organizations, industry analysts,
educators and students, and economic researchers will use the estimates
for analyzing and conducting impact evaluations on past and current
economic performance, short-term economic forecasts, productivity,
long-term economic growth, market analysis, tax policy, capacity
utilization, business fixed capital stocks and capital formation,
domestic and international competitiveness trade policy, product
development, market research, and financial analysis. Trade and
professional organizations will use the estimates to analyze industry
trends and benchmark their own statistical programs, develop forecasts,
and evaluate regulatory requirements. Government program officials and
agencies will use the data for research, economic policymaking, and
forecasting. Estimates produced from the AIES will serve as a benchmark
for Census Bureau indicator programs, such as the Monthly Retail Trade
Survey (MRTS); Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3);
Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey (MWTS); and Quarterly Services Survey
(QSS). The Census Bureau will also continue to use information
collected in the AIES to update and maintain the centralized,
multipurpose Business Register that provides sampling populations and
enumeration lists for the Census Bureau's economic surveys and
censuses. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will continue to use
the estimates to derive industry output for the input-output accounts
and for the gross domestic product (GDP). The Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) will continue to use the data as input to its Producer
Price Index (PPI) and in developing productivity measurements.
Additionally, the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) will continue to use the
data to prepare the Index of Industrial Production, to improve
estimates of investment indicators for monetary policy, and in
monitoring retail credit lending. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) will continue to use the data to estimate expenditures
for the National Health Accounts and for monitoring and evaluating
[[Page 40816]]
healthcare industries. The Department of the Treasury will continue to
use the data to analyze depreciation and to research economic trends.
II. Method of Collection
The AIES will be collected via the internet using Centurion, the
Census Bureau's secure online survey collection tool. In the rare
situation where a respondent does not have access to the internet, the
data may be collected by telephone. Respondents will receive an email
and/or letter notifying them of their requirement to respond and how to
access the survey. Responses will be due approximately 30 days from
receipt of the notification. Select businesses will receive a due date
reminder via a letter or email prior to the due date. After the due
date, the Census Bureau will contact nonrespondents to remind them
about the survey.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0607-1024.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Review: Regular submission, Request for a Revision of a
Currently Approved Collection.
Affected Public: Businesses, or other for-profit or non-profit
institutions or organizations.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 305,340.
Estimated Time per Response: 2 hours and 34 minutes per company.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 784,950.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0. (This is not the cost of
respondents' time, but the indirect costs respondents may incur for
such things as purchases of specialized software or hardware needed to
report, or expenditures for accounting or records maintenance services
required specifically by the collection.)
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. 131 and 182.
IV. Request for Comments
We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is
necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether
the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy
of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed
collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions
used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of
the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden
on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of
public record. We will include, or summarize, each comment in our
request to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address,
phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information
in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--
including your personal identifying information--may be made publicly
available at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold
your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot
guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Compliance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2025-16018 Filed 8-20-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P
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