First Data from the 2007 Economic Census Released

The U.S. Census Bureau today released preliminary data from the 2007 Economic Census. This advance report is the first in a series of industry and geographic area data, including information for more than 1,000 communities not available from previous censuses.

   The economic census is conducted every five years and is the most comprehensive and detailed profile of the U.S. economy, covering millions of businesses representing more than 1,000 industries. The census provides
the foundation and benchmark for gross domestic product, monthly retail sales and other indicators of economic performance. These data also provide unique portraits of American industries and local communities.

   “The quality and timely release of these data are a direct result of the cooperation of millions of U.S. businesses,” said C. Harvey Monk Jr., associate director for economic programs at the U.S. Census Bureau. “The Census Bureau thanks every member of the business community for their efforts in helping to create this critical measure of the American economy.”

   The report is made up of two data sets, Advance Summary Statistics for the United States: 2007 and Advance Comparative Statistics for the United States: 2007. These show the number of establishments, revenue (sales), payroll and number of employees at the national level for 101 industry groups based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

Among the findings in this report:

-- Wholesale trade, manufacturing, and retail trade remained the largest sectors in the U.S. economy. Wholesale trade businesses reported more than $5.9 trillion in receipts in 2007. This was an increase of nearly 28 percent from the $4.6 trillion reported in 2002.

-- Manufacturers reported shipments of more than $5.3 trillion in 2007, an increase of more than $1.4 trillion from the $3.9 trillion reported in 2002. This was the largest increase among all sectors covered in the
economic census. Over the same period, the manufacturing sector experienced a loss of more than 1.3 million jobs, falling to 13.3 million; this was the second largest decrease of any sector.

-- Food, petroleum and chemicals accounted for more than 56 percent of the growth in the manufacturing sector ($812 billion of the $1.4 trillion increase) from 2002 to 2007. Apparel, plastics and rubber products, and
computers and electronic products made up more than 36 percent (478,574) of the 1.3 million-person decline in manufacturing employment from 2002 to 2007.

-- The health care and social assistance sector continued to have the most employees with nearly 17 million in 2007, an increase of more than 12 percent from 2002.

-- Among the service-related sectors, employees in the information sector earned the highest average payroll per employee in 2007 ($64,871). The accommodation and food services sector reported the lowest payroll per
employee in 2007 ($14,649).

   Data from the 2007 Economic Census will be released over a two-year period, through June 2011, and will be available in American FactFinder, the Census Bureau’s online data access tool. These data primarily cover the
nation’s 7 million businesses with paid employees. Separate data on the 21 million businesses without paid employees will be released in mid-2009.

New to the 2007 Economic Census:

-- In addition to incorporated municipalities, the 2007 Economic Census will include census designated places (sometimes referred to as “unincorporated places”) with resident populations of 5,000 or more. The
census will also publish information for cities and towns with 5,000 or more jobs.

-- Data will be published for two newly recognized NAICS industries: research and development in biotechnology (NAICS 541711) and executive search services (NAICS 561312).

-- Franchise data will be published for many additional industries not included in the 2002 Economic Census, such as business services and personal services. Previously, the franchise data were provided only for
limited- and full-service restaurants.

-- Data on costs for fringe benefits will now be available at the national level for the wholesale, retail and services sectors. These data were previously available only for the mining and manufacturing sectors.

-- All products data for the services sectors will now be published following the new North American Product Classification System (NAPCS). This completes the transition to NAPCS for the service sector that was
started with the 2002 Economic Census.

   Reference information about the economic census, including a data release schedule, is available on the 2007 Economic Census home page http://www.census.gov/econ/census07/ . To receive alerts when particular
industry or geographic reports are released via the soon to be available economic census NotifyMe service, users can sign up at http://business.census.gov. The site also provides industry snapshots, state rankings and other features to help users better understand the data.
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