Small Business Data Sources
411
Sortable data base of over 60 separate small business surveys
www.411sbfacts.com
Bureau of the Census
(The most comprehensive source of business statistics, many tables of which are broken out by size of firm. It is also the source of non-employer businesses.)
www.census.gov/econ/
www.census.gov/econ/smallbus.html
www.census.gov/econ/nonemployer/view/define.html
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
- BEDS (Business Employment Dynamics) Change in employment by establishment size. Data publication lags data collection by six to nine months.
www.bls.gov/bdm/ - Benefits (Employee benefits by establishment size.)
www.bls.gov/ebs/ and www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf. - Wages www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t08.htm
FDIC
Private sector loans to small businesses.
www2.fdic.gov/qbp/index.asp
Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve has released a highly useful series of reports to Congress on small business finance. They are unfortunately scattered over its Web site and have no central location. See, for example, www.federalreserve.gov/publications/other-reports/availability-of-credit/September-2012-Executive-Summary.htm
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)
An international consortium measures business Pre-start and start-up activity. The United States has a team participating in the consortium devoted to measuring such activity in the U.S.
- International reports: www.gemconsortium.org
- American reports: www.gemconsortium.org
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Federal tax statistics
www.irs.gov/uac/SOI-Tax-Stats— Business-Tax-Statistics
Kauffman Foundation
Focuses on entrepreneurship rather than small business. However, there is considerable overlap, particularly in its firm survey of new businesses. Studies as well as data.
www.kauffman.org/section.aspx?id=research_and_policy
Firm survey: www.kauffman.org/research-and-policy/kauffman-firm-survey.aspx
Panel Study on Entrepreneurial Dynamics
A rich and sophisticated data set focused on new business activity in the Unites States. It is not intended for the casual user.
www.psed.isr.umich.edu/psed/home
Small Business Administration
SBA principally presents data collected by others. But the agency serves as a useful “one stop shop” and typically organizes data in a user-friendly manner. For basic statistics, SBA is the first site to visit.) www.sba.gov/advocacy or www.sba.gov/advocacy/849. Its Office of Advocacy has also sponsored a number of studies over the years. www.sba.gov/advocacy/7540
World Bank
The World Bank’s Doing Business series, dating to 2001, is an annual compendium and international ranking of regulatory measures impacting small business, such as the number of days it takes to legally register a business. Different aspects appear each year.
www.doingbusiness.org