2007 Economic Census Coming in December In December, 87…

              2007 Economic Census Coming in December

In December, 87,000 businesses in Maryland will receive 2007 Economic
Census forms from the U.S. Census Bureau. Businesses in the
Baltimore/Towson Metropolitan Area will make up 42,000 of those surveyed.
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke has called this census
"indispensable to understanding America's economy."

Taken every five years, the Economic Census "assures the accuracy of the
statistics we rely on for sound economic policy and for successful business
planning," said Bernanke.

There are a lot of interesting facts from the last Economic Census, available
about our State and Counties at business.census.gov.

Below are two examples of how the data are used by local businesses for
marketing and planning, as well as by government agencies and researchers.

      Small Business Development Centers in many states help business
      owners assess their marketing and management challenges and
      become familiar with business data sources such as the Economic
      Census

      The owner of a chain of auto accessory stores computed the ratio of
      accessory sales in the Economic Census to household income from the
      population census for several neighboring metropolitan areas. Finding
      his own area well above national averages, he inferred that the local
      market for auto accessory stores might be already saturated. That
      contributed to his decision to expand into a nearby metro area with a
      lower ratio instead of adding another store locally.