Understanding Business Dynamics An Integrated Data System for America's Future (2007) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Appendix A Overview of Current Data Collections
Appendix A Overview of Current Data Collections
Pages 123-171
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 123... ...
federal statistical system, but we also cite other examples. The material in this appendix is organized into subsections loosely defined in terms of data source characteristics and purpose: • data to count firms and catalogue essential characteristics -- the busi ness lists; • longitudinal data for tracking businesses over time; • data sources designed to improve coverage of small businesses; • aggregate employment statistics; • data on the self-employed, entrepreneurs, and business gestation; • coverage of special sectors, such as agriculture, nonprofit organiza tions, and e-commerce; and • financial data.
|
From page 124... ...
. A.1 COUNTING FIRMS AND CATALOGING ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS -- THE BUSINESS LISTS The two primary business lists administered by federal statistical agencies in the United States are the Census Bureau's business register (BR)
|
From page 125... ...
The BR has 2See Jarmin and Miranda (2002) for a thorough description of the Census Bureau's business register, including specifics about industry-level coverage.
|
From page 126... ...
Form 941 includes the EIN, employer-reported wages and other compensation, employment for the pay period, income and social security tax withholdings, and related information. When a new business payroll record is received from the IRS, the Census Bureau adds a business employer record to the BR.
|
From page 127... ...
"provides U.S. and sub-national data by industry for businesses without paid employees." Originating primarily from administrative records, the NES "summarizes the number of establishments and receipts of sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations without paid employees." The Census Bureau began publishing NES data annually in 1997, and annual releases beginning with the year 2002 can be found on its American FactFinder web page.
|
From page 128... ...
The QCEW, which currently is geocoded to the rooftop level for 90 percent of privatesector employment, has plans for developing data at the census tract level. QCEW provides industry, employment, county, and physical location addresses on over 3 million firms, mostly new and small businesses, to the Census Bureau.
|
From page 129... ...
DMI. Because the BLS and Census business lists are not typically available as sampling frames outside those agencies, D&B data -- and its Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS)
|
From page 130... ...
. A.2 TRACKING BUSINESSES OVER TIME: BUSINESS LIST-BASED SOURCES OF LONGITUDINAL MICRODATA Sources of longitudinal business microdata have historically been scarce, particularly for smaller and newer businesses.
|
From page 131... ...
A.2.1 ILBD and Precursors The ILBD has evolved as a natural extension of the Longitudinal Business Database (LBD) , which the Census Bureau's Center for Economic Studies began constructing in 1999.
|
From page 132... ...
For example, over time, ID numbers can change for legal or other reasons.14 In addition, problems of inconsistent data formats, the volatility of young and small firms, and the sheer number of records (over 15 million nonemployers and over 5 million employer businesses) all pose challenges for the Census Bureau staff carrying out the project.
|
From page 133... ...
(2005) provide a detailed description of the methodologies used to capture business births and deaths in the various Census Bureau and BLS data sources.
|
From page 134... ...
The idea behind the LEHD originated with a 1999 National Science Foundation initiative to investigate the potential to combine large administrative data sets with data collected through censuses and surveys. The objective was to "reduce respondent burden, increase data quality, and enhance the information available to the federal, state and local agencies which rely on Census Bureau data for decision making." The principal investigators on the project proposed linking information to permit data sets to be longitudinal in both the household/individual and firm/establishment dimensions (http://lehd.dsd.census.gov/led/about-us/FAQ.html#slehd)
|
From page 135... ...
The LEHD is already facilitating the creation of new statistics describing the dynamic nature of local economies. For example, it has spawned the Local Employment Dynamics program, a voluntary partnership between state labor market information agencies and the Census Bureau to develop new information about local labor market conditions.
|
From page 136... ...
One advantage of these private data sources is that they are not subject to the access restrictions that handcuff the statistical agencies. A.3 DATA SOURCES DESIGNED TO IMPROVE COVERAGE OF SMALL AND YOUNG BUSINESSES A.3.1 Survey of Small Business Finances In addition to the Census Bureau's BR, which has included data on nonemployers annually since 1994, there are a number of specialty surveys that focus on small business.
|
From page 137... ...
In addition, the SSBF has provided the foundation for a wide variety of academic research -- for example, analyses of shifts in lending from the banking to the nonbanking sectors, bank mergers and consolidations, and the rise in interstate banking, as each relates to small businesses. A.3.2 Small Business Administration-Funded Data Sources The U.S.
|
From page 138... ...
, is partially funded by the SBA and carried out by the Census Bureau using SSEL-based data. Essentially, the SBA creates an enterprise version of County Business Patterns, called the Statistics of U.S.
|
From page 139... ...
The CPS, conducted by the Census Bureau and BLS, has been in existence for more than 50 years. It is based on a survey of approximately 60,000 households designed to estimate total employment of persons age 16 and over in the civilian noninstitutional population.
|
From page 140... ...
The CPS is a unique source of "business data" in that the households, rather than businesses, serve as the sampling unit. Microdata going back to 1962 are publicly available.
|
From page 141... ...
Like the BEL and QCEW sampling frames, the CES does not include nonemployers or detailed characteristics of business owners (http://www. bls.gov/ces/cesprog.htm)
|
From page 142... ...
A.5.1 Household Surveys: CPS and the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity Research by Robert Fairlie, who reported to the panel at its September 2005 meeting, articulated the value of household data for research related to small business dynamics. Fairlie has used CPS data to analyze the selfemployed working in their own incorporated or unincorporated businesses (BLS published estimates do not include incorporated business owners)
|
From page 143... ...
By matching CPS files, it is then determined whether these individuals own a business as their main job with 15 or more usual hours worked per week in the following survey month. The Kauffman index is thus defined as the percentage of the population of nonbusiness owners who start a business each month.
|
From page 144... ...
The richness of the data is enhanced because they can be linked with other longitudinal survey and administrative data collected by the Census Bureau. The SBO collects information on the minority status of owners and allows for complex responses in which each owner can report a selfidentified race, as well as multiple racial groups.
|
From page 145... ...
Resulting data are intended to promote research into the business gestation process -- the period before the business actually produces output. The PSED includes information on the proportion and characteristics of the adult population involved in attempts to start new businesses, the kinds of activities nascent entrepreneurs undertake during the business start-up process, and the proportion and characteristics of the start-up efforts that become infant firms.
|
From page 146... ...
The GEM has focused on the study of early-stage entrepreneurial activity and is moving into "analyses of the existence and characteristics of established business owners; the degree of innovativeness, competitiveness, and growth expectations of early-stage and established business owners; and the existence and characteristics of social environments conducive to entrepreneurship" (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2004; http://www.gemconsortium.org/)
|
From page 147... ...
The Census Bureau's ACS will generate household-based data that will also be useful for studying self-employment trends. Question 35 of the survey asks respondents about their current or most recent job activity -- specifically, whether the person was "an employee of a private for profit company; an employee of a private not for profit, tax-exempt, or charitable organization; a local government employee; a state government employee; a federal government employee; self-employed in own not incorporated business, professional practice, or farm; self-employed in own incorporated business, professional practice or farm; working without pay in a family business or farm." Question 41 asks for "self-employment income from own non-farm business or farm business, including
|
From page 148... ...
For example, "if people reported they were self employed on their own farm, not incorporated, but had reported only wage and salary earnings, the latter amount was shifted to self-employment income."25 The ACS data are limited in that income is often underreported. In addition, the earnings data generated are not directly comparable with those from the SSA records, since SSA data are based on employer reports and income tax returns for the selfemployed.
|
From page 149... ...
The IRS maintains a continuously updated registry of tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, which, in turn, is incorporated into the IRS Business Master File. Unlike other components of the master file, the IRS is allowed to provide public access to information on Forms 900 filed by nonprofits, a condition for taxexempt status.
|
From page 150... ...
. Unlike the Census Bureau's economic census, the QCEW has broader coverage of the nonprofit sector and is more timely.
|
From page 151... ...
The Census Bureau and BEA are involved in efforts to fill this data gap by measuring aspects of the "new economy." Much of the initial efforts were oriented toward simply defining e-commerce and digital and electronic economic activities (Tehan, 2003)
|
From page 152... ...
To capture whether firms were conducting sales online and the volume of these sales, the Census Bureau added two questions to its monthly retail trade survey in fall 1999. In addition, the Census Bureau developed the U.S.
|
From page 153... ...
. In its words, the Census Bureau began the ACES as part of a comprehensive program designed to provide detailed and timely information on capital investment in new and used structures and equipment by nonfarm businesses.
|
From page 154... ...
Talan 2005 New Data on Business Employment Dynamics. Presented at the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology Research Conference, November 14-16, Washington, DC.
|
From page 155... ...
Census Bureau. Available: http://webserver01.ces.census.gov/in dex.
|
From page 156... ...
Clayton 2004 Business employment dynamics: New data on gross job gains and losses. Monthly Labor Review (April)
|
From page 157... ...
157 APPENDIX A Triplett, J.E., and B.P. Bosworth 2004 Productivity in the U.S.
|
From page 158... ...
158 UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS DYNAMICS TABLE A-1 BUSINESS DATA SETS1 1Much of this information, and in some cases a good deal more, can be found on web pages of the statistical agencies and other data collection organizations.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.