1. What is a nonemployer business?
A nonemployer business is one that has no paid employees, and has annual business receipts of $1,000 or more ($1 or more in the construction industries.)
2. What is the source of the nonemployer data?
Nonemployer data come from the administrative records of other government agencies, primarily from IRS. These business data are processed, edited, and reviewed at the Census Bureau to form the final nonemployer universe.
3. Are the nonemployers the same as self-employed individuals?
Most nonemployers are self-employed, although some partnerships and small corporations are included as well. Only partnerships and corporations with no paid employees are included in the nonemployer statistics. Nonemployers do NOT include about a million self-employed business owners that have paid employees and, therefore, are classified as employer businesses. Many nonemployer businesses are part-time ventures and an individual might operate more than one.
4. What industries are included in the coverage?
All economic industries are included in the nonemployer statistics, with the exception of crop production, animal production, management of companies and enterprises, and funds, trusts, and other financial vehicles.
5. What levels of industry detail are provided?
The nonemployer data generally are provided at broad levels of North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) detail. There are only a limited number of NAICS industry classifications available to administrative record filers.
6. Do you have nonemployer data for past years?
Nonemployer data by Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code are available from the 1992 Economic Census for selected industry sectors: Services, Retail, Finance, Insurance, Real Estate, Transportation, Communications, Utilities, and Construction Sectors. Beginning in 1997, nonemployer data will be released annually at broader industry detail based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
7. Are nonemployer data available for local communities?
The Portable Document Format (pdf) report provides data for the U.S. and states. The Hypertext Tables (html) and the CD-ROM provide data for U.S., states, counties, and metropolitan areas.
8. Why do letters instead of numbers appear in the columns?
"D" indicates that the data are withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual businesses; "S" indicates that the data are withheld to avoid releasing data that do not meet publication standards.
9. Is there an overlap between the number of establishments reported in the economic census and the nonemployer statistics?
The establishments reported in the economic census are employer establishments, so there is no overlap with the establishments reported in the nonemployer statistics. See our nonemployer homepage (view Hypertext Tables) for a summary of employer and nonemployer data by industry.
10. Are nonemployer statistics available in greater NAICS detail?
Data for nonemployers generally are provided at broader levels of industry detail than data for employers. The Nonemployer Statistics release contains NAICS detail that is common to sole proprietorship, partnerships and corporate businesses.
11. If I have any further questions, how can I contact you?
You can contact us by email, or call us on (301) 763-2580.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, EPCD, Nonemployer Statistics.
