Finding Local Economic Stories in Census Data

Paul Overberg, USA Today database editor

What we’ll cover: Ø What are County Business Patterns

data? Ø Where are the data from; what do they

cover (and what don’t they cover)? Ø What are some recent stories using

County Business Patterns data? Ø What are other tools and tips for using

the data?

County Business Patterns Ø  Who: Local businesses

Ø  What: Firms, employees, payroll (by industry)

Ø  When: Yearly. 2010 data released June 2012

Ø Where: Every county (plus metros, ZIPs)

Ø  Why: Track changes in local economy

Photo  by  Flickr  user  stevedepolo  

Some pluses Ø  Reach: almost every county, metro/micro

Ø  Persistence: data back to 1964

Ø  Scope: rare source of data on “non-employer” firms (free-lancers, sole proprietors, etc.)

Some minuses Ø  Deliberate noise: Details sometimes withheld/clouded to prevent ID of a firm

Ø  Speed: Yearly only, 18 months after year ends

Ø  Absent: farms, Postal Service, governments Photo  by  Flickr  user  cwwycoff1  

Best uses Ø  Broad look at recent change

Ø  Long-term, specific local trend

16,000

16,500

17,000

17,500

18,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010

Firm

s

Em

ploy

ees

Morris County, NJ, 1998-2010

Employees Firms

Best uses

Best uses Ø  Local composition analysis/comparison

Best uses Ø  Smart background/context

“Nearly 110 plants have closed in metropolitan Memphis since 1999, wiping out almost 1 in 3 industrial jobs and about $1 billion in annual factory pay . …

“Throughout the nation, 5 million industrial jobs and 50,300 plants vanished … including 14 paper and cardboard plants in metro Memphis, according to the … County Business Patterns reports. ” – Memphis Commercial-Appeal, Oct. 2, 2011

Best uses Ø  Smart background/context

“The number of furniture stores in Cape May County has held steady … but they are working with fewer employees, according to … County Business Patterns. “There were nine furniture stores … in 2005, with 104 people on their payrolls. … In 2009 … there were 10 … with 56 paid employees.”

– The Press (Atlantic City, NJ), March 6, 2012

Best uses Ø  Smart background/context “About a week before Mother's Day … a Google advertisement for George's Flowers in Roanoke read: ‘Real Local Roanoke Florist’. …

“The ad, placed by floral shop owner George Clements, is one way he's pushing back against Internet and telephone-order flower service companies . …

“… retail floral shops decreased 31 percent over a decade … according to …the U.S. Census Bureau's County Business Patterns.”

– The Roanoke Times, May 13, 2012

Website: Simple but useful

www.census.gov/econ/cbp/index.html

Questions?