May 17 -- The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) invites comments to OMB by June 16, 2022 regarding its proposal to conduct the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Business Supplement (QBS).
The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Business Supplement (QBS) is a versatile collection instrument designed to capture information on the U.S. economy quicky and efficiently using the BLS Annual Refiling Survey as the data collection platform. The QBS collection is designed to incorporate new questionnaires as the need arises to allow BLS to collect and publish information quickly so that stakeholders and data users can understand the impact of specific events on the U.S. economy as they occur.
The initial QBS survey, the 2021 Business Response Survey, collected information on how establishments were coping with the transition from the height of the coronavirus pandemic into a period of relative economic recovery. It followed the 2020 Business Response Survey (1220-0197), a one-time survey which captured information about changes to business operations, employment and workforce flexibilities, and benefits that occurred as a result of the onset of the pandemic.
The BLS is now seeking approval to conduct another survey under the QBS information collection to capture information on telework, hiring and vacancies at establishments. This second QBS survey will ask questions about the availability of telework at businesses, hiring and current vacancies in an attempted to better understand current labor market conditions at this stage of the coronavirus pandemic.
For the 2022 BRS, BLS plans to select a sample of approximately 320,000 establishments. The objective of the large sample is to produce statistics at detailed levels including by size class, state, industry, and some state-industry, state-size combinations. Overall data collection is expected to be conducted over an eight to sixteen week period starting in late July 2022. BLS expects a response rate of 25%. This expectation is based on responses to prior test estimates of the QBS pilot tests and results observed from the BRS in 2020 and 2021. Because BLS expects a response rate of 25 percent, BLS will be performing a nonresponse bias analysis and determining appropriate nonresponse bias adjustments.
BLS Business Response Survey:
https://www.bls.gov/brs/
Submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202205-1220-002 Click IC List for data collection instrument, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2022-10543
For AEA members wishing to submit comments, "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" is available at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806
