Business and Economic Resources:
Data and Statistics

• American Housing Survey
  • "The American Housing Survey (AHS) collects data on the Nation's housing, including apartments, single-family homes, mobile homes, vacant housing units, household characteristics, income, housing and neighborhood quality, housing costs, equipment and fuels, size of housing unit, and recent movers."
  • "National data are collected in odd numbered years, and data for each of 47 selected Metropolitan Areas are collected currently about every six years."
• Annual Survey of Manufactures
  • "The Annual Survey of Manufacturers (ASM) provides sample estimates of statistics for all manufacturing establishments with one or more paid employee."  
• Census 2000 EEO Data Tool
  • "Contains data on the number of people employed in nearly 500 occupations, from actors to veterinarians. Data cover gender, race, ethnicity, education, age, industry and earnings. In addition, users may find where workers live, where they work and how many who work in one place live somewhere else."
• Congressional Budget Office's Current Economic Projections
  • "CBO's budget projections give the Congress a baseline against which to measure the effects of proposed changes in tax and spending laws."
• Consumer Price Indexes
• County Business Patterns
  • "An annual series that provides subnational economic data by industry. The series is useful for studying the economic activity of small areas; analyzing economic changes over time; and as a benchmark for statistical series, surveys, and databases between economic censuses."
• Country and Industry Market Research
  • This site contains a variety of resources including Country and Industry Market Reports, Country-Specific Quick References, and more.
  • Some resources require free registration.
• Current Employment Statistics
  • "The Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey of payroll records covers over 300,000 businesses on a monthly basis and provides detailed industry data on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on nonfarm payrolls for the Nation."
• Current Industrial Reports
  • Provide measures of activity such as production and shipment of products for more than sixty industries.
• E-Stats: Measuring the Electronic Economy
  • This site from the Census Bureau features not only releases of data, but also reports, information on methods, classification systems, and background papers.
• Economic Census (2007)
• Economic Census (2002)
• Economic Census (1997)
  • The Economic Census is conducted every five years and provides a profile of the nation's economy from the national to the local level.
  • 1997 NAICS and 1987 SIC Correspondence Tables
  • 2002 NAICS and 1997 NAICS Correspondence Tables
    • "NAICS 2002 is the same as NAICS 1997 for fourteen of the twenty sectors. Construction and wholesale trade are substantially changed, but the revisions also modify a number of retail classifications and the organization of the information sector. Very minor boundary adjustments affect administrative and support services and mining."
  • 2007 NAICS and 2002 NAICS Correspondence Tables
    • "NAICS 2007 is exactly the same as NAICS 2002 for thirteen of the twenty sectors. There was restructuring within part of the information sector. Industry changes affect the boundaries of three sectors."
• Economic Indicators
  • "Available from April 1995 forward, this monthly compilation is prepared for the Joint Economic Committee by the Council of Economic Advisors and provides economic information on prices, wages, production, business activity, purchasing power, credit, money and Federal finance."
• EDGAR Database
  • "EDGAR, the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system, performs automated collection, validation, indexing, acceptance, and forwarding of submissions by companies and others who are required by law to file forms with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)."  These reports are available for free to the general public through the EDGAR database.
• Employee Benefits Data
  • From the National Compensation Survey
  • "Comprehensive data on the incidence (the percentage of workers with access to and participation in employer provided benefit plans) and provisions of selected employee benefit plans."
• FDIC State Profiles
  • "Banking and economic conditions described for each state, listed by FDIC region."  New profiles are issued quarterly.
• Federal Reserve Economic Data
  • FRED is a database of over 20,000 U.S. economic time series. With FRED you can download data in Microsoft Excel and text formats and view charts of data series.
  • Also see ALFRED (Archival Federal Reserve Economic Data).
• Federal Reserve Statistical Releases and Historical Data
  • Access various daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual statistical releases from the Federal Reserve Board.
• Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER)
  • "When used in connection with data contained in FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) and ALFRED (Archival Federal Reserve Data), FRASER allows the researcher to create uninterrupted data series by accessing sources previously available only in printed form and those currently available electronically (on FRED and ALFRED). In addition, the ability to retrieve series presented in preliminary, revised, and final releases provides a powerful tool in recreating and evaluating previous economic research and policy."
  • Publications include Economic Indicators, All Bank Statistics, Annual Statistical Digest, Banking and Monetary Statistics, Business Statistics (Supplement to Business Conditions Digest), Concordance of Statistics, and Productivity and Costs Statistical Release.
• Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment
  • "Contains information from the CPS for census regions and divisions, the 50 States and the District of Columbia, 50 large metropolitan areas, and 17 central cities. Data are provided on the employed and unemployed by selected demographic and economic characteristics."
• Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated
  • "Provides the applicable tariff rates and statistical categories for all merchandise imported into the United States; it is based on the international Harmonized System, the global classification system that is used to describe most world trade in goods."
• Historical Statistics on Banking
  • Statistical information on the banking industry going back to 1934.
• Import/Export Price Indexes
  • Access data on changes in the price of goods and services traded between the United States and other countries.
• Interactive Tariff and Trade DataWeb
  • Requires free registration
• Liber8
  • "Liber8 is a portal that links to economic information from the Federal Reserve System, government agencies, and international economic data sources.  [The portal includes] Federal Reserve publications and information, as well as links to other government and private agency resources that would be useful to beginning economic or business students or others needing economic information."
• Mass Layoff Statistics
  • Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period.
  • Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments--where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.
• Metropolitan Area Exports
  • "An export performance report on over 250 U.S. cities."
• Monthly Wholesale Trade
  • Wholesale time series available from January 1992-present.
• National Compensation Survey
  • "The National Compensation Survey (NCS) provides comprehensive measures of occupational earnings; compensation cost trends, benefit incidence, and detailed plan provisions."
  • "Detailed occupational earnings are available for metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, broad geographic regions, and on a national basis."
  • "The index component of the NCS (ECI) measures changes in labor costs. Average hourly employer cost for employee compensation is presented in the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC)."
• National Trade Data Bank
  • See: GVSU Government Resources and Maps' Stat-USA page.
• National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers
  • Select the year you wish to view and then scroll down to access the report.
• North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
  • 1997 NAICS and 1987 SIC Correspondence Tables
  • 2002 NAICS and 1997 NAICS Correspondence Tables
  • 2007 NAICS and 2002 NAICS Correspondence Tables
• O*Net
  • "O*NET, the Occupational Information Network, is a comprehensive database of worker attributes and job characteristics. As the replacement for the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), O*NET will be the nation's primary source of occupational information."
• Producer Price Indexes
• Quarterly Workforce Indicators on Local Employment Dynamics
  • Access data at the county and sub-county level on employment and job creation.
• Regional Economic Conditions
  • Access data and analysis at the state, county, and MSA level.
• Regional Economic Patterns in the United States, 1990-1999
  • This map book includes representations of data on state unemployment rates, state employment rate changes, state mass layoff statistics, county unemployment rates, county employment rate changes, county annual wage rate changes, metropolitan area occupational densities, and metropolitan occupational wages.
• Small Business Economic Statistics and Research
• Stat-USA
  • See: Government Resources and Maps' Stat-USA page.
• State of the Cities Data Systems
  • This site from the Department of Housing and Urban Development provides a wide range of data for individual Metropolitan Areas, Central Cities, and Suburbs.
• State and Local Personal Income
  • Includes current data and quarterly estimates since 1969.
• Statistical Abstract of the United States
• Statistics of United States Businesses
  • "Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB) is an annual series that provides national and subnational data on the distribution of economic data by size and industry. Statistics of U.S. Businesses covers most of the country's economic activity."
• TradeStats Express
  • Access national data on imports, exports and trade balances and state and regional-level data on exports of merchandise.
• United States Trade Highlights
  • "Provides data on U.S. international trade in goods and services. Emphasis is on goods trade: aggregate exports and imports, U.S. commodity and country/regional trade balances, and shifts in the commodity composition of U.S. exports and imports with major trading partners and regions."
• United States International Trade in Goods and Services
  • Access current and historical data back to 1992.
• What is a Dollar Worth?
  • Uses the Consumer Price Index to determine the value of the dollar at any point of time from 1913 to the present. (See the right side of this page.)