The Necessity of the Economic Census

When most people think of the U.S. Census Bureau, they think of the decennial census of population. It would be hard to find an average person that would think of the economic census when considering the U.S. Census Bureau, yet it provide essential details on every aspect of the economy of the United States.

The economic census, conducted in every year ending in 2 and 7, provides details on manufacturing, sales, industry, housing, updated population data, and other important inputs to the creation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures. The corresponding census of governments also provides data for GDP. Both of these census' are slated for significant cuts or cancellations in the House of Representatives 2012 appropriations bill.

Examples of data that would not be collected include statistics on establishment and employment of business across all industries, fees paid for real estate purchases, mining tonnage by geographic area, and cost of transportation by mode. All of these are statistics that businesses rely on to make informed market decisions. There is no other organization equipped to provide this amount of statistics detail spanning all sectors of the economy.

We are at a period in time when up to date information about the economy is key to government intervention and market practices. Neither the private sector nor the government will have the necessary data to respond to current economic problems if the census is cut.

Many groups are amazed that this is even in question at this time including the National Associate of Business Economists'. The head of the NABE's statistics committee, Maurine Haver, commented to the Huffington Post "It leaves me rather speechless, actually. I just don't understand it." Former Census Bureau leaders issued a joint letter to Congress explaining that "...going without a 2012 Economic Census in the midst of the worst recession in half a century is akin to turning off the country's economic GPS at the very moment it is critically needed."

Congress was careful not to change the budget much for the Economic and Statistics Administration which is responsible for the GDP data. However, they fail to recognized that most of the input data still comes from Census. Haver was quick to point out that "the basic data that go into the national accounts are born at the Census Bureau."

The Census Bureau has come under fire in recent years for the type of data it collects during the decennial census and in the American Community Survey, particularly from the far right. Cutting the economic census is not an appropriate response. A census that gathers valuable information for businesses and lawmakers in an unstable economy should be considered a priority by anyone who wants facts to drive their decision making process.

Given the time needed to benchmark data after a lapse in collection, the next useful economic data would be released in 2022....15 years after the 2007 Economic Census. We simple can not afford to miss that much of what is going on in the United States economy.