Finding Local Economic Stories in Census Data Paul Overberg, USA Today database editor
Dec 25, 2014
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?