Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Survey, 67708-67709 [2020-23634]

Agencies

• Census Bureau
• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 207 (Monday, October 26, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67708-67709]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-23634]


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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; Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) 
Survey

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite 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. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register (83 FR 42252) on August 21, 2018, during a 60-day 
comment period. This notice allows for

[[Page 67709]]

an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic 
Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0354.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission, Request for Non-Substantive 
Change to a Currently Approved Information Collection.
    Number of Respondents: 78,000.
    Average Hours per Response: 25 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 32,500.
    Needs and Uses: Information on work experience, personal income, 
noncash benefits, current and previous year health insurance coverage, 
employer-sponsored insurance take-up, and migration is collected 
through the ASEC. The income data from the ASEC are used by social 
planners, economists, government officials, and market researchers to 
gauge the economic well-being of the country as a whole, and selected 
population groups of interest. This request is to add four questions to 
the ASEC. The added questions will assist researchers to evaluate the 
impact of governmental assistance programs on economic well-being, 
particularly for the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM).
     If children in the household are reported to have received 
school meals, a new follow-up question asks:
    [cir] Did your children continue receiving free/reduced price meals 
through your school or school district if schools were closed during 
the Coronovirus-COVID-19 pandemic?''
    Given widespread school closings in response to the COVID-19 
pandemic, many school districts have shifted to alternative ways to 
distribute free school meals to children. However, the ability for 
families to take up these programs likely varies in ways that cannot be 
uniformly predicted, so adding a follow-up question about receipt of 
school meals during school closures helps to improve data quality on 
the market value of these benefits.
     Three new questions regarding stimulus payments are added 
for all households.
    [cir] During 2020, did you or anyone receive any stimulus payments 
or payments received from the Department of the Treasury due to the 
Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic?
    [cir] Who was the stimulus payment for?
    [cir] What was the amount of the stimulus payment you received for 
all covered adults and children in the household?
    Stimulus payment information will allow researchers to estimate the 
amount of such payments received by households. The coronavirus 
stimulus payments disbursed in 2020 were based on income from 2018 or 
2019, making it nearly impossible to model with only the 2020 income. 
This information will provide accurate data on stimulus payments 
received to properly estimate after-tax income for the SPM.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 141, and 
182; and Title 29, United States Code, Section 2 authorize the Census 
Bureau to collect this information.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB 
Control Number 0607-0354.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2020-23634 Filed 10-23-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P