Disseminating economic census data

This article describes the ways that data from the 1997 Economic Census will be reported, both in print and in electronic media. Particular attention is given to the impact of the new North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) on the design of census reports, and to its implications for the assembly of time series from Economic Censuses past and future. Data from the Economic Census serve as the foundation for the nation's system of statistics about the functioning of the American economy. While many monthly, quarterly, and annual surveys provide the numbers most closely watched by private and government economists for the latest in economic trends, the once-every-five-years Economic Census provides the statistical controls and sampling frames that make many of those surveys possible. Further, the census yields rich data products of its own, providing far greater precision and geographic detail than is possible from the more frequent surveys. In addition, the Economic Census program includes several complementary data series: surveys of minority and women-owned businesses, two transportation-related surveys, and censuses in Puerto Rico and other outlying areas. Whether conveyed in print or by computer, the reports of the Economic Census must effectively transfer this wealth of information to those who need it. There is, of course, a critical constraint on these reports: the individual information provided by responding businesses must be kept completely confidential. The statistics compiled are carefully scrutinized so that no information is revealed about the individual businesses that make up the statistics. But, once prepared, these statistics are ready for wide distribution. There is nothing proprietary here: the economic statistics published by the Census Bureau are in the public domain— not even copyrighted. Thus, the distribution of the data can be as wide as possible. The core data from the Economic Census are summarized in terms of business establishments ; for example, the number and aggregate employment of establishments in a certain kind of business located in a certain area. An establishment, as defined for census and survey purposes, is a business or industrial unit at a single geographic location that produces or distributes goods or performs services, for example, a single store or factory. Classifying economic activity establishment-by-establishment is only one of three alternatives. Some census results are classified by company or firm (an entity owning or controlling any number of establishments, including those of subsidiary firms). But because different establishments within the same company …