Nonemployer Statistics

Nonemployer Statistics Historical Data

Nonemployer Statistics is an annual series that provides subnational economic data by industry for businesses subject to federal income tax but not subject to federal payroll tax, that is, without paid employees.

AVAILABILITY OF DATA FOR EARLIER PERIODS

The Nonemployer Statistics series has been published as a consistent annual series from 1997 to the present.

• View County, Metro Area, State, or U.S. data for 2002 - 2006 on a NAICS 2002 basis or 1997 - 2001 on a NAICS 1997 basis in hypertext tables
• Download in comma-delimited format (1997 - Present)
• Order data for selected years on CD-ROM (1997 - 2001) or DVD-ROM (2002-2004)
• View publications in pdf format (1997 - 2002)

Prior to 1997, statistics were published on businesses without paid employees in certain economic census reports. Comparability considerations are discussed further below..

• 1992 Enterprise Statistics, Company Summary
• 1992 Economic Census, Nonemployer Statistics, selected sectors, in PDF and on CD-ROM
• 1987 Economic Census, Nonemployer Statistics, retail trade and service industries only, on CD-ROM
• 1982 and earlier Census of Retail Trade and Census of Service Industries, Area Series (nonemployers derivable as the difference between total and establishments with paid employees); printed reports available only in libraries.

COMPARABILITY

The comparability of data over time may be affected by changes in industrial classifications or geographic definitions.

Industry Classification

Since the inception of the annual series, Nonemployer Statistics has been tabulated based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

• 2007 and subsequent data use NAICS 2007
• 2002 to 2006 data use NAICS 2002
• 1997 to 2001 data use NAICS 1997

In general, Nonemployer Statistics adopts the classification system employed in the most recent economic census.

Classification changes introduced in the 2002 Nonemployer Statistics are explored in detail in the Bridge Between 2002 NAICS and 1997 NAICS, although those statistics are confined to employer businesses.

The pre-1997 figures are not fully comparable to the current series in the following respects:

• The imputation of industry classifications for unclassified nonemployer businesses. Prior to 1997, unclassified businesses were excluded from the nonemployer tabulations.
  
• The change from SIC to NAICS codes in 1997.
  
• The inclusion of all industry sectors. Prior to 1997, nonemployer tabulations covered businesses in retail trade, service industries, construction, and, for 1992 only, finance, insurance, real estate, transportation, communications, and utilities. The 1992 Company Summary is the only pre-1997 measure of nonemployers in all sectors.

Geographic Comparability

Counties: County boundary changes are few and far between, but there were two introduced between the 2001 and 2002 Nonemployer Statistics: the creation of Broomfield County, CO, from parts of 4 counties, and the deletion of Clifton Forge (independent) city, VA, which was merged with Alleghany County.

Metropolitan and Micropolitan Areas: Metropolitan areas are redefined after each population census and new criteria are generally introduced at that point. While some new areas were introduced for 2007, and a few areas were retitled, existing metro and micro areas were not redelineated. On the other hand, most metropolitan areas tabulated in Nonemployer Statistics for 2002-2006, those defined as of June 2003, had at least some boundary changes relative to the areas tabulated for 1997-2001. Lists of counties that comprise each metropolitan area as of different time periods can be accessed at http://www.census.gov/population/www/metroareas/metrodef.html. There are maps that illustrate the metro area changes implemented in Nonemployer Statistics with 2002 data. In 1997-2001, Nonemployer Statistics were published for New England County Metropolitan Areas rather than for MSAs in CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, and VT.

Micropolitan areas were first defined for data year 2002 and no data have been published for prior years.

QUESTIONS?

For more information, contact us at (301)763-2580 or by email.