Business Dynamics Statistics
Categories: Big Data; business creation and development; labor markets; longitudinal databases; regional industries & economies
Overview: Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS) provides for measures of net and gross job flows associated with entering,
exiting, expanding, and contracting establishments including measures of job creation and destruction. Aggregate statistics are available for the nation and states, by firm characteristics and industry classification.
Unit of Analysis: Establishment
Coverage: Matches County Business Patterns coverage
Sectors Covered:
- Agricultural services, forestry, and fishing
- Mining
- Construction
- Manufacturing
- Transportation and public utilities
- Wholesale trade
- Retail trade
- Finance, insurance, and real estate
- Services
Excluded:
- Self-employed
- Domestic service workers
- Railroad employees
- Agricultural production workers
- Most government employees
- Employees on ocean-borne vessels
- Employees
Size: Over 8 million establishment records per year
Form: Longitudinal database, aggregate data tables
Key Data Elements: Establishment openings and closings; firm startups; job creation and destruction by firm size, age, industrial sector
Geographic Areas: Nation, state, and metro/nonmetro (planned)
Industry Detail: Sector (e.g., Construction, Manufacturing)
Timeframe: 1976-2010
Frequency: Annual
Timeliness: Available 16 months after reference year
Methodology: Compiled from the Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Business Database, which is constructed by linking annual snapshot files from the Census Bureau’s Business Register
Access: Aggregate data tables for public and microdata records for qualified researchers through the network of secure Census Bureau Research Data Centers.
Potential Uses for Regional Analysis: Ascertaining patterns of entrepreneurship, structural change, the gross job flows that underlie net employment change, and employment contributions by firm size and age
For Additional Information:
- Website: Business Dynamic Statistics
- Contact: CES.BDS@census.gov