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?