In this section:

• Industry Classification Updates
• Product Classification Updates
• Geographic Updates
• Enterprise Statistics
• Reporting Changes

The 2012 Economic Census will reflect changes defined in the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), including NEW industries as well as a REALIGNMENT of a significant number of other industries. The impact of these changes can be seen in the Comparative Statistics and the Bridge Between 2012 NAICS and 2007 NAICS reports. Learn more about these changes below.

New Industries

Five new industries have been broken out from 2007 NAICS code 22119, Other Electric Power Generation.

Realignment of Industries

The 2012 NAICS also includes a comprehensive review of the manufacturing sector. This has resulted in the consolidation of over 20% of the total number of manufacturing industries from 2007.

Industry realignment, consolidation, and other changes have occurred which affect other selected sectors, including:

• Construction
• Wholesale Trade
• Retail Trade, and
• Accommodation and Food Services
  

For example, 2012 NAICS 443142, Electronics Stores combines the following four 2007 NAICS industries.

For a full list of these changes, see the 2012 to 2007 NAICS Concordance on the NAICS website.

Bridging the Changes

The 2012 Economic Census will be published on the 2012 NAICS basis, but data will also be published on the 2007 NAICS basis in the following two reports:

• Comparative Statistics will present data for 2012 and 2007 on the 2007 NAICS basis for the U.S. and states.
• The Bridge Between 2012 NAICS and 2007 NAICS will provide 2012 statistics on the 2012 and 2007 NAICS basis for industries that have changed for 2012. The report shows the total for the industry as well as the components of the NAICS change to help users understand the impact of the classification change.

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Product categories for selected sectors, including wholesale and retail trade, have been revised to conform to the North American Product Classification System (NAPCS). This continues the introduction of NAPCS-based product categories that started in the 2002 Economic Census.

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The 2012 Economic Census will reflect changes in the geographic areas recognized by the Census Bureau. These changes include:

More data for small communities

For the 2007 Economic Census, a cutoff of 5,000 or more population or jobs was used to identify the economic places valid for publication. For the 2012 Economic Census, these cutoffs have been reduced to 2,500, resulting in nearly 5,000 new places to be published in the Census. The 2012 Economic Census will also reflect any boundary and/or title changes for counties, economic places, and other geographic areas.

Metro Areas classification

The metro areas published in the 2012 Economic Census will be those delineated by the Office of Management and Budget in 2013 based in part on the results of the 2010 Census of Population and Housing. New areas will qualify and the boundaries and/or titles of many existing areas will change.

Geographic Components

For the 2012 Economic Census, data for selected geographic areas will now be published in American FactFinder using Geographic Component codes. These include:

• Areas Outside Metro Areas (non-Metros)
• Statewide areas
• Offshore Areas

See the Finding Data page under the Guidance for Data Users section of this site for more information on geographic selection.

New Counties in Alaska

The 2012 Economic Census will now include 6 new or changed county equivalents in Alaska that were identified and adopted after the 2007 Economic Census. They are:

• Hoonah-Angoon Census Area and Skagway Municipality (previously Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area)
• Ketchikan Gateway Borough (comprised of part of this same county equivalent in 2007)
• Petersburg Census Area and Wrangel City and Borough (previously Wrangel-Petersburg Census Area
• Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area (comprised of part of the 2007 Ketchikan Gateway Borough plus all of Prince of Wales-Outer Ketchikan Census Area)

Puerto Rico Planning Areas

The 2007 Economic Census of Island Areas published data for Commercial Regions in Puerto Rico, which were defined as groupings of two or more municipios. For the 2012 Economic Census of Island Areas, these areas have been replaced with Planning Regions. See PR Planning Regions for a comparison of these areas.

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Additional company-level aggregated information will be published in a new 2012 Enterprise Statistics report.

Additional questions have been added to company-level forms (for an example, view form NC99001) to gather key measures including innovation, globalization, research and development, contract manufacturing, and business diversification. These will be published in a new 2012 Enterprise Statistics report. See the Enterprise Statistics Program site for prototype tables from the 2007 Economic Census.

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Single-location businesses had the option to complete their 2012 Economic Census form online (direct internet reporting), and businesses with more than one location could download software (surveyor) to report electronically. While these changes don't directly impact data users, the quality of the data published is affected by making responding as easy as possible for businesses.

Learn more about direct internet reporting and the Surveyor software by watching some of the information videos available in the Library section of this site.

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