Women-Owned Employer Firms, Reference year 2017

Source: 2018 Annual Business Survey Annual Business Survey (ABS) Program (census.gov)

PURPOSE:

The Annual Business Survey (ABS) provides information on selected economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status. Further, the survey measures research and development (for microbusinesses), new business topics such as innovation and technology, as well as other business characteristics. The ABS is conducted jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics within the National Science Foundation. The ABS replaces the five-year Survey of Business Owners (SBO) for employer businesses, the Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs (ASE), the Business R&D and Innovation for Microbusinesses survey (BRDI-M), and the innovation section of the Business R&D and Innovation Survey (BRDI-S).

COVERAGE:

Included are all nonfarm employer businesses filing the 941, 944, or 1120 tax forms. The ABS is conducted on a company or firm basis rather than an establishment basis. A company or firm is a business consisting of one or more domestic establishments that the reporting firm specified under its ownership or control

The data are compiled by combining data collected on businesses and business owners in the ABS with data collected on the economic census and administrative records.

Business ownership is defined as having 51% or more of the stock or equity in the business and is categorized by:

Firms equally male-/female-owned, equally minority-/nonminority-owned, and equally veteran- /nonveteran-owned are counted and tabulated as separate categories.

For more information: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs/about/faq.html