EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M., JULY 22, 1999 (THURSDAY) Public Information Office CB99-139 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) 301-457-1037 (TDD) e-mail: pio@census.gov Jack Drago/Dawn Rosser 301-457-2689 Census Bureau Issues First Economic Census State Report, for Wyoming, on Professional, Scientific and Technical Services The Commerce Department's Census Bureau today released the first in a series of state reports on the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services sector of the economy from the 1997 Economic Census. The report, 1997 Economic Census, Geographic Area Series, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services: Wyoming, released on the Internet, presents separate data by industry for firms subject to, and exempt from, federal income taxes. It provides statewide, metropolitan area, county and place data for taxable firms, as well as statewide and metropolitan area data for tax-exempt firms. Reports on this sector for the remaining states will be issued through 1999. Among the report's findings for Wyoming: - Some 409 taxable legal offices generated receipts of $117.4 million, accounting for the largest share (more than 30 percent) of the $388.8 million received by taxable firms in 1997 in the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services sector of the state's economy. These offices employed 1,312 people. - Engineering-services firms and certified public accountants' offices were next in receipts by taxable firms, with $65.8 million and $39.6 million, respectively. - Casper ($9.8 million) and Cheyenne ($8.0 million) together accounted for nearly half of the state's receipts by certified public accountants' offices. - Overall, taxable professional, scientific and technical services firms employed 5,274 workers at 1,264 locations. - The state's tax-exempt professional, scientific and technical services firms operated out of 11 locations, generating $2.9 million in revenues and employing 36 workers. Scientific research and development services firms contributed most of the revenues ($2.2 million); the rest came from legal aid societies and similar legal services ($683,000). The 1997 Economic Census marks the premiere of a new business classification system called the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). It replaces the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system begun 60 years ago. "The United States developed the new system jointly with Canada and Mexico, making it much easier to compare data with our North American Free Trade Agreement partners," said Frederick Knickerbocker, the Census Bureau's associate director for economic programs. "It is also much easier to update, so that economic data can keep pace with the nation's changing economy." Data compiled for the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services sector are subject to nonsampling errors. Nonsampling errors can be attributed to many sources: inability to identify all cases in the universe; definition and classification difficulties; differences in the interpretation of questions; errors in recording or coding the data obtained; and other errors of collection, response, coverage, processing and estimation for missing or misreported data. -X-