Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Household Pulse Survey, 19219 [2021-07509]

Agencies

• Census Bureau
• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 13, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 19219]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-07509]


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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; Household Pulse Survey

    On March 18, 2021, the Department of Commerce received clearance 
from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in accordance with the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 to conduct Phase 3.1 of the Household 
Pulse Survey (OMB No. 0607-1013, Exp. 10/31/23). Phase 3.1 of the 
Household Pulse Survey includes new content designed to meet current 
needs for information associated with household experiences during the 
Covid-19 pandemic.
    The Department is committed to ensuring that the data collected by 
the Household Pulse Survey continue to meet information needs as they 
may evolve over the course of the pandemic. This notice serves to 
inform of the Department's intent to request emergency clearance from 
OMB to add content to the Household Pulse Survey not included in the 
Request for Revision for Phase 3.1 approved on March 18, 2021. The 
content under consideration includes demographic screener questions 
from the Department of Defense (DOD) to identify Service members and 
military spouses (Q8a), and from the National Institute for 
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention (CDC) to classify respondents employed in 
``essential'' worker groups (Q13c and Q13d). The Household Pulse Survey 
is designed to collect and disseminate data on a near real-time basis 
to inform on the social and economic impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic. 
Data from the Household Pulse Survey will allow DOD to enhance services 
and target resources to help alleviate the impact of the pandemic on 
Service members and their families. The CDC will use the data to 
respond to ongoing impacts of the pandemic and target outreach efforts 
to promote vaccine access and uptake among essential worker groups.
    It is the Department's intention to commence data collection using 
the revised instrument on or about April 14, 2021. The Department 
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. Public comments were previously sought on 
the Household Pulse Survey via the Federal Register on May 19, 2020, 
June 3, 2020, and again on February 1, 2021. This notice allows for an 
additional 30 days for public comments on the proposed revisions.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: Household Pulse Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-1013.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Request for a Revision of a Currently Approved 
Collection.
    Number of Respondents: 3,150,000.
    Average Hours per Response: 20 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 1,039,500.
    Needs and Uses: Data produced by the Household Pulse Survey are 
designed to inform on a range of topics related to households' 
experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic. Topics to date have included 
employment, facility to telework, travel patterns, income loss, 
spending patterns, food and housing security, access to benefits, 
mental health and access to care, intent to receive the COVID-19 
vaccine, and educational disruption (K-12 and post-secondary). The 
requested revision, if approved by OMB, will include additional items 
that will allow agencies to enhance services and target resources to 
help alleviate the impact of the pandemic on Service members and their 
families and target outreach efforts to promote vaccine access and 
uptake among essential worker groups. The overall burden to the public 
will remain unchanged.
    The Household Pulse Survey was initially launched in April, 2020 as 
an experimental project (see https://www.census.gov/data/experimental-data-products.html) under emergency clearance from the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) initially granted April 19, 2020; regular 
clearance was subsequently sought and approved by OMB on October 30, 
2020 (OMB No. 0607-1013; Exp. 10/31/2023).
    Affected Public: Households.
    Frequency: Households will be selected once to participate in a 20-
minute survey.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 8(b), 182 
and 196.
    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 0607-1013.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-07509 Filed 4-12-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P