Monthly & Annual Retail Trade

2011 Annual Retail Trade Survey

Summary of Changes

The following changes were made with the release of the 2011 ARTS estimates:

• The 2011 ARTS estimates reflect the introduction of a newly selected sample of businesses and are based on the 2007 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). For further information on the new sample, see our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). For information on how estimates from the prior and new samples are linked, see the Benchmarking and Linking Samples sections of the Annual Retail Trade Survey methodology at http://www.census.gov/retail/arts/how_surveys_are_collected.html
• The publication table for sales taxes was added for 2004 to 2011.
• The 2010 nonemployer (firms without paid employees) estimates have been revised based on the current values provided by the Nonemployer Statistics program. The 2009 nonemployer estimates were revised to reflect the re-issued 2009 nonemployer estimates released by the Nonemployer Statistics program on August 15, 2012. For additional information, refer to the Nonemployer Statistics home page at http://www.census.gov/econ/nonemployer/index.html
• Revisions were made to the prior sample estimates for NAICS 446 (Health and Personal Care Stores) and corresponding aggregate levels to reflect a revision to the nonemployer component of the ARTS estimates for 1992 to 2003.