The U.S. Census Bureau kicks off its 2007 economic census this week, sending out millions of forms asking companies about their staff and operations.
The survey — which asks questions about sales, revenues, payrolls, franchising, outsourcing, and benefits, among other categories — is the “cornerstone for economic data,” said Cynthia Glassman, undersecretary of the Department of Commerce during reporters during a Monday conference call. “The economic census is indispensable to understanding today’s economy.”
Businesses also study the survey results to understand their immediate markets.
Census results can be used to compare industries and locations, develop business plans, locate facilities, define markets, attract investment and manage sales.
For the restaurant industry, the data has become “pivotal,” especially as the industry has become extremely competitive, said Hudson Riehle, executive vice president of the National Restaurant Association.
Restaurant owners can find out how many establishments per capita are in a given area, for example.
Of the 26 million businesses in the country, about 19 million are mom-and-pop stores, generally sole proprietors, noted Bureau officials. About 7 million businesses have additional paid employees, and 4.7 million of those will be surveyed. For the 2002 census, the bureau received back 84 percent of the forms sent out.
The high rate of compliance is not an accident. Firms are required to fill out the forms, which are specific to each industry or face a $5,000 fine. About 88,000 forms will be mailed to companies in the Washington metro area.
Businesses have until Feb. 12, 2008, to turn in the reports. All the information reported is confidential, and the data supplied are “immune from legal processes and exempt from freedom of information requests,” said Tom Messenbourg, Census Bureau associate director for the economic census.
An initial economic census report will be available in March 2009, with a full report released the following month. The new report will provide better data on geography and include more data on the “rapidly growing services sector,” said J. Steven Landefeld, director at the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
