Labor Statistics Bureau September 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Labor through the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is responsible for the development and publication of occupational employment projections and related career information, including the education and training requirements for detailed occupations. The BLS issued a Federal Register notice on November 18, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 223), requesting comments on a proposed education and training system. On May 26, 2009, a notice was issued on the BLS Web site announcing that the BLS would continue to refine the system to classify occupations into education and training categories for use in 2010, and provide an experimental dataset on the new system. The new education and training system has been developed and the experimental dataset is ready for users to provide feedback.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is responsible for developing and implementing the collection of new data on green jobs. The resulting information will be useful for evaluating policy initiatives and the labor market impact of economic activity related to protecting the environment and conserving natural resources. BLS activities also will be useful to State labor market information offices in their efforts to meet the need for information for State policymakers, businesses, and job seekers. In a Federal Register Notice on March 16, 2010 (75 FR 12571), BLS solicited comments on the definition BLS will use in measuring green jobs, the list of industries where green goods or services are classified, or any other aspect of the information provided in the notice. The current notice summarizes the comments received and the BLS response to the comments, and provides the final BLS definition of green jobs for use in data collection. Appendices. This notice includes four appendices in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Appendix I summarizes the comments received on the proposed definition of green jobs and the BLS response. Appendix II presents the final definition of green jobs BLS will use for data collection beginning in FY 2011. Appendix III summarizes comments on identifying industries where green goods and services are classified and the approach BLS intends to use for data collection beginning in FY 2011. Appendix IV summarizes comments received on the BLS plan to measure green jobs and the BLS response.

The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre-clearance consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments concerning the proposed revision of the ``Telephone Point of Purchase Survey.'' A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be obtained by contacting the individual listed below in the Addresses section of this notice.