1997 Economic Census - coverage and features

Business Economics, Oct, 1997

The economic census is taken every five years and is the most comprehensive source of economic information on business establishments available. The economic census provides detailed industry and geographic statistics that are used by businesses, researchers, and by the government. In addition, its universe-level estimates are used to benchmark the levels of the Census Bureau's annual and monthly economic surveys - such as the annual surveys of manufacturing and wholesale trade and the monthly survey of retail trade - and to update the annual and monthly survey sample frames for changes in the composition and organization of the economy. In addition, the economic census provides the detailed data used by the Federal Reserve Board to benchmark the Index of Industrial Production, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to develop weights for the Producer Price Index, and by the Bureau of Economic Analysis to prepare input-output tables.

The 1997 Economic Census will cover the entire nonfarm economy: construction; finance, insurance and real estate; manufacturing; minerals; retail trade; services; transportation, communications and utilities; and wholesale trade. It will also include six related programs: surveys of business expenditures, commodity flows, minority- and women-owned businesses, and truck inventories and uses; and censuses of Guam, the Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

The 1997 Economic Census will cover some 20 million business establishments. Over 5 million (generally those with at least five employees) will be mailed census forms in December 1997. Completed forms are due back by February 12, 1998. (Data for the other establishments will be based on records obtained by the Census Bureau from other federal agencies.) Census forms have been tailored to reflect concepts and practices in over 500 separate industries and can be previewed on the Internet (www.census.gov/econ97). Electronic reporting has been expanded to include self-administered personal computer diskettes for many retail and other businesses.

New Industry Classifications

The 1997 Economic Census will be the first major statistical program to report results based on the new North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). NAICS replaces the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system, which has been in use since the 1930s, revised occasionally, but never updated to reflect fundamental economic changes. The new system uses a consistent production-based classification concept, identifies dozens of industries not previously recognized, introduces comparability with industry data for Canada and Mexico, and establishes a framework to assure useful establishment statistics well into the twenty-first century.

New Data Products

Data products for the 1997 Economic Census will feature new "core statistics" reports, electronic publications for all detailed reports, and printed publications for key summary statistics. Core statistics reports will provide consolidated data for all industries covered in the census, statistics on a NAICS classification basis, and data in Internet, CD-ROM and printed formats. The advance report in this series will provide "headline" results early in 1999 (over one year earlier than similar but unconsolidated results for 1992). Tables that provide a bridge between statistics using the NAICS and those using the SIC will be available in electronic and printed formats early in the year 2000. Industry, geographic and special subject series reports will be released in about the same sequence and schedule as for 1992, but only summary statistics will be available in print.

For additional information about 1997 Economic Census plans and products, contact Robert Marske of the Census Bureau at (voice) 301-457-2547 or (fax) 301-457-2058.

This material has been compiled and edited by Robert P. Parker and C. Brian Grove, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC.