EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EST, DECEMBER 28, 1999 (TUESDAY) Public Information Office CB99-248 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) 301-457-1037 (TDD) e-mail: pio@census.gov Kirk Degler/Mary Myrick 301-457-2657 "Other Services" -- From Car Washes to Diet Centers -- Add Up to Big Business, Census Bureau Reports Receipts and revenues of U.S. businesses providing "other services" -- business, personal and non-profit -- added up to more than $265 billion in 1997, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau reported today. Examples of "other services" range from automotive repair shops, diet centers and coin-operated laundries, to dating services, funeral homes and human rights organizations. In 1997, the United States had more than 520,000 separate business locations that provided such services. They employed about 3.3 million people. States with the highest receipts and revenues from "other services" businesses were California with $32.4 billion and New York with $26.4 billion. Reports were released on the Internet that further detail these businesses, including data for 65 specific kinds of businesses, all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 395 metropolitan areas. The reports are part of the series titled 1997 Economic Census, Geographic Area Series, Other Services (Except Public Administration). Highlights from the "other services" reports include: Repair and maintenance - Repair and maintenance was the largest "other services" subsector, with $105 billion in receipts. General automotive repair businesses, at $26 billion, accounted for almost one-quarter of this amount and employed 290,634 people at 77,751 locations. - The commercial and industrial equipment repair and maintenance industry, a new industry classification under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), generated $18 billion in receipts nationally and employed 166,962 people at 20,290 locations; Texas with nearly $2 billion in receipts, led all states. - The electronic and precision-equipment repair and maintenance industry took in $15 billion in receipts and employed 137,227 workers at 17,634 locations; California, with $2.3 billion, led the nation. Personal and laundry services - Receipts for personal and laundry service industries totaled $58 billion, led by the dry-cleaning and laundry industry group with $18 billion. Dry-cleaning and laundry services employed 395,408 workers at 44,782 locations. - The funeral homes and cemeteries and crematories industries generated $13 billion in receipts, employing 164,823 people at 23,015 locations. Grant-making and civic, professional and related not-for-profit organizations - Grant-making and giving services generated $49 billion in revenue, primarily from contributions, gifts and investment income. These organizations employed 104,807 people at 11,906 locations. - Business, professional and similar membership organizations raised more than $36 billion in revenues from dues and other sources and employed 311,491 workers at 48,375 locations. New York led all states with nearly $6 billion in revenues, followed by the District of Columbia (a state equivalent for statistical purposes), with $3.8 billion. - Social advocacy organizations, another new industry classification under NAICS, attracted more than $7.5 billion in revenues and employed 85,041 workers at 10,120 locations. The District of Columbia led all states in revenues in this industry, with nearly $1.2 billion, while California was tops in number of employees with 9,268. Social advocacy organizations include human rights, and environmental, conservation and wildlife organizations. The reports present data separately for firms subject to and exempt from federal income taxes. They provide national, state and metropolitan-area data for both taxable and tax-exempt firms. For taxable firms, the reports also provide county and place data. The 1997 Economic Census marks the premiere of NAICS, a new business classification system. It replaces the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system begun 60 years ago. The Other Services (Except Public Administration) sector is a new industry group in NAICS. Religious and political organizations and labor unions, although part of this sector, are not covered in the economic census. Data compiled for the Other Services (Except Public Administration) 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-