May 27 -- The Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension without changes for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, “Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services Activity and Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services Outcomes.” Consideration will be given to all written comments received by July 26, 2022.
ETA is soliciting comments concerning the collection of data in the ETA 9048, Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services Activity Report, and the ETA 9049, Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services Outcomes Report. Authorization for both reports expires on December 31, 2022. The Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services (WPRS) program, mandated by the Unemployment Compensation Amendments of 1993, Public Law 103-152, identifies and ranks unemployment insurance (UI) claimants by their potential for exhausting benefits before returning to work and refers these claimants to appropriate reemployment services.
WPRS is a required UI activity that each state may operate as a standalone program or integrated within the state's Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessments (RESEA) program, which is a voluntary reemployment program authorized by Section 306 of the Social Security Act (SSA). Specifically, states participating in the RESEA program may opt to integrate WPRS into the RESEA participant selection process. States that fully integrate WPRS into their RESEA program and provide RESEA services statewide are exempt from WPRS reporting because WPRS activities are fully reflected in RESEA quarterly report (ETA 9128 and ETA 9129). States that opt not to include WPRS into their RESEA program design or only offer RESEA in limited locations must continue to submit the ETA 9048 and ETA 9049. Based on analysis of historical data and state's planned RESEA activities, ETA projects that up to 15 states per year will continue to report WPRS activities using the ETA 9048 and ETA 9049, and burden estimates have been revised to reflect this projected level of activity. Additional information about the integration of WPRS into RESEA is available in Unemployment Insurance Program Letter No. 10-22 and Training and Employment Guidance Letter No. 05-21, “Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Funding Allotments and Operating Guidance for Unemployment Insurance (UI) Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) Grants.”
The ETA 9048 and ETA 9049 reports are the only means of tracking the activities in the WPRS program in instances where states have not volunteered to participate in RESEA, opted to not integrate WPRS into their RESEA program design, or continue provide WPRS services in areas not currently served by RESEA. The ETA 9048 report describes the number of claimants at various points in the WPRS system from initial profiling through the completion of specific reemployment services. The ETA 9049 describes the reemployment experience of profiled claimants selected for referral to services by examining the state's existing wage record files to capture which quarter the individuals who received reemployment services became employed, what wages they earned, and whether the individuals receiving services changed industries. Section 303(a)(6), SSA, authorizes this information collection.
WPRS webpage:
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/american-job-centers/worker-profiling-remployment-services
Current ETA Forms 9048 and 9049 and technical documentation:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=201910-1205-002 Click on IC List for forms, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2022-11417
