Business Dynamics Statistics

FAQs

• What is the most current year of data available?
  
  Currently the BDS covers the years 1976 through 2010.
• How often is the BDS updated?
  
  The BDS is updated once a year.
• Are there more detailed industry and geography tables?
  
  Currently, we only provide tables at the state and sectoral level, but we plan on releasing tables by Metro/Non Metro areas and more detailed industry in the future.
• Adding net flows and current employment does not yield the following year's employment. Why?
  
  The discrepancies result from processing decisions required when working with longitudinal administrative data (or in this case linked cross sections). A decision must be made as to which entries/exits (job creation/destruction) to take into consideration. For example, it may be determined that an establishment’s entry/exit as shown by the data is not credible. These establishments are excluded from the change calculations in a given year.
• What are some examples of non–credible entries/exits?
  
  An establishment might fail to report one year; this should not be treated as an exit followed by an entry. Or, the values reported by the establishment may not be believable and the change may be smoothed out. Similarly, an establishment may be deemed to be out of scope in a given cross section but not in another based on the information available for those years. Put another way, the longitudinal edits are such that they smooth out anomalies in the data believed to be problematic. As a result of these edits, we believe our longitudinal (change) data is more credible and of higher quality than what is typically published.
• What is the difference between the BDS Establishment Characteristics Data Table and the BDS Firm Characteristics Data Table?
  
  The difference between the BDS Establishment Characteristics Data Table and the BDS Firm Characteristics Data Table results from the way establishments are classified in the BDS. In the BDS Establishment Characteristics Data Table, establishments are classified according to the size and age of the establishments themselves. By contrast, the BDS Firm Characteristics Data Table classifies establishments according to the size and age of the firm with which they are associated.

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