First Data From 2007 Economic Census Released

On Tuesday, March 17, at an audio news conference, the U.S. Census Bureau released preliminary data from its 2007 Economic Census. The report is the first in a series of industry and geographic area data, including information for more than 1,000 communities not available from previous censuses. Among its key findings, the study reported that non-store retail was the second fastest growth sector, with sales increasing by 69 percent from 2002 to 2007.

Data from the 2007 Economic Census will be released over a two-year period, through June 2011, and will be available via the Census Bureau's online data access tool, the American FactFinder.

The report is made up of two data sets, Advance Summary Statistics for the United States: 2007 and Advance Comparative Statistics for the United States: 2007. These show the number of establishments, revenue (sales), payroll, and number of employees at the national level for 101 industry groups based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

Among the report's findings:

• The number of sporting goods, hobby, book, and music establishments fell to 57,197 from 62,236 between 2002 and 2007. However, sales at these stores increased by 11.7 percent to $817 billion from $732 billion.
• Non-store retail sale growth was second only to gas station sales, up 69 percent from 2002, from $172 billion in 2002 to $292 billion in 2007.
• Wholesale trade, manufacturing, and retail trade remained the largest sectors in the U.S. economy.
• Food, petroleum, and chemicals accounted for more than 56 percent of the growth in the manufacturing sector from 2002 to 2007.
• The health care and social assistance sector continued to have the most employees with nearly 17 million in 2007, an increase of more than 12 percent.

Reference information about the economic census, including a data release schedule is available on the 2007 Economic Census homepage.