Developing a Supplemental Poverty Measure, 29513-29514 [2010-12628]
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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 101 / Wednesday, May 26, 2010 / Notices
IV. Request for Comments
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether
the proposed collection of information
is necessary for the proper performance
of the functions of the agency, including
whether the information shall have
practical utility; (b) The accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden
(including hours and cost) of the
proposed collection of information; (c)
Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) Ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on respondents, including through the
use of automated collection techniques
or other forms of information
technology.
The Census Bureau will summarize
and/or include comments submitted in
response to this notice in the request for
OMB approval of this information
collection; the comments also will
become a matter of public record.
Dated: May 21, 2010.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief
Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010–12626 Filed 5–25–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–07–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of the Census
[Docket Number 100429203–0204–01]
Developing a Supplemental Poverty
Measure
wwoods2 on DSK1DXX6B1PROD with NOTICES_PART 1
AGENCY: Bureau of the Census,
Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice and solicitation of
comments.
SUMMARY: The Bureau of the Census
(Census Bureau) issues this notice to
request comments on the approach to
developing a Supplemental Poverty
Measure (SPM) presented in a report
entitled ‘‘Observations from the
Interagency Technical Working Group
on Developing a Supplemental Poverty
Measure,’’ which was recently released
by the Interagency Technical Working
Group on Developing a Supplemental
Poverty Measure (Working Group). This
report was produced as part of an effort
by the Working Group to suggest how
the Census Bureau, in cooperation with
the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS), should
develop a new Supplemental Poverty
Measure. The report provides
observations about how to make a series
of initial choices in the development of
the SPM. The eventual publication of
the SPM will not replace the official
VerDate Mar<15>2010
15:16 May 25, 2010
Jkt 220001
29513
poverty measure, nor will it have any
impact on allocations determined by the
poverty measurement. Rather, it is part
of the Census Bureau’s ongoing effort to
more accurately measure poverty levels
in the United States.
DATES: To ensure consideration, written
comments must be submitted to the
office listed in the ADDRESSES section of
this notice on or before June 25, 2010.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to David
Johnson, Housing and Household
Economic Statistics Division, Census
Bureau, 4600 Silver Hill Road, Stop
8500, Washington, DC 20233–8500 or to
spm@census.gov. The Interagency
Technical Working Group’s report may
be found at: https://www.census.gov/
hhes/www/poverty/SPM_
TWGObservations.pdf.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
David Johnson, Housing and Household
Economic Statistics Division, Census
Bureau, telephone number 301–763–
6443 (this is not a toll-free number), email to: spm@census.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SPM is instead designed as an
experimental measure that defines
income thresholds and resources in a
manner different from the official
poverty measure. The Census Bureau
considers the SPM a work in progress,
and both the Working Group and the
Census Bureau expect that there will be
improvements to the SPM over time.
The first publication of the SPM will be
accompanied by a detailed description
of the methodology used to estimate the
new supplemental measure, and the
Census Bureau expects to update this
description as changes are incorporated
in the SPM.
The new supplemental measure
would be published initially in the fall
of 2011 at the same time and level of
detail as the 2010 income and poverty
statistics that reflect the official poverty
measure, and annually thereafter.
Developing and estimating an SPM will
take substantial advance work and
planning, and the Working Group’s
observations are meant to assist the
Census Bureau and the BLS in such
planning.
I. Background
Since the publication of the first
official U.S. poverty estimates in 1964,
there has been continuing debate about
the best approach to measuring poverty
in the United States. Recognizing that
supplemental estimates of poverty can
provide very useful information to the
public as well as to the Federal
Government, in 2009, the Office of
Management and Budget’s (OMB) Chief
Statistician formed an Interagency
Technical Working Group on
Developing a Supplemental Poverty
Measure (Working Group). This group
included representatives from BLS, the
Census Bureau, the Economics and
Statistics Administration, the Council of
Economic Advisers, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human
Services, and OMB. The Working Group
asked the Census Bureau, in cooperation
with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to
develop a Supplemental Poverty
Measure (SPM) to obtain an improved
understanding of the economic wellbeing of American families and of how
Federal policies affect those living in
poverty, and offered its observations on
how the Census Bureau should do so in
the above-referenced report.
The SPM ultimately produced by the
Census Bureau would not replace the
official poverty measure, and the SPM
will not be the measure used to estimate
eligibility for government programs. The
official statistical poverty measure, as
defined in OMB Statistical Policy
Directive No. 14, will continue to be
produced and updated every year. The
II. Defining the Supplemental Poverty
Measure
In its report, the Working Group laid
out a series of suggestions and
recommendations that, taken together,
provide a roadmap through which the
Census Bureau, with the assistance of
BLS, can use to produce the initial set
of estimates of the number and
percentage of people in poverty based
on the SPM in 2011. It is likely that the
procedures used to create this first set
of estimates will closely resemble the
Working Group’s recommendations. A
much abbreviated summary of the
group’s suggestions follows. The Census
Bureau invites the public to read and
offer comments on the approach
described in the Working Group’s full
report, which can be found at https://
www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/
SPM_TWGObservations.pdf. The Census
Bureau is especially interested in
receiving comments on the methodology
the Working Group employed in making
its recommendations.
The poverty threshold is the annual
expenditure amount below which a
family is considered poor. The Working
Group recommended that the poverty
threshold for the SPM should be
established on the basis of expenditures
for commodities that all families must
purchase: Food, shelter, clothing, and
utilities (collectively, FSCU). This
threshold should be derived from
expenditure data from BLS’ U.S.
Consumer Expenditure Survey. The
Working Group recommended that the
reference sample for this threshold be
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
E:\FR\FM\26MYN1.SGM
26MYN1
wwoods2 on DSK1DXX6B1PROD with NOTICES_PART 1
29514
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 101 / Wednesday, May 26, 2010 / Notices
an average of all families with exactly
two children. A ‘‘family unit’’ should
consist of all related individuals who
live at the same address, any co-resident
unrelated children who are cared for by
the family, and any cohabiters and their
children. Using the most recent fiveyear distribution of FSCU expenditures,
the Working Group recommended that
the Census Bureau set the dollar amount
of the poverty threshold at the 33rd
percentile of the distribution of FCSU
expenditures. To account for differences
among those who rent, own a home
with a mortgage, and own a home
without a mortgage, the Working Group
recommended the Census Bureau
develop an adjustment factor for the
shelter component, to reflect differences
in expenditures among these three
groups. To account for basic
expenditures outside of FCSU, the
Working Group recommended that the
Census Bureau multiply the dollar
amount (as calculated above) by 1.2. To
define thresholds for different families,
the Working Group recommended the
use of the so-called ‘‘three-parameter
equivalence scale’’ that has been used by
the Census in recent years. The Working
Group also recommended that
thresholds be updated annually using
an updated five-year distribution of
FSCU expenditures.
The Working Group also
recommended that poverty thresholds
should be adjusted for price differences
across geographic areas. American
Community Survey (ACS) data, which is
collected annually by the Census
Bureau, appear to be the best data
currently available from which one can
create a housing price index based on
differences in rental prices of housing
across areas. Future work may provide
price data that can be used to measure
interarea price differentials on more
items than housing alone.
To determine poverty status under the
SPM, resources (income plus noncash
benefits, minus necessary expenses) are
compared to a family’s poverty
threshold (as calculated in the method
described above). If a family’s resources
are below its poverty threshold, that
family and all persons in the family are
counted as poor. The Working Group
recommended that family resources be
estimated as the sum of cash income,
plus any Federal government in-kind
benefits that families can use to meet
their FCSU. From this amount, the
Working Group recommended
subtracting taxes (or adding tax credits),
work expenses, child support paid, and
out-of-pocket medical expenses to
determine poverty status. The survey
used to make these calculations will be
the Current Population Survey’s Annual
VerDate Mar<15>2010
15:16 May 25, 2010
Jkt 220001
Social and Economic Supplement, (CPS
ASEC), which is jointly sponsored by
the Census Bureau and BLS.
Work expenses have an impact on
poverty status. The Working Group
therefore recommended that the
definition of resources used to calculate
the SPM should exclude expenses
associated with commuting and child
care. For child care, the Working Group
recommended that actual expenses,
either reported on the CPS ASEC or
assigned to CPS ASEC families based on
other household surveys that collect
these data, should be used. For other
work expenses, the Working Group
recommended that the Census Bureau
investigate the advantages and
disadvantages of using actual expenses
versus an average amount for all
working adults.
To account for medical out-of-pocket
(MOOP) expenses, the Working Group
recommended that the Census Bureau
examine the reliability of questions
newly added to the CPS ASEC in 2010.
If these data are found to be reliable, the
Working Group recommended that the
Census Bureau use data from the CPS
ASEC in the calculation of family
resources. If these data are found to be
unreliable, then the Working Group
recommended that MOOP should be
assigned to CPS ASEC families and
individuals from other surveys that
collect reliable information on MOOP,
in a way that takes into account the
differences in medical expenses among
demographic groups. The Working
Group also suggested that the Census
Bureau investigate the advantages and
disadvantages of adjusting MOOP for
those who are uninsured, to reflect that
the uninsured may be paying less than
is customary because they lack health
insurance and cannot pay for health
services.
III. Desired Focus of Comments
While the Census Bureau welcomes
public comments on the approaches
described in the report of the Working
Group, the Census Bureau is
particularly interested in receiving
comments on the specific methods used
in the report, to ensure that the Census
Bureau uses best practices in developing
the SPM. Specifically, the Census
Bureau is interested in comments on:
• Methods and data sources used to
geographically adjust poverty
thresholds;
• Methods and data sources used to
adjust resources to account for child
care and other work-related expenses;
• Methods and data sources used to
adjust resources to account for medical
out-of-pocket expenses; and
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
• Methods and data sources used to
impute dollar values for in-kind benefits
and taxes.
For more information on the Working
Group’s observations on the
components for the new SPM, see the
report entitled ‘‘Observations from the
Interagency Technical Working Group
on Developing a Supplemental Poverty
Measure.’’ For more information/
background on issues related to
alternative poverty measures, see
https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/
povmeas/papers.html.
Dated: May 18, 2010.
Robert M. Groves,
Director, Bureau of the Census.
[FR Doc. 2010–12628 Filed 5–25–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–07–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[Application No. 10–00001]
Export Trade Certificate of Review
ACTION: Notice of Issuance of an Export
Trade Certificate of Review to Alaska
Longline Cod Commission (Application
No. 10–00001).
SUMMARY: On May 13, 2010, the U.S.
Department of Commerce issued an
Export Trade Certificate of Review to
the Alaska Longline Cod Commission
(‘‘ALCC’’). This notice summarizes the
conduct for which certification has been
granted.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Joseph E. Flynn, Director, Office of
Competition and Economic Analysis,
International Trade Administration, by
telephone at (202) 482–5131 (this is not
a toll-free number), or by E-mail at
oetca@ita.doc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title III of
the Export Trading Company Act of
1982 (15 U.S.C. Sections 4001–21)
authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to
issue Export Trade Certificates of
Review. The regulations implementing
Title III are found at 15 CFR Part 325
(2009).
The Office of Competition and
Economic Analysis is issuing this notice
pursuant to 15 CFR section 325.6(b),
which requires the Secretary of
Commerce to publish a summary of the
certification in the Federal Register.
Under Section 305(a) of the Act and 15
CFR section 325.11(a), any person
aggrieved by the Secretary’s
determination may, within 30 days of
the date of this notice, bring an action
in any appropriate district court of the
United States to set aside the
E:\FR\FM\26MYN1.SGM
26MYN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 101 (Wednesday, May 26, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29513-29514]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-12628]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of the Census
[Docket Number 100429203-0204-01]
Developing a Supplemental Poverty Measure
AGENCY: Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice and solicitation of comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) issues this notice to
request comments on the approach to developing a Supplemental Poverty
Measure (SPM) presented in a report entitled ``Observations from the
Interagency Technical Working Group on Developing a Supplemental
Poverty Measure,'' which was recently released by the Interagency
Technical Working Group on Developing a Supplemental Poverty Measure
(Working Group). This report was produced as part of an effort by the
Working Group to suggest how the Census Bureau, in cooperation with the
U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), should
develop a new Supplemental Poverty Measure. The report provides
observations about how to make a series of initial choices in the
development of the SPM. The eventual publication of the SPM will not
replace the official poverty measure, nor will it have any impact on
allocations determined by the poverty measurement. Rather, it is part
of the Census Bureau's ongoing effort to more accurately measure
poverty levels in the United States.
DATES: To ensure consideration, written comments must be submitted to
the office listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice on or before
June 25, 2010.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to David Johnson, Housing and Household
Economic Statistics Division, Census Bureau, 4600 Silver Hill Road,
Stop 8500, Washington, DC 20233-8500 or to spm@census.gov. The
Interagency Technical Working Group's report may be found at: https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/SPM_TWGObservations.pdf.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Johnson, Housing and Household
Economic Statistics Division, Census Bureau, telephone number 301-763-
6443 (this is not a toll-free number), e-mail to: spm@census.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Since the publication of the first official U.S. poverty estimates
in 1964, there has been continuing debate about the best approach to
measuring poverty in the United States. Recognizing that supplemental
estimates of poverty can provide very useful information to the public
as well as to the Federal Government, in 2009, the Office of Management
and Budget's (OMB) Chief Statistician formed an Interagency Technical
Working Group on Developing a Supplemental Poverty Measure (Working
Group). This group included representatives from BLS, the Census
Bureau, the Economics and Statistics Administration, the Council of
Economic Advisers, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
and OMB. The Working Group asked the Census Bureau, in cooperation with
the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to develop a Supplemental Poverty
Measure (SPM) to obtain an improved understanding of the economic well-
being of American families and of how Federal policies affect those
living in poverty, and offered its observations on how the Census
Bureau should do so in the above-referenced report.
The SPM ultimately produced by the Census Bureau would not replace
the official poverty measure, and the SPM will not be the measure used
to estimate eligibility for government programs. The official
statistical poverty measure, as defined in OMB Statistical Policy
Directive No. 14, will continue to be produced and updated every year.
The SPM is instead designed as an experimental measure that defines
income thresholds and resources in a manner different from the official
poverty measure. The Census Bureau considers the SPM a work in
progress, and both the Working Group and the Census Bureau expect that
there will be improvements to the SPM over time. The first publication
of the SPM will be accompanied by a detailed description of the
methodology used to estimate the new supplemental measure, and the
Census Bureau expects to update this description as changes are
incorporated in the SPM.
The new supplemental measure would be published initially in the
fall of 2011 at the same time and level of detail as the 2010 income
and poverty statistics that reflect the official poverty measure, and
annually thereafter. Developing and estimating an SPM will take
substantial advance work and planning, and the Working Group's
observations are meant to assist the Census Bureau and the BLS in such
planning.
II. Defining the Supplemental Poverty Measure
In its report, the Working Group laid out a series of suggestions
and recommendations that, taken together, provide a roadmap through
which the Census Bureau, with the assistance of BLS, can use to produce
the initial set of estimates of the number and percentage of people in
poverty based on the SPM in 2011. It is likely that the procedures used
to create this first set of estimates will closely resemble the Working
Group's recommendations. A much abbreviated summary of the group's
suggestions follows. The Census Bureau invites the public to read and
offer comments on the approach described in the Working Group's full
report, which can be found at https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/SPM_TWGObservations.pdf. The Census Bureau is especially interested in
receiving comments on the methodology the Working Group employed in
making its recommendations.
The poverty threshold is the annual expenditure amount below which
a family is considered poor. The Working Group recommended that the
poverty threshold for the SPM should be established on the basis of
expenditures for commodities that all families must purchase: Food,
shelter, clothing, and utilities (collectively, FSCU). This threshold
should be derived from expenditure data from BLS' U.S. Consumer
Expenditure Survey. The Working Group recommended that the reference
sample for this threshold be
[[Page 29514]]
an average of all families with exactly two children. A ``family unit''
should consist of all related individuals who live at the same address,
any co-resident unrelated children who are cared for by the family, and
any cohabiters and their children. Using the most recent five-year
distribution of FSCU expenditures, the Working Group recommended that
the Census Bureau set the dollar amount of the poverty threshold at the
33rd percentile of the distribution of FCSU expenditures. To account
for differences among those who rent, own a home with a mortgage, and
own a home without a mortgage, the Working Group recommended the Census
Bureau develop an adjustment factor for the shelter component, to
reflect differences in expenditures among these three groups. To
account for basic expenditures outside of FCSU, the Working Group
recommended that the Census Bureau multiply the dollar amount (as
calculated above) by 1.2. To define thresholds for different families,
the Working Group recommended the use of the so-called ``three-
parameter equivalence scale'' that has been used by the Census in
recent years. The Working Group also recommended that thresholds be
updated annually using an updated five-year distribution of FSCU
expenditures.
The Working Group also recommended that poverty thresholds should
be adjusted for price differences across geographic areas. American
Community Survey (ACS) data, which is collected annually by the Census
Bureau, appear to be the best data currently available from which one
can create a housing price index based on differences in rental prices
of housing across areas. Future work may provide price data that can be
used to measure interarea price differentials on more items than
housing alone.
To determine poverty status under the SPM, resources (income plus
noncash benefits, minus necessary expenses) are compared to a family's
poverty threshold (as calculated in the method described above). If a
family's resources are below its poverty threshold, that family and all
persons in the family are counted as poor. The Working Group
recommended that family resources be estimated as the sum of cash
income, plus any Federal government in-kind benefits that families can
use to meet their FCSU. From this amount, the Working Group recommended
subtracting taxes (or adding tax credits), work expenses, child support
paid, and out-of-pocket medical expenses to determine poverty status.
The survey used to make these calculations will be the Current
Population Survey's Annual Social and Economic Supplement, (CPS ASEC),
which is jointly sponsored by the Census Bureau and BLS.
Work expenses have an impact on poverty status. The Working Group
therefore recommended that the definition of resources used to
calculate the SPM should exclude expenses associated with commuting and
child care. For child care, the Working Group recommended that actual
expenses, either reported on the CPS ASEC or assigned to CPS ASEC
families based on other household surveys that collect these data,
should be used. For other work expenses, the Working Group recommended
that the Census Bureau investigate the advantages and disadvantages of
using actual expenses versus an average amount for all working adults.
To account for medical out-of-pocket (MOOP) expenses, the Working
Group recommended that the Census Bureau examine the reliability of
questions newly added to the CPS ASEC in 2010. If these data are found
to be reliable, the Working Group recommended that the Census Bureau
use data from the CPS ASEC in the calculation of family resources. If
these data are found to be unreliable, then the Working Group
recommended that MOOP should be assigned to CPS ASEC families and
individuals from other surveys that collect reliable information on
MOOP, in a way that takes into account the differences in medical
expenses among demographic groups. The Working Group also suggested
that the Census Bureau investigate the advantages and disadvantages of
adjusting MOOP for those who are uninsured, to reflect that the
uninsured may be paying less than is customary because they lack health
insurance and cannot pay for health services.
III. Desired Focus of Comments
While the Census Bureau welcomes public comments on the approaches
described in the report of the Working Group, the Census Bureau is
particularly interested in receiving comments on the specific methods
used in the report, to ensure that the Census Bureau uses best
practices in developing the SPM. Specifically, the Census Bureau is
interested in comments on:
Methods and data sources used to geographically adjust
poverty thresholds;
Methods and data sources used to adjust resources to
account for child care and other work-related expenses;
Methods and data sources used to adjust resources to
account for medical out-of-pocket expenses; and
Methods and data sources used to impute dollar values for
in-kind benefits and taxes.
For more information on the Working Group's observations on the
components for the new SPM, see the report entitled ``Observations from
the Interagency Technical Working Group on Developing a Supplemental
Poverty Measure.'' For more information/background on issues related to
alternative poverty measures, see https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/povmeas/papers.html.
Dated: May 18, 2010.
Robert M. Groves,
Director, Bureau of the Census.
[FR Doc. 2010-12628 Filed 5-25-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P
