1992 ECONOMIC CENSUS


What is the "Economic Census"?

The first economic census was taken in 1810. According to law (Title 13 of the U.S. Code, sections 131, 191, 224), the Census Bureau must take an economic census every 5 years, covering years ending in 2 and 7. It provides a detailed portrait of the nation's economy.

The most recent Economic Census covers 1992 and consists of eight censuses:

Census of Retail Trade
Census of Wholesale Trade
Census of Service Industries
Census of Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate Industries
Census of Transportation, Communications, and Utilities
Census of Manufactures
Census of Mineral Industries (in Science)
Census of Construction Industries (in Science)

There are also special programs covering enterprise statistics, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses. The Census of Agriculture (in Science) and the Census of Governments are considered separate programs.

The economic, agriculture, and government censuses cover nearly 98 percent of all economic activity. New in 1992 are data on communications, utilities, finance, insurance, and real estate. Transportation coverage was also expanded.


What kind of data are included?

Data can be found for the following geographic areas: U.S., states, metro areas, counties, places, and zip codes (on computer only). As with most sources, much more detail is available at the U.S. level than for the smaller areas.

Several key statistics are tabulated for all industries covered:

number of establishments
number of employees
payroll
measure of output (can be sales, receipts, revenue, value of shipments or value of construction work done, for example)


Below are examples of some of the series which are included in the various censuses:

a. Geographic Area Series--detailed information organized by kind of business and by geography for the U.S., states, metro areas, counties, and places.

b. Nonemployer Statistics--stats on establishments with no paid employees by kind of business and geography for the same type of areas as above.

c. Industry Series--detailed information classified by industry (and sometimes by the type of products produced or materials consumed) primarily at the national level but with some data for states.

d. Merchandise/Commodity/Revenue Line Sales--statistics on sales by kind-of-business by retail merchandise line or wholesale commodity line for the U.S., states, and metropolitan areas.

e. Establishment and Firm Size--general statistics by kind-of-business cross-tabulated by the size of establishment in terms of receipts or employment for the U.S. only.

f. Survey of Minority-Owned Business Enterprises--statistics on African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, American Indians, and other minorities for U.S., states, MSA's, counties, and places. Also the Survey of Women-Owned Businesses covers the same areas.

g. Location of Manufacturing Plants--frequency of manufacturing establishments by employment-size class by 4-digit SIC for the U.S., states, counties, and places.

h. Selected  Historical Statistics--some data from older economic censuses


What are the data used for?

The economic census is the major source of information about the structure and functioning of the nation's economy. It is an important part of the foundation for measures such as the gross domestic product, production and price indexes, and other series that measure short-term changes in economic conditions. It provides essential information to:

a. Government
--Policymakers on the federal level use the data to monitor economic activity and provide assistance to business.
--On the state and local level, governments use the data to assess business activities and tax bases in their areas and to develop programs to attract business.

b. Business and Industry
--Trade associations study trends in their own and competing industries and keep their members informed of market changes.
--Businesses use the data to locate potential markets and to design sales territories or to determine where to locate distribution centers.
--Businesses can analyze their own production and sales performance relative to industry or area averages.
--New businesses use the data in presentations to banks when seeking financing to demonstrate potential of proposed site and to sum up the competition.


In what formats is the information available?

a. Printed reports--kept on P.D. Wall. These come in gradually, piece by piece. Consult "Census Check-in" file on document librarian's desk to know which pieces have arrived.

b. CD-ROM disk
--loaded on government publications workstation

--new disks come out periodically and supersede old disks

--data on the disk is the same as published in printed reports with a few exceptions. In the Nonemployer Statistics, Merchandise Line Sales, Commodity Line Sales, Location of Manufacturing Plants, and surveys of Minority and Women-Owned Business file there are some data not available in print

--since the disks are issued only quarterly, at any given time it's possible more data will be available in paper or vice versa.

-- disks have basic "GO" software loaded. As we know from past experience with the census disks, GO is very simple to use. In this case it displays the data most patrons will want to use with little need for training. "EXTRACT" is another program on the disk which allows for more flexibility in selecting, formatting, and extracting data but which requires more steps to reach output. We may decide to add EXTRACT as an option at a later date.

c. Economic Bulletin Board
--we have a subscription to the Census Bureau's online bulletin board

--at any given time, economic census data on the bulletin board may be more up to date than what we have in paper or cd-rom

--a chart in the Economic Census folder on ready reference  may help you determine where the data a patron needs is available

--we can take an online search request for recent data and check the bulletin board for the patron


Where can we find data more recent than 1992?

The Census Bureau conducts many monthly, quarterly, and annual surveys. Below are examples of surveys conducted more frequently but keep in mind that they contain less detail both for kind-of-business and geography:

Current Business Reports--surveys for Retail and Wholesale trade, kept in office as magazine, appear monthly with annual summaries, data for retail sales goes down to metro areas, wholesale covers U.S. only

Annual Survey of Manufactures--kept on P.D. Wall (C3.24/9), data for industries and states, number of establishments, value of shipments, cost of materials, labor costs, capital expenditures...

Current Industrial Reports--previous editions still in P.D. pam file, newer reports on ASI microfiche (#2506), some appear monthly, others quarterly and annually, value of shipments, inventories, orders--by industry

County Business Patterns--P.D. Wall, reports for the tri-state on Ready Reference, also on cd-rom (number of establishments, employment, payroll by industry) Appear annually, always two years behind.

Also remember to try Statistical Masterfile for other sources.

For patrons who need more help than we can give them, see the CENSUS CATALOG AND GUIDE, Appendix B, "Sources of Assistance" for a list of agencies that can provide more census information (including several local ones).


Prepared by Elizabeth Zuelke, Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County, 1/95