[Federal Register: November 19, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 223)]
[Notices]
[Page 65241]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr19no03-35]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
DOC has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for
clearance the following proposal for collection of information under
the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: Quarterly Services Survey.
Form Number(s): QSS-1(A), QSS-1(E), QSS-2(A), QSS-2(E), QSS-3(A),
QSS-3(E).
Agency Approval Number: None.
Type of Request: New collection.
Burden: 5,000 hours.
Number of Respondents: 5,000.
Avg. Hours Per Response: 15 minutes.
Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau seeks approval for a new
quarterly survey of service industry activity called the Quarterly
Services Survey (QSS). The QSS will begin a new economic indicator
series that will provide, for selected service industries, quarterly
estimates of total operating revenue and the percentage of revenue by
class of customer. In addition, we will collect total operating
expenses from tax-exempt firms in industries that have a large not-for-
profit component. For 2004, we will include information; professional,
scientific and technical services; and administrative and support and
waste management and remediation services industries for employer
businesses. In 2005, we plan to expand the QSS to include coverage of
hospitals and nursing and residential care facilities from employer
businesses.
The Census Bureau presently conducts 13 principal economic
indicator surveys. Monthly series cover manufacturing, wholesale and
retail trade, and merchandise trade; quarterly series include corporate
profits and housing vacancies. These indicator series track current
economic activity, are closely followed and widely used by policy
makers in the public and private sectors, and move financial markets.
No principal economic indicator currently exists, however, for the
service sector despite the service industries' importance and
increasing share of total U.S. economic activity. Measures of service
industry output are available only quinquennially in the Economic
Census and on an annual basis in the Service Annual Survey (SAS).
Service data are far less available in terms of industry and
geographic detail, and frequency of collection than are those for the
goods-producing sector of the economy. This imbalance has its origins
from a period when goods production was the larger and more rapidly
growing part of the non-farm economy.
The last fifty years, however, have witnessed profound changes in
the U.S. economy. Following World War II, manufacturing accounted for
about 27 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Today that number is
about 16 percent. Services, including retail and wholesale trade, were
approximately 40 percent of GDP and are now about 66 percent.
Financial, business, scientific, and professional services have more
than doubled in the last 50 years while computer related services
nearly doubled between 1994 and 2000. When one adds Government services
to the total, almost 80 percent of GDP and employment are in services.
Reliable measures of economic activity are essential to an
objective assessment of the need for, and impact of, a wide range of
public policy decisions. More up-to-date estimates of service industry
output will improve these measures. The new QSS will provide timely
data on the services industries that will allow the Bureau of Economic
Analysis (BEA) to make significant improvements in the national
accounts. In the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA), the
quarterly data will allow more accurate estimates of both Personal
Consumption Expenditures (PCE) and private fixed investment. For
example, recently published revisions to the quarterly NIPA estimates
resulted from the incorporation of new source data from our SAS. These
data affected both services PCE and software investment. GDP for 2000
was revised downward by nearly $60 billion as a result of overstating
equipment and software, with the bulk of the revision resulting from a
faster than estimated deceleration in sales of custom and packaged
software. Revenue will also be used to produce estimates of gross
output by industry that will allow BEA to produce a much earlier
version of its gross domestic product by industry estimates. Also, the
Federal Reserve Board (FRB) and the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA)
will use the QSS information to better assess current economic
performance.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; not-for-profit
institutions.
Frequency: Quarterly.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Section 182.
OMB Desk Officer: Susan Schechter, (202) 395-5103.
Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained
by calling or writing Diana Hynek, Departmental Paperwork Clearance
Officer, (202) 482-0266, Department of Commerce, room 6625, 14th and
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at dhynek@doc.gov).
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice
to Susan Schechter, OMB Desk Officer either by fax (202-395-7245) or e-mail (susan_schechter@omb.eop.gov).
Dated: November 14, 2003.
Madeleine Clayton,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 03-28934 Filed 11-18-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P