Commerce
Secretary Donald L. Evans announced today that the first data from a new
economic indicator series on service industries will be released next
week. The data “will help close a critical measurement gap in the
U.S. economy,” he said.
The first estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s
new Quarterly Services Survey (QSS) will be released at 10 a.m. on Sept.
13 at the Commerce Department. The initial data will be for the fourth
quarter of calendar year 2003 and the first and second quarters of 2004.
“Today, we have an $11 trillion economy,”
Evans said. “Our economy is strong and continues to grow. In order
to adequately measure that growth, the measurement of economic data must
continue to evolve.”
Noting that service industries account for
nearly 55 percent of the nation’s economic activity, the Census
Bureau’s associate director for economic programs, Frederick Knickerbocker,
told reporters that the “QSS will initially provide new data for
three sectors that account for about 15 percent of the gross domestic
product.” The sectors are: information; professional, scientific
and technical services; and administrative and support, including employment,
services.
The QSS is the first new economic indicator
from the Census Bureau since the 1960s, bringing to 13 the number it produces.
Advocates for the survey include Federal Reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan who said the QSS “will give the nation valuable
data to support private sector decision-making and public policy.”
Bob Vastine, president of the Coalition of Service
Industries, said the QSS “is an extremely important step in a much-needed,
ongoing effort to get a clearer picture of the role services play in the
U.S. economy. We need to know much more about how services are contributing
to our economic life, and the Census Bureau’s new survey will help
do that.”
The QSS will produce statistics on total operating
revenue and percentage change using the North American Industry Classification
System. The first data will include growth areas and industries sensitive
to changes in the business cycle such as telecommunications, software
publishing, computer system design, the media and employment services.
The Census Bureau will expand the QSS in 2005
to include hospitals and nursing and residential care facilities.
Prior to the QSS, measures of service industry
output were available only from economic censuses conducted every five
years and the Census Bureau’s Service Annual Survey.
Economic indicators track activity in a variety
of components of the U.S. economy and are closely followed in the public
and private sectors.
The initial QSS indicators will be available
after 10 a.m. Sept. 13 at <http://www.census.gov/qss>.
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