1. 2007 Economic Census Overview Oregon State Data Center Meeting
Portland State University
April 14, 2009 1

2. Agenda What’s New for 2007 Terminology Data Product Organization
Economic Programs
Data Release Formats and Products 2

3. New for 2007 Change in publication formats
Changes to small geographic area definitions
Nonemployers to be included with employer data
Revised industry classification system
New and changing industries
Product classification expands to all services sectors
To see detail on these changes, go to the User Guide tab of the Economic Census home page.

4. New for 2007 (continued) New data on pension and other fringe benefits
Data on franchising for more industries
More data in Survey of Business Owners reports
Business expenses data moved to other series
Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas boundary changes 4

5. Finding Data Industry Geographic area Data items Business unit
Employers, nonemployers, or both
The Census Bureau collects a wide variety of data on U.S. businesses. To find the data you are interested in, you should begin your search by identifying most of the 5 items listed. 5 5

6. Terminology

7. Census Bureau Data Types
Economic
data collected from businesses
Demographic
data collected from people & households
Let me introduce you to a bit of our jargon. When we at the Census Bureau refer to economic data we are referring to data that we collect from businesses. We use the term demographic to refer to data collected from households. 7

8. Establishments vs. Companies
Establishment - A store, warehouse, factory, or other type of business at a single physical location
Company (or Firm) - One or more establishments under common ownership or control
Before we go further, lets make sure we understand just what it is that is being classified by industry.
A business establishment is a store, warehouse or factory operating at a specific physical location. That is not the same thing as a company.
A company consists of one or more establishments under common ownership or control. We require each company to give us separate data for each of their establishments, because frequently the different establishments do different things, and typically the different establishments are located in different geographic areas.
So it is each establishment that gets a NAICS code, not the company as a whole.
And it is the number of establishments, not the number of companies, that is featured in most census statistics. 8

9. Employers vs Nonemployers
Businesses with 1 or more paid employees
Covered by the Economic Census
Nonemployers
Businesses with no paid employees
Make up almost 3/4 of all US businesses but less than 5% of business receipts/revenue
NOT covered by the Economic Census (primarily published in the Nonemployer Statistics reports)
Each of the reports discussed to this point, from geographic area series to ZIP Codes Statistics, include only businesses with paid employees.
In terms of sales, that leaves out the 5% or so accounted for by nonemployers.
But if you are counting numbers of companies, nearly 3/4 are nonemployers–mostly self-employed individuals.
Starting in 1997 we have had statistics about nonemployers for all sectors of the economy.
Data are published for states, counties and metro areas, but not for places or ZIP Codes.
Since the data come from tax returns rather than questionnaires, we get fresh data each year. 9

10. Data Product Organization10

11. NAICS Hierarchy Level Code Description Sector 44-45 Retail Trade
Subsector
441
Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealer
Industry Group
4412
Other Motor Vehicle Dealers
Industry
44122
Motorcycle, Boat, and other Motor Vehicle Dealers
National Industry
441221
Motorcycle, ATV, and Personal Watercraft Dealers
NAICS uses a hierarchical structure, with the relationships displayed.
Note: Three sectors are represented by a range of 2-digit codes. These are:
Manufacturing (31-33),
Retail Trade (44-45), and
Transportation and Warehousing (48-49).
Some data sets in AFF also display data at the 7- and 8-digit levels. Although these codes are NAICS-based codes, they are not included in the official classification system. 11

12. Not covered by Econ Census; Partial coverage in Econ Census
NAICS Sectors
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting Mining Utilities Construction Manufacturing Wholesale Trade Retail Trade Transportation and Warehousing Information Finance and Insurance Real Estate and Rental and Leasing
54 Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
Management of Companies and Enterprises
56 Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services
61 Educational Services
62 Health Care and Social Assistance
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation
Accommodation and Food Services
Other Services (except Public Administration)
92 Public Administration
For the United States, there are 20 sectors and 1,175 industries in the 2007 NAICS.
Note the sectors not covered or only partially covered by the Economic census:
11 Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting – Covered by the separate Census of Agriculture published by the US Dept of Ag – Ag Research Service. Partially covered by County Business Patterns and Nonemployer Statistics
Transportation and Warehousing – Excludes the US Postal Service and airlines and railroads (both covered by US Dept of Transportation – Bureau of Transportation Statistics)
61 Educational Services – Excludes elementary & secondary schools, colleges/universities, and professional schools (all covered by US Dept of Ed)
81 Other Services (except Public Administration) – Excludes labor, political, and religious organizations and private households
92 Public Administration – Covered by the separate Census of Governments published by the Census Bureau
More information on those exclusions are in the 2007 Economic Census User Guide, available online.
Not covered by Econ Census; Partial coverage in Econ Census 12

13. Product Classifications
NAICS Product Codes
Cover the Mining and Manufacturing sectors only
Ex: “Dry and semi moist dog food, shipped in packages 25 lb/more”
Product Line Codes
Cover all sectors except Mining, Manufacturing, and Construction
Ex: “Bakery products baked on premises”, sold by Grocery stores
Kinds of Business & Types of Construction Codes
Cover the Construction sector only
Ex: “Single-family houses, detached” built by New single-family general contractors 13

14. Levels of Geography United States Regions and Divisions
States (and equivalents)
Metropolitan Areas
Counties (and equivalents)
Places
ZIP Codes
The 2007 Economic Census presents statistics for the listed levels of geography.
Coverage varies by economic census sector and program.
-- greatest variety of statistics and most detailed industry classification are published at the national level.
-- smaller variety for states and lower levels 14

15. Geographic Coverage Table
“X” = geographic coverage in 2007 Economic Census
Sector
U.S. States
Metro Areas
Counties
Places
ZIP
Codes
21: Mining X
22: Utilities
23: Construction
31-33: Manufacturing
42: Wholesale Trade
44-45: Retail Trade
48-49: Transportation and Warehousing
51: Information
52: Finance and Insurance
53: Real Estate and Rental and Leasing
54: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
55: Management of Companies and Enterprises
56: Administration and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services
61: Educational Services
62: Health Care and Social Assistance
71: Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation
72: Accommodation and Food Services
81: Other Services (except Public Administration)

16. Geographic Coverage for Other Economic Programs
“X” = geographic coverage in 2007 Economic Census
Economic Program
U.S.
States
Metro Areas
Counties
Places
ZIP
Codes
Annual Survey of Manufactures X
Commodity Flow Survey
County Business Patterns
Nonemployer Statistics
Survey of Business Owners
ZIP Code Business Patterns

17. Other Cross-Tabulation Categories
Employment / sales size of establishments / firms
Legal form of organization
Tax status and type of organization
Class of customer
Concentration ratios
Sex, race / ethnicity (Survey of Business Owners)
Other “specialty” cross-tabulations 17

18. Data Disclosure and Suppressions
U.S. Code, Title 13 and Title 26
Can’t release data that would disclose the identity of individual companies
Data suppressed with “(D)” in tables/files via complex program
Other Suppressions
High sampling/non-sampling errors
Poor (or questionable) responses from companies
Data suppressed with “(S)” or “(s)” in tables/files
Data not available or not comparable (data suppressed with “(N)” or “(X)” in tables files 18

19. Economic Programs 19

20. Economic Programs Economic Census Economic Surveys
Every 5 years (years ending in 2 & 7)
Expansive industry and product detail
Detailed geography
Constitutionally mandated
Economic Surveys
Monthly, quarterly and annual
Limited detail
Primarily national
Most voluntary or from administrative data 20

21. Economic Census Publication Series
Industry Series - Selected national-level industry and product data published by sector and industry
Geographic Area Series - Selected national-, state-, and other geographic-level data published by sector and geography
Subjects/Summary Series - Selected summary data published by sector (including Products, Size, and Miscellaneous Subjects reports)
ZIP Codes – Establishment counts by sales size for selected sectors
Core Business Statistics Series - Economy-wide Advance, Comparative, Bridge, and Franchise statistics
Economy-Wide Key Statistics (EWKS) file – Aggregated key data from publication series listed above (and others)
Geographic Area Series supersedes Industry Series? 21

22. and veteran business owners)
Economic Census-Related Programs
Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) - Selected national- and finer-level data on the movement of products across the U.S. by mode of transportation (plus other breakouts)
Economic Census of Island Areas – Selected industry, product, and other data for American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
Survey of Business Owners (SBO) – Selected national- and finer-level industry data for women- and minority-owned businesses and the characteristics of these businesses and their owners
(New for 2007: Corresponding data for veteran-owned business
and veteran business owners) 22

23. Current Economic Surveys
Or . . .
what we do
the other
four years 23

24. Current Economic Surveys
Economic Indicators
12 surveys for selected key sectors
Collected by Census but released by Commerce
Other current economic surveys
Current Industrial Reports – Covers products of selected manufacturing industries
Retail e-Commerce Sales – Covers electronic sales of merchandise in the U.S. 24

25. Current Economic Surveys (continued)
Other annual economic surveys
Annual Survey of Manufactures
County Business Patterns
Nonemployer Statistics (Businesses with no paid employees)
Other related economic programs
Statistics of U.S. Businesses – Firms, establishments, employment, and payroll for the U.S. and states by industry and “enterprise” employment size
Census of Governments – Federal, state, and local
Foreign Trade – Imports/Exports 25

26. Annual Economic Surveys
Annual Survey of Manufactures
Detailed statistics by industry and product
National and state levels data
Employer businesses only
County Business Patterns
Numbers of establishments, employment, and payroll data by industry
National, state, metro area, county, and ZIP Code levels data
Nonemployer Statistics
Numbers of establishments and sales data by industry
National, state, metro area, and county levels data
Businesses without paid employees. 26

27. Data Release 27

28. Economic Data Formats Conventional HTML Tables Databases
Printed Reports (very limited)
Portable Document Format files (PDFs)
HTML Tables
On Economic Internet pages
Databases
For download (xls, etc.) off econ Internet pages
American FactFinder 28

29. 29

30. 2007 Economic Census Home Page30

31. Sample Industry Quick Report31

32. 2007 Economic Census 32

33. Changes for 2007 Economic Census
Discontinue release of PDFs and pre-printed reports
Discontinue Econ02 DVD-ROM product
Limited HTML tables
American FactFinder the only release mechanism
Decrease the time it takes to distribute data on American FactFinder after analysts approve it 33

34. American FactFinder (AFF) Home Page34

35. AFF Economic Release Formats
Fact Sheets
Selected data for all sectors presented in a table
Quick Reports
Selected data for an industry, geography, or product presented in a table
Thematic Maps
Selected data (including ratios) presented in a map
Detailed Datasets 35

36. Sample Economic Fact Sheet

37. Sample Thematic Map 37

38. Data Set: 2007 Economic Census Page38

39. Sample Detailed Dataset View39

40. Economic AFF Features
Search for and filter datasets (by geography, industry, or other dimensions, or by data item)
List datasets (by program, survey, or sector)
Filter within a dataset
Modify display (show/hide/create/move columns)
Sort data in table
Print and Download data (plus FTP site)
Access to textual metadata
Reference maps 40

41. business.census.gov 41

42. Industry Snapshot 42

43. Summary
When comparing data across economic programs, censuses, surveys, sectors or years
Industry or Geographic vintages and comparability
Business classification and other survey methodologies
Survey coverage
Consistency of data items and their definitions
Source of raw, tabulated statistics
Report release timing
When using economic data (especially sorting)
Effect of disclosures and other suppressions
Publication thresholds
“Small” data cells vs. “large” ones 43

44. Questions? Linda Clark Information Services Specialist
U.S. Census Bureau, Seattle Region 44