Planning and Organizing the U.S. Economic Census C. Harvey Monk, Jr. Associate Director for Economic Programs U.S. Census Bureau Second International Workshop on Economic Census Seoul, Republic of Korea July 6 - 9, 2009

2 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, Scope & Coverage 7 Goals 7 Processes & Milestones

3 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 U.S. Economic Census 7 Every 5 years for years ending in “2” and “7” 7 Content development in cooperation with business and government 7 Response required by law 7 Covers 27 million businesses, collects data from 4.4 million business locations 7 FY 2008 is the data collection year 7 Product release begins in FY 2009

4 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Economic Census Scope and Coverage 7Economic Census programs 7Covers 27 million business locations and 96% of economic activity 7 million with paid employees 20 million without paid employees 7Data 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 Minerals Construction Manufactures Wholesale Retail Transp, Comm, Utilities Finance, Insurance, Real Estate Services Survey of Business Owners Business Expenditures Survey Economic Census of Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa Commodity Flow Survey (BTS partially funds)

5 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Census Coverage of GDP Agriculture 2 Utilities 13 Manufacturing 7 Retail Trade 5 Information 12Real Estate & Rental and Leasing 2 Management of Companies & Enterprises 1 Educational Services 1Arts, Entertainment & Recreation 2 Other Services 1 Mining 5 Construction 6 Wholesale Trade 2 Transportation & Warehousing 8 Finance & Insurance 7 Professional, Scientific & Technical Services 3 Administrative & Waste Management Services 7 Health Care & Social Assistance 3 Accommodation and Food Services 12 Government Source: [Covered by USDA]

6 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Economic Census Costs Economic Census costs expected to be $513 million 7 60% higher than 2002 costs of $320 million Economic Census costs estimated to be $695 million 7 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

7 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, Economic Census Goals 7Provide 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 7Establish 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

8 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, Economic Census Goals (continued) 7Extend 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

9 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, Economic Census Goals (continued) 7 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 7 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

10 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, Economic Census Goals (continued) 7 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) 7 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

11 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Program Management Economic Census program comprised a complex set of interrelated activities carried out over a span of nearly 6 years 7 Project charters were used to manage and carry out work that entailed substantial development of new systems or substantial revision/redevelopment to existing systems 7 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. 7 Additionally, selected IT projects used variations of the Team Software Process (TSP) and the Personal Software Process (PSP)

12 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, Economic Census Major Processes 7 Direction - $29 million 7 Content Determination and Design - $45 million 7 Mail List Development and Mail-out - $39 million 7 Collection and Processing - $280 million 7 Publication and Dissemination - $120 million »Total Cost $513 Million

13 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, /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 Milestones

14 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, /08 Mail first wave (1.2 million) Survey of Business Owners forms 08/08 Special 4 th 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 Milestones

15 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, Economic Census Lifecycle Process Chart

16 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Direction 7 Began 10/2007 and ends 9/ Includes planning and support activities necessary to conduct the census 7 Provides overall direction and coordination for the planning, design, collection, processing, and dissemination 7 Economic Planning & Coordination Division is primarily responsible 7 Over 100 staff work on this full time

17 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Content Determination/Design 7 Began 10/2004 and ended 4/ Activities include review of census components 7 Meeting with stakeholders to assess and determine content 7 Designing and cognitively testing forms 7 Printing more than 550 industry specific forms

18 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Mail List Development & Mail-out 7 Began 10/2006 and ended 9/ Activities include developing computer specifications, procurement and processing administrative records 7 Labeling and assembling mailing million business locations mailed forms 550 different forms tailored to industry groups sample small businesses mail “classification forms” to 0.8M small businesses

19 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Collection and Processing 7 Began 10/2007 and ended 2/ 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 7 Also includes development, testing, and maintenance of processing systems including electronic reporting option

20 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Collection Methods 7 Direct collection 7 Electronic Reporting 7 Administrative Records Data

21 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Direct Collection 7 Oct ’07 - Large Companies, 800K Classification Forms 7 Dec 12 ’07 - Mail remainder of 4.7 MM mailout 7 Feb 12 ’08 Forms due 7 April 1 ’08 - First form follow-up 7 May 1 ’08 - Second form follow-up 7 June 1 ’08 - Third form follow-up 7 July ’08 - Phone follow-ups begin 7 August ’08 - Legal letters to single/multi units 7 Sept ’08 - Remaining legal letters

22 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Receipts

23 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Electronic Reporting 7Electronic 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 Economic Census saw over 25% of the total responses and more than 50% of the large company responses collected electronically plans call for an interactive web-based application

24 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Administrative Records 7Extensive use of administrative record data use IRS data in lieu of direct reporting for -3.1 million small employers 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

25 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Publication and Dissemination 7 Began 11/2007 and ends 9/ Activities include all operations related to final table review of tabulated data, development of products, and dissemination of census results 7 More than 1,700 census products will be developed and delivered electronically via American Fact Finder 7 Products will profile industries, geographic areas, and special subjects

26 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, Economic Census Dissemination Schedule

27 Second International Workshop on Economic Census July 6-9, 2009 Questions ??