[Federal Register: September 15, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 178)]
[Notices]
[Page 55573]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15se04-23]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
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: 2004-2006 Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM).
Form Number(s): MA-10000(L), MA-10000(S), MA10000(F1).
Agency Approval Number: 0607-0449.
Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Burden: 186,200 hours.
Number of Respondents: 55,000.
Avg Hours Per Response: MA-10000(L)--3.58 hours, MA-10000(S)--1.38
hours, MA10000(F1)--1.2 minutes.
Needs and Uses: The Census Bureau requests a revision of the
currently approved collection for the Annual Survey of Manufactures
(ASM). The Census Bureau has conducted the ASM since 1949 to provide
key measures of manufacturing activity during intercensal periods. In
census years ending in ``2'' and ``7,'' we mail and collect the ASM as
part of the Economic Census Covering the Manufacturing Sector. The
content of the questionnaires for the 2004-06 ASM is identical to the
2003 ASM report form.
The ASM furnishes up-to-date estimates of employment and payrolls,
hours and wages of production workers, value added by manufacture, cost
of materials, value of shipments by class of product, inventories, and
expenditures for new and used plant and equipment. The survey provides
data for most of these items for all 5-digit and selected 6-digit
industries as defined in the North American Industry Classification
System (NAICS). We also provide geographic data by state at a more
aggregated industry level.
The ASM statistics are based on a survey that includes both mail
and nonmail components. Previously, the mail portion of the survey was
comprised of a probability sample of approximately 55,000 manufacturing
establishments from a frame of approximately 225,000 establishments.
These 225,000 establishments were all manufacturing establishments of
multiunit companies (companies with operations at more than one
location) and all single-location manufacturing companies that were
mailed in the 1997 Economic Census Covering the Manufacturing Sector.
The nonmail component was comprised of the remaining small single-
location companies; approximately 155,000 companies. No data have been
collected from companies in the nonmail component. Rather, data have
been directly obtained from the administrative records of the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS), the Social Security Administration (SSA), and
the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Although the nonmail companies
account for over half of the population, they have accounted for less
than 2 percent of the manufacturing output.
For the 2004-2006 cycles of the ASM we are considering changing the
threshold we use for the nonmail component. We are studying the
potential impact on the data of using administrative record data for a
larger portion of the estimate. Based on the results of that work, we
may increase the size of the nonmail component by up to as many as
75,000 establishments. The contribution of the nonmail component will
expand to as much as 10 percent, but will be not less than 2 percent.
For the 2004-06 ASM, we will include an Ownership or Control flier
in the mail out package of approximately 15,000 single-establishment
firms in the ASM sample. This flier was used for the 2002 Economic
Census, now we will use it for the ASM. In prior censuses and ASMs
these questions were included as part of the questionnaires and used to
determine if single-establishment firms were either owned or controlled
by another company or if they operated at more than one location.
This survey is an integral part of the Government's statistical
program. Its results provide a factual background for decision making
by the executive and legislative branches of the Federal Government.
Federal agencies use the annual survey's input and output data as
benchmarks for their statistical programs, including the Federal
Reserve Board's Index of Industrial Production and the Bureau of
Economic Analysis' estimates of the gross domestic product (GDP). The
data also provide the Department of Energy with primary information on
the use of energy by the manufacturing sector to produce manufactured
products. These data also are used as benchmark data for the
Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey (MECS), which is conducted for
the Department of Energy by the Census Bureau. The Department of
Commerce uses the exports of manufactured products data to measure the
importance of exports to the manufacturing economy of each state.
Within the Census Bureau, the ASM data are used to benchmark and
reconcile monthly and quarterly data on manufacturing production and
inventories. The ASM is the only source of complete establishment
statistics for the programs mentioned above.
The survey also provides valuable information to private companies,
research organizations, and trade associations. Industry makes
extensive use of the annual figures on product class shipments at the
U.S. level in its market analysis, product planning, and investment
planning. State development/planning agencies rely on the survey as a
major source of comprehensive economic data for policymaking, planning,
and administration.
The Ownership or Control fliers will be used to update the Business
Register, the basic sampling frame for many of our current surveys.
Many of the establishments in the Census Bureau's Business Register are
incorrectly identified as being single-establishment firms.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit.
Frequency: Annually.
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Sections 182, 224, and 225.
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: September 10, 2004.
Madeleine Clayton,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 04-20776 Filed 9-14-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P