Planning and Planning and Organizing theOrganizing the U.S. Economic U.S. Economic
Census Census C. Harvey Monk, Jr.
Associate Director for Economic ProgramsU.S. Census Bureau
Second International Workshop on Economic Census Seoul, Republic of Korea
July 6 - 9, 2009
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Scope & CoverageScope & Coverage
GoalsGoals
Processes & MilestonesProcesses & Milestones
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U.S. Economic Census U.S. Economic Census
Every 5 years for years ending in “2” and “7”
Content development in cooperation with business and government
Response required by law
Covers 27 million businesses, collects data from 4.4 million business locations
FY 2008 is the data collection year
Product release begins in FY 2009
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Economic Census Scope and CoverageEconomic Census Scope and Coverage
Economic Census programs
Covers 27 million business locations and 96% of economic activity• 7 million with paid employees• 20 million without paid employees
Data for 1,060 NAICS industries • their inputs: labor, capital, purchased materials & services• what they produce & sell: 8,000 products & 3,500 different merchandise & service lines• who they sell to• where they are located: detailed subnational information
MineralsConstructionManufacturesWholesaleRetailTransp, Comm, UtilitiesFinance, Insurance, Real EstateServices
Survey of Business Owners Business Expenditures SurveyEconomic Census of Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands, American SamoaCommodity Flow Survey (BTS partially funds)
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Census Coverage of GDPCensus Coverage of GDP
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
1Agriculture
2Utilities
13Manufacturing
7Retail Trade
5Information
12Real Estate & Rental and Leasing
2Management of Companies & Enterprises
1Educational Services
1Arts, Entertainment & Recreation
2Other Services
1 Mining
5Construction
6Wholesale Trade
2Transportation & Warehousing
8Finance & Insurance
7Professional, Scientific & Technical Services
3Administrative & Waste Management Services
7Health Care & Social Assistance
3Accommodation and Food Services
12Government
Source: www.bea.gov
11
21
22
31-33
42
23
44-45
48-49
52
53
51
54
56
6162
81
7172
55
92
[Covered by USDA]
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Economic Census Costs
2007 Economic Census costs expected to be $513 million
60% higher than 2002 costs of $320 million
2012 Economic Census costs estimated to be $695 million
Higher costs related to expanded content, maintaining response, and inflationary increases associated with staff, postage and contracted services that occur over a 6-year period
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2007 Economic Census Goals2007 Economic Census Goals
Provide the Nation with comprehensive and detailed information about the changing structure of the U.S. economy• detailed industry and geographic data• expanded content and coverage
Establish and maintain the statistical foundation for continuing economic analysis by government and business• 3/4 of source data for our National Accounts• benchmarks for composite measures of economic
activity• sample frame and benchmark for Census current
economic surveys
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2007 Economic Census Goals 2007 Economic Census Goals (continued)(continued)
Extend Economic Census detail and coverage in areas of special National interest• businesses owned by women and minorities• information on commodity movement• expenditures and expenses for service, manufacturing,
retail, wholesale and industries• economic census of Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands,
Northern Mariana and American Samoa
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2007 Economic Census Goals 2007 Economic Census Goals (continued)(continued)
Improve timing of response for large companies• Provided improved electronic reporting tools early• Started mailing to large “L” companies in October
2007• Started visiting 200 L companies in October 2007 to
explain census and introduce electronic reporting tools
Improve Response Rates• Targeted additional follow-up activities for single units• Escalated follow-up to reduce non-compliance• Offered electronic reporting to business who receive
standard economic census forms
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2007 Economic Census Goals 2007 Economic Census Goals (continued)(continued)
Improve internal efficiency of key operations• Deployed new Business Register interactive routines to
improve clerical processing of economic census responses• Consolidated microdata editing systems within a common
framework and increase use of editing best practices• Put systems in place early to process census receipts
through microdata edit processing (front- and back-end edits)
Improve timeliness of statistical products• Decided to disseminate all data products electronically• Deployed tabulation and analysis systems for industry
reports in October 2008• Replaced custom-coded table composition process with
COTS software
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Program Management 2007 Economic Census program comprised a complex set of
interrelated activities carried out over a span of nearly 6 years Project charters were used to manage and carry out work that
entailed substantial development of new systems or substantial revision/redevelopment to existing systems
Project management best practices were used that were consistent with Census Bureau standards and guidelines. These included:• Scalable Methodology for Project Management (commonly known
as the “Project Red Book”),• Census Software Process Improvement (CSPI) Program• Economic Programs Directorate’s Project Management
Environment. Additionally, selected IT projects used variations of the Team
Software Process (TSP) and the Personal Software Process (PSP)
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2007 Economic CensusMajor Processes
Direction - $29 million Content Determination and Design - $45
million Mail List Development and Mail-out - $39
million Collection and Processing - $280 million Publication and Dissemination - $120 million
»Total Cost $513 Million
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04/07 Advance mailing to 15,000 largest companies
09/07-12/07 Preparation and assembly of 4.4 million mailing packages
10/07-03/08 Run first wave of Economic Census promotional materials
11/07 Mail 400,000 forms to 1,200 largest companies
12/09-12/17 Mail Economic Census Single Units and remaining Multi Units
report forms
09/07 Business Help Site in production
12/10/07 Toll-free assistance and Electronic Reporting site goes into production
02/12/08 Economic Census due date
03/08 Begin first of 3 form follow ups to delinquents
2007 Economic Census Milestones2007 Economic Census Milestones
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05/08 Mail first wave (1.2 million) Survey of Business Owners forms
08/08 Special 4th follow up of delinquent large companies
09/08 National Processing Center units complete work
10/08 Complete initial tabulations for all NAICS sectors and begin Head Quarters review
03/09 First Economic Census data product (Advance report)
05/09 Mail second wave (1.2 million) Survey of Business Owners forms
4Q/09 Industry series completed
2Q/11 Final product released
2007 Economic Census 2007 Economic Census MilestonesMilestones
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2007 Economic Census2007 Economic CensusLifecycle Process ChartLifecycle Process Chart
Direction
Content Determination and Design
Consultation with Users & Suppliers
Content Development
OMB Clearance
Forms Design (Layout)
Forms Printing
Mail List Development and Mailout
2006 Classification (Refile) Survey
Collection and Processing
Large (L-) Company Initial Mailout
Classification Form Initial Mailout
Other Initial Mailout (Balance of Forms)
Late Birth Mailings
Follow-up for Nonresponse
Data Capture & Processing
Publication and Dissemination
Macro-Analytical Review
Advance Report
Industry Series
Geographic Area Series
Subject Series
2008 2009 20102004 2005 2006 2007
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Direction
Began 10/2007 and ends 9/2010 Includes planning and support
activities necessary to conduct the census
Provides overall direction and coordination for the planning, design, collection, processing, and dissemination
Economic Planning & Coordination Division is primarily responsible
Over 100 staff work on this full time
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Content Determination/Design
Began 10/2004 and ended 4/2006 Activities include review of census
components Meeting with stakeholders to assess
and determine content Designing and cognitively testing
forms Printing more than 550 industry
specific forms
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Mail List Development & Mail-out
Began 10/2006 and ended 9/2008 Activities include developing
computer specifications, procurement and processing administrative records
Labeling and assembling mailing 4.4 million business locations mailed
forms• 550 different forms tailored to industry groups• sample small businesses• mail “classification forms” to 0.8M small
businesses
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Collection and Processing
Began 10/2007 and ended 2/2009 Includes collection and clerical
operations conducted at our National Processing Center including staff training, form check-in, data capture, customer support, follow-up, and data correction
Also includes development, testing, and maintenance of processing systems including electronic reporting option
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Collection MethodsCollection Methods
Direct collection
Electronic Reporting
Administrative Records Data
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Direct Collection Oct ’07 - Large Companies, 800K
Classification Forms Dec 12 ’07 - Mail remainder of 4.7 MM
mailout Feb 12 ’08 Forms due April 1 ’08 - First form follow-up May 1 ’08 - Second form follow-up June 1 ’08 - Third form follow-up July ’08 - Phone follow-ups begin August ’08 - Legal letters to single/multi
units Sept ’08 - Remaining legal letters
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Receipts
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Electronic ReportingElectronic Reporting
Electronic reporting available to 3.6 million businesses can report using 500 different report forms• spreadsheet compatible (export/import)• facilitates and simplifies reporting• secure and encrypted
2007 Economic Census saw over 25% ofthe total responses and more than 50%of the large company responses collected electronically
2012 plans call for an interactive web-based application
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Administrative RecordsAdministrative Records
Extensive use of administrative record data• use IRS data in lieu of direct reporting
for- 3.1 million small employers- 20.0 million businesses with no paid
employees- employment, payroll & receipts data for
Survey of Business Owners sample• use IRS data for editing Economic
Census employment, payroll & receipts
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Publication and Dissemination
Began 11/2007 and ends 9/2010 Activities include all operations related
to final table review of tabulated data, development of products, and dissemination of census results
More than 1,700 census products will be developed and delivered electronically via American Fact Finder
Products will profile industries, geographic areas, and special subjects
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2007 Economic Census Dissemination Schedule
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Questions ??Questions ??