There are over 600 versions of the Economic Census questionnaire, each tailored to an industry or group of related industries. Nonetheless, several basic inquiries are common to all standard forms. (Very small businesses may receive a classification form instead.) Question numbering is kept consistent from form to form to aid those businesses needing to fill out forms for multiple locations.
| Questions on all standard forms | |
| Link to item | Item Description |
| IDENTIFICATION | |
| 1 | Months in Operation |
| 2 | Employer ID |
| 3 | Physical Location |
| SALES, SHIPMENTS, RECEIPTS, OR REVENUE | |
| 4 | Sales, Shipments, Receipts, or Revenue |
| 5 | E-commerce Sales, Shipments, Receipts or Revenue |
| PAYROLL & EMPLOYMENT | |
| 6 | Employment and Payroll |
| 7 | Leased Employment and Payroll |
| DETAIL OF SALES, SHIPMENTS, RECEIPTS, OR REVENUE | |
| 22 | Detail of Sales, Shipments Receipts or Revenue (product or service lines) |
| OPERATIONAL STATUS & CERTIFICATION | |
| 29 | Operational Status |
| 30 | Certification |
In addition, Items 10 to 21 and 23 to 28 appear on forms for selected sectors.
This item allows differentiation of full-year and part-year businesses. Selected tabulations exclude establishments in operation less than 10 months of the year to enable consistent computation of various operating ratios, such as sales per employee. This item also helps census analysts evaluate the completeness of reported data.
Item 2. Employer ID
The Employer Identification Number (EIN) is an important tool to assure complete coverage of all businesses while avoiding double counting. No data are ever released that identify particular companies, by EIN or otherwise. Title 13 of the United States Code provides complete protection for all reported information.
Item 3. Physical Location
In order to publish data on the geographic distribution of economic activity, the Economic Census asks for the physical location of each establishment. The physical location may be different from the mailing address. Items 3.B and 3.C determine whether the establishment should be included in the tabulations for the city named in the address.
Item 4. Sales, Shipments, Receipts, or Revenue
Gross sales, revenues, or shipments is the principle measure of output reported in the Economic Census. These data are essential to calculation of value added, which is used to compute the gross domestic product (GDP). Value added is computed by subtracting costs, such as labor compensation, supplies and materials used, and capital costs, from output. These data also provide a critical component in the derivation of productivity measures, which compare the measure of output (sales, revenues, or shipments) with labor inputs. Finally, these data have a broad use in both the public and private sectors, for example, in determining locations for facilities that service a particular industry or sector.
Mining and manufacturing forms also collect data for export shipments. These
data are used by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor
to determine the degree of dependence upon foreign markets for specific geographic
areas or sectors. Decisions such as U.S. trade policy negotiating positions
and assistance for those negatively affected by trade effects ultimately depend
upon these type of data.
Item 5. E-commerce Sales, Shipments, Receipts, or Revenue
Information technologies are changing the way goods and services are sold. The 2002 Economic Census is the first official measure of electronic commerce covering all industries.
Construction, mining and manufacturing forms collect these e-commerce sales as a percentage of total shipments rather than in dollars.
Employment and payroll are the basic measures of labor inputs common across the all industries. Measures of productivity compare sales or other measures of output to employment or labor costs. Productivity statistics are used in economic forecasting and analysis of prices, wages, and technological change.
Manufacturing, mining, and construction establishments provide further detail regarding the number of production workers and production worker wages by quarter. The seasonal nature of many enterprises in these sectors would result in inconsistent labor data (and measures that depend upon labor data, such as productivity) without some means to account for seasonal variation.
7. Leased Employment and Payroll
Leased employees work at a business but are not direct employees because their tax, benefits, and other payroll functions are provided by an employee leasing company or "Professional Employer Organization" in exchange for a leasing fee. This is consistent with Internal Revenue Code, 26 USC 414(n).
Typically, employee leasing companies provide human resources and human resource management services to client businesses. They usually perform duties such as payroll, accounting, payroll tax return preparation, benefits administration, recruiting, and managing labor relations.
The Economic Census provides an important source of information about labor productivity -- how many workers it takes to produce the output of an industry. Leased employees constitute a significant and growing share of employment in many industries. The 2002 Economic Census seeks to account for them in the industry where they work to ensure a complete measure of industry employment and to allow more accurate measures of labor utilization and productivity.
While this item appears on every form, its contents differ widely from industry to industry. This item seeks to identify each of the major product lines or sources of receipts for the establishment. These data help determine the specific industry to which the establishment is assigned, and are the basis for detailed tabulations by product line. These data also supply an important component of the input-output tables in the national income and product accounts.
Item 29. Operational Status
Operational status helps Census Bureau analysts evaluate the completeness of reported data. It also helps in the maintenance of an ongoing comprehensive registry of business establishments used only for statistical purposes.
The "Remarks" section allows write-in explanations that the respondent may feel are needed. Comments frequently assist in explaining unusual relationships in the data, or may indicate that the establishment should be assigned to a different industry.
Item 30. Certification
The Economic Census seeks to report statistics on a calendar year basis, in order to provide consistency across all businesses reporting. Where the company's fiscal year differs only slightly from the calendar year, fiscal year data can be accepted, as long as the period is documented.
The person completing the report is asked to certify that the report is accurate. The inclusion of phone, fax, and e-mail contact information assist Census Bureau analysts in following up if there are questions about the content or consistency of the data.
See also the illustrations of Items 10 to 21 and 23 to 28, which appear only on forms for selected sectors. (Item numbers 8 and 9 are not used.)
