GENERAL EXPLANATION INTRODUCTION County Business Patterns is an annual series that includes a separate report for each State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and a U.S. Summary. Each report presents State- and county-level mid-March employment, first-quarter and annual payrolls, total number of establishments, and number of establishments by employment-size class. The data are tabulated by industry as defined in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual: 1987. Most of the economic divisions of the Nation's economy are covered in these reports; i.e., agricultural services; mining; construction; manufacturing; transportation, public utilities; wholesale trade; retail trade; finance, insurance, real estate; and services. This series represents an extension of a program that has been published annually since 1964 and at irregular intervals dating back to 1946. The comparability of data may be affected by: a definitional change to an "establishment" basis of tabulation from a "reporting unit" concept prior to 1974; the determination of "active" status of an establishment prior to 1983; and changes in industrial classification beginning in 1988. A description of previous publications is provided on the inside back cover. The data generally represent the types of employment covered by the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA). Data for employees of establishments totally exempt from FICA are excluded, as are self-employed persons, domestic service workers, railroad employees, agricultural production workers, most government employees, and employees on ocean borne vessels or in foreign countries. County Business Patterns is the only series that provides annual subnational data by two-, three-, and four-digit levels of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. The series, therefore, is most useful for making basic economic studies of small areas, for analyzing the industrial structure of regions, and as a benchmark for statistical series, surveys, and databases between economic censuses. The series serves various business uses; e.g., analyzing market potential, measuring the effectiveness of sales and advertising programs, and setting sales quotas and budgets. The data are also used by government agencies for administration and planning. SOURCES OF DATA County Business Patterns basic data items are extracted from the Standard Statistical Establishment List, a file of all known single and multi establishment companies maintained and updated by the Bureau of the Census. The Annual Company Organization Survey provides individual establishment data for multilocation firms. Data for single-location firms are obtained from various programs conducted by the Census Bureau, such as the Annual Report of Organization, the Annual Survey of Manufactures, and Current Business Surveys, as well as from administrative records of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Federal civilian employment and payroll, formerly shown in Appendix A of these reports, is no longer provided. Data users may obtain this information by contacting: Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics 2 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20212 Telephone: 202-606-6567 DEFINITIONS OF BASIC DATA ITEMS Establishments An establishment is a single physical location at which business is conducted or where services or industrial operations are performed. It is not necessarily identical with a company or enterprise, which may consist of one establishment or more. All activities carried on at a location generally are grouped together and classified on the basis of the major reported activity, and all data for the establishment are included in that classification. Administrative and auxiliary establishments primarily manage, administer, service, or support the activities of other establishments of the same company rather than the establishments of other business firms or the general public. Employment and payroll for these establishments are shown separately by industry division for each State and county. Establishment-size designations are determined by paid employment in the mid-March pay period. The size group "1 to 4" includes establishments that did not report any paid employees in the mid-March pay period but paid wages to at least one employee at some time during the year. Establishment counts represent the number of locations determined to be active any time during the year (payroll reported in any quarter). In years prior to 1983, the count of establishments represented the number of businesses active in the fourth quarter. A comparison of the number of establishments based on both definitions was presented by major industry group for the United States as a whole in Appendix D of the 1982 U.S. Summary. This report excludes governmental establishments classified in the covered industries except for liquor stores (SIC 592) and wholesale liquor establishments (SIC 518) operated by State and local governments and all hospitals (SIC 806) beginning with 1989 data. Payroll Total annual payroll includes all forms of compensation, such as salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, vacation allowances, sick-leave pay, and the value of payments in kind (e.g., free meals and lodgings) paid during the year to all employees. Tips and gratuities received by employees from patrons and reported to employers are included. For corporations, it includes amounts paid to officers and executives; for unincorporated businesses, it does not include profit or other compensation of proprietors or partners. Payroll is reported before deductions for Social Security, income tax, insurance, union dues, etc. This definition of payroll is the same as that used on IRS Form 941. First- quarter payroll consists of payroll, as defined above, paid to persons employed at any time during the January-to-March quarter. Mid-March Employment Paid employment consists of full- and part-time employees, including salaried officers and executives of corporations, who were on the payroll in the pay period including March 12. Included are employees on paid sick leave, holidays, and vacations; not included are proprietors and partners of unincorporated businesses. The definition of paid employees is the same as that used on IRS Form 941. INDUSTRY AND GEOGRAPHY CLASSIFICATIONS Industry codes are obtained from a variety of sources. Initially, employers are assigned an industry classification code by the Social Security Administration (SSA) on the basis of the nature of business information supplied on the Application for Employer Identification Number, Treasury Form SS-4. These codes may be supplemented by information derived from business tax returns submitted to the IRS or from later detail supplied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The Census Bureau assigns state and county codes based on the address information obtained from the Business Master Files of the IRS. Geographic codes and industry classifications also are updated for a substantial number of establishments canvassed by the Census Bureau in the economic census, Annual Survey of Manufactures, Annual Company Organization Survey, and Current Business Surveys. These changes are based on the physical location and major activity of the establishment as determined by nature of business, type of operation, and commodities handled or services rendered. Industry and geographic codes assigned to establishments in the 1987 Economic Census were incorporated into the 1988 County Business Patterns. Industry Classification Beginning with the 1988 County Business Patterns series, industry classifications are based on the 1987 edition of the SIC Manual. Because of time and cost limitations, it was not possible to retabulate 1987 data based on the revised SIC codes. Although the 1988 U.S. Summary contained appendixes describing the relation between old and new classification systems, users should exercise caution when analyzing changes in reported levels between 1988 and 1987 data years for industries affected by the SIC revision. In a few instances, the most detailed industrial classification for which data are shown represents a combination of more detailed SIC industries. These classifications are explained in an appendix in the U.S. Summary. The industry titles used throughout this publication are the short SIC titles; complete descriptions are contained in the SIC Manual. Typically, "unclassified establishments" includes new businesses that cannot be classified in any major industry group because of insufficient kind-of-business information. Geographic Classification Establishments are assigned State and county codes on the basis of their physical location. Those employers without a fixed location within a State (or of unknown county location) are included under a "Statewide" classification at the end of the county tables. This incomplete detail causes only slight understatement of county employment in most major industry groups. The independent cities in Virginia, and the cities of Baltimore, MD; Carson City, NV; and St. Louis, MO, are treated as separate counties. COMPARABILITY WITH OTHER DATA 1987 Economic Census In comparing the employment and payroll shown in this series with that compiled from the economic census, the data user should bear in mind that definitional and coverage differences may affect the direct comparison of data items. The differences between sources may be discerned through a review of the introductory texts of the appropriate publications. In particular, please note that the 1987 Economic Census was based on the revised SIC system, while County Business Patterns first used the new coding scheme for the 1988 data year. In addition, the economic census presents data reported for individual establishments; whereas, County Business Patterns are based primarily on administrative records and data reported from current surveys. While every effort is made to resolve significant differences for the same establishment, differences are known to exist. Also, the censuses include small firms with no paid employees. State Unemployment Insurance Programs Employment and payroll data are compiled for each of the unemployment insurance agencies of the States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico and are published by the BLS. These State and related county or other local area data, are derived from quarterly reports submitted to State employment security agencies by employers subject to unemployment insurance laws. Comparability between the BLS series and the County Business Patterns series may be affected by differences in the unit of industrial classification (establishment versus reporting unit); the exclusion of small nonprofit organizations, certain religious organizations, and church-chartered schools from the BLS series; and variation between reports that are intended for different purposes but are submitted both to Federal and to State agencies. Labor Force Estimates National estimates of the number of employed and unemployed persons in the labor force are published in the BLS report Employment and Earnings. This information is obtained from a nation-wide sample of households and differs in definition, concept, and method of measurement from information derived from business employment records. For the household survey, workers are counted according to their place of residence, and industrial classification of the place of business is determined from information obtained from household respondents. In addition, there are differences in the time period to which the reports refer and variations in estimates based on the sample survey. DATA WITHHELD FROM PUBLICATION In accordance with U.S. Code, Title 13, Section 9, no data are published that would disclose the operations of an individual employer. However, the number of establishments in a kind-of- business classification and the distribution of these establishments by employment-size class are not considered to be disclosures, and so this information may be released even though other information is withheld from publication. Summary records at the county level are not shown for any industry with fewer than 50 employees but are included in the total shown for the next broader industry group of which it is a part. While the nonpublication of small data cells is primarily a printing limitation, this information is shown separately on computer tapes. Also, data for some establishments that could not be classified by detailed kind of business are included in the tabulations at a broader industrial level. For these reasons, the sum of the industry components published in this report may not equal the total shown. RELIABILITY OF DATA All data are tabulated from universe files and are not subject to sampling errors. However, the data 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, and estimation for missing or misreported data. The accuracy of the data is determined by the joint effects of the various nonsampling errors. No direct measurement of these effects has been obtained; however, precautionary steps were taken in all phases of collection, processing, and tabulation to minimize the effects of nonsampling errors. DATA AVAILABLE ON COMPUTER TAPES Published and unpublished basic data items are available on computer tape by State and county to the four-digit SIC level. While data for SIC's with fewer than 50 employees in a given county do not appear in the publications, there is no such restriction on the tapes. Specific employment and payroll figures, however, are withheld if the data might disclose information about individual employers. Only the basic data items are available on tape. Two types of files are offered for sale: one contains data for all counties and is released approximately at the same time as the corresponding printed reports for the States; the other contains State and U.S. level data and is available at the end of the publication cycle. These tapes, however, reflect the latest corrections made at the time of their release, and thus may not match the sum of the previously released State totals. The price per tape is currently $175, documentation included. Description County data FIPS State and county code, by two-, three-, and four-digit SIC State data FIPS State code, by two-, three-, and four-digit SIC Summary U.S. data by two-, three-, and four- digit SIC Files for the most recent years can be ordered from Customer Services Branch. Contact the National Archives (Telephone: 202-501- 5579) for ordering and pricing information for data years prior to 1988. Data User Services Division Customer Services Branch Bureau of the Census Washington, DC 20233 Telephone: 301-457-4100 DATA AVAILABLE ON DISKETTES, CD ROM, AND MICROFICHE Data files are issued in two formats designed for use on microcomputers: 5 1/4 inch flexible diskettes (IBM PC compatible format) and CD-ROM. The diskettes provide the basic data items for the United States, each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and counties to the two-digit SIC level only. On the other hand, a single CD-ROM can hold all of the data files and four-digit SIC detail contained on the computer tapes described above. Data are available in CD-ROM format beginning with the 1986 series at a cost of $150 per disc, documentation included. County Business Patterns publications are available on microfiche. While this service is useful primarily for past reports that are out of print, the microfiche is also offered for sale for current year reports. Each microfiche contains approximately 98 pages of printed material. Inquiries on the fees for these products should be addressed to the Customer Services Branch. ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS The following abbreviations and symbols are used in this publication: - Represents zero. A-C,E-M Entered in place of employment data, represents an employment-size class as defined at the end of the tables. D Withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual companies; data are included in broader industry totals. NA Not available. n.e.c. Not elsewhere classified. SIC Standard Industrial Classification.