Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request; National Training, Education, and Workforce Survey, 65407-65408 [2023-20515]

Agencies

• NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 183 (Friday, September 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65407-65408]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-20515]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request; 
National Training, Education, and Workforce Survey

AGENCY: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 
National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) is announcing plans to 
renew this collection. In accordance with the requirements of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we are providing an opportunity for 
public comment on this action. After obtaining and considering public 
comment, NSF will prepare the submission requesting Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) clearance of this collection for no longer 
than 3 years.

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by November 21, 
2023 to be assured consideration. Comments received after that date 
will be considered to the extent practicable. Send comments to the 
address below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports Clearance 
Officer, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Suite 
E7400, Alexandria, Virginia 22314; telephone (703) 292-7556; or send 
email to [email protected]. Individuals who use a telecommunications 
device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay 
Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339, which is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 
days a week, 365 days a year (including Federal holidays).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title of Collection: The 2024 National Training, Education, and 
Workforce Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 3145-0264.
    Expiration Date: November 30, 2024.
    Type of Request: Intent to seek approval to extend an information 
collection for three years.
    Abstract: The CHIPS Act of 2022, Public Law 117-167, Sec.  10314, 
requires the Director of NSF to provide a portfolio analysis of NSF's 
investments in the skilled technical workforce. With the widespread 
integration of science and technology in society, including its central 
role in the economy, work has changed for individuals at all education 
levels, making skilled technical workers increasingly important to U.S. 
economic competitiveness, national security, and scientific progress. 
American workers who use science, technology, engineering, and 
mathematics (STEM) knowledge and skills in their jobs but do not 
require a bachelor's degree or above comprise the skilled technical 
workforce (STW). While some limited federal data exist to quantify the 
number of skilled technical workers, the National Training, Education, 
and Workforce Survey (NTEWS) allows for a longitudinal analysis to 
measure the pathways of how individuals enter, maintain relevance, or 
seek advancement in STW occupations.
    The NTEWS continues to be a voluntary response data collection 
sponsored by the National Center for

[[Page 65408]]

Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science 
Foundation and cosponsored by the National Center for Education 
Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education. The NTEWS 
serves the purpose of measuring and understanding two research concepts 
that are of national interest: (1) the education, training, and career 
pathways of skilled technical workers, and (2) the prevalence and 
interplay of education (postsecondary degrees and certificates), work 
credentials (certifications and licenses), and work experience programs 
among American workers.
    The NTEWS will collect information on the following topics to 
examine the relationship between credentials and employment outcomes:

 Credential types
 Education characteristics
 Initial work training
 Employment characteristics
 Demographic characteristics

    Given these areas of mutual interest for NCSES and NCES, the NTEWS 
will reduce public burden by fielding one cosponsored survey that meets 
the information needs of both federal agencies.
    The 2024 NTEWS data collection effort will be the second cycle for 
a planned, biennial, rotating-panel design. Respondents can complete 
the survey in English or Spanish by web, paper, or computer-assisted 
telephone interviewing. The sponsoring agencies plan to include 
questions about sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) as 
experimental modules to examine the response rates and data quality for 
possible future inclusion of SOGI questions in the NTEWS. The agencies 
will analyze the 2024 NTEWS data to inform and resolve any statistical, 
methodological, operational, and content issues before the subsequent 
NTEWS collection cycle in the planned, biennial survey cycle design.
    The U.S. Census Bureau, the agency responsible for the American 
Community Survey (ACS), will serve as the Federal data collection 
contractor for NCSES and NCES. The 2024 NTEWS sample will be selected 
from the 2022 ACS and the 2022 NTEWS, providing the needed coverage of 
the STW working in the United States. The NTEWS collection and data 
will be protected under the applicable Census Bureau confidentiality 
statutes.
    Use of the information: NCSES and NCES intend to publish national 
estimates from the 2024 NTEWS and use the results to inform the next 
survey cycle. NCSES anticipates that the NTEWS data will be used for 
the two congressionally mandated biennial reports authored by NCSES: 
Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and 
Engineering (https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/women/) and Science and 
Engineering Indicators (https://ncses.nsf.gov/indicators). NCES plans 
to release statistical reports and web tables on the status of 
educational and professional credentials in the United States. In 
addition, a public release file of collected data, designed to protect 
respondent confidentiality, will be made available to policymakers, 
researchers, and the public on the internet.
    Established within NSF by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act 
of 2010 Sec.  505, codified in the NSF Act of 1950, as amended, NCSES 
serves as a central Federal clearinghouse for the collection, 
interpretation, analysis, and dissemination of objective data on 
science, engineering, technology, and research and development for use 
by practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and the public. NCSES also 
provides data to support the Science and Engineering Equal 
Opportunities Act of 1980, which directs NSF to provide to Congress and 
the Executive Branch an ``accounting and comparison, by sex, race, and 
ethnic group and by discipline, of the participation of women and men 
in scientific and engineering positions.''
    NCSES has historically met these legislative mandates through its 
surveys and biennial publications measuring the education, employment, 
and demographic characteristics of the nation's college-educated 
scientists and engineers. However, an emerging research and policy 
interest in the STW creates a need for continued collection of the 
relatively new NTEWS data to expand and supplement NCSES's efforts on 
the college-educated science and engineering workforce.
    Expected Respondents: Eligible individuals are ages 16 through 75, 
not enrolled in high school or institutionalized, and living in the 
U.S. or Puerto Rico. The NTEWS sample design will meet the needs of the 
sponsoring agencies by providing coverage of the workforce-eligible 
adult population and including an oversample of adults in skilled 
technical occupations. A statistical sample of approximately 120,000 
individuals (17,000 returning sample members from the 2022 NTEWS and 
103,000 new sample members from the 2022 ACS) will be contacted in 2024 
for the NTEWS production. Another 3,000 individuals known to have a 
certificate will form a seeded sample that will not be included in the 
production of NTEWS official statistics. Information from the seeded 
sample will be used for agencies' research purposes to evaluate 
questions on the NTEWS.
    Estimate of Burden: The expected response rate is 62.5 percent, or 
75,000 completed cases, a calculation that is based on the 2022 NTEWS. 
The time to complete the survey may vary depending on an individual's 
circumstances and response mode (web, paper, or telephone). NCSES 
estimates an average completion time of 15 minutes. NCSES estimates 
that the average annual burden for the initial NTEWS over the course of 
the three-year OMB clearance period will be no more than 6,250 hours 
[75,000 completed cases x 15 minutes) / 3 years].
    Comments: Comments are invited on (a) aspects of the data 
collection effort (including, but not limited to, the following: the 
availability of administrative and supplemental sources of data on the 
skilled technical workforce, survey content, contact strategy, and 
statistical methods); (b) whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
NCSES, including whether the information shall have practical utility; 
(c) the accuracy of the NCSES's estimate of the burden of the proposed 
collection of information; (d) ways to enhance the quality, use, and 
clarity of the information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology; and (e) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on those who are to respond, including through the use of 
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

    Dated: September 18, 2023.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2023-20515 Filed 9-21-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P