Monthly & Annual Wholesale Trade

How Surveys are Collected

The How the Surveys are Collected (methodology) section contains information concerning how the Census Bureau uses statistics to generate the estimates provided by the Monthly and Annual Wholesale Trade Reports. This documentation ensures that we achieve consistent results and provide the most accurate data available about U.S. Wholesale economic activity.

Use the links on the left to view survey specific explanations of how we design the sample of businesses that respond to our surveys, what types of data we collect and how we obtain it, and how we handle seasonal variations, nonresponse and variation.