Survey of Business Owners

Survey of Business Owners
Name	Survey of Business Owners
Publisher	United States Census Bureau
Country	United States
First	2002
Frequency	decennial
Subject	Business ownership, demographics

Survey of Business Owners

The Survey of Business Owners is a decennial United States Census Bureau program that provides detailed statistics on business ownership by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status across the United States. It complements the Decennial Census and the American Community Survey by producing establishment- and firm-level data used by policymakers, scholars, and private sector analysts including users from Federal Reserve System, U.S. Department of Commerce, Small Business Administration, and the National Bureau of Economic Research. The results inform discussions in venues such as the U.S. Congress hearings, analyses by think tanks like the Brookings Institution and the Heritage Foundation, and academic work at institutions such as Harvard University, Stanford University, and University of Chicago.

Overview and Purpose

The survey aims to enumerate characteristics of firms and proprietors similar to earlier censuses such as the Economic Census and programs like the Survey of Current Business. It classifies firms by criteria used in statutes like the Small Business Act and by standards applied by agencies including the Internal Revenue Service and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Results are used in litigation, program eligibility assessments by the Minority Business Development Agency, and impact studies commissioned by entities such as the Kauffman Foundation, Pew Research Center, and McKinsey & Company.

Methodology

Sampling frames derive from administrative records including the Employer Identification Number registry and the Business Register. The design borrows techniques used in the Current Population Survey and the Survey of Income and Program Participation, employing stratified sampling, imputation methods akin to those in National Health Interview Survey, and weighting procedures similar to the American Housing Survey. Questionnaires capture variables paralleling measures in the Economic Census for fields like receipts, employment, and industry classification under the North American Industry Classification System. Data processing involves disclosure avoidance strategies similar to those discussed in the context of the 2020 United States Census.

Respondent Demographics

The instrument collects proprietor attributes historically addressed in civil rights and disparity studies such as those informed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and analyses by organizations like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Reported demographics include proprietors who identify with groups referenced in federal categories including Hispanic and Latino Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans in the United States, and veterans registered under programs like the Department of Veterans Affairs. Geographic crosswalks link firm locations to Metropolitan Statistical Area delineations and to jurisdictions such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia for subnational analysis.

Key Findings

Past releases have highlighted concentration patterns similar to those in studies by Ellen Pao-era analyses and reports from firms like Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Findings document disparities in ownership, receipts, and payroll across groups studied in reports by NAACP, National Urban League, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and League of United Latin American Citizens. Trends include growth among proprietors resembling entrepreneurial waves discussed in histories of Silicon Valley and shifts noted in labor analyses at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University. Sectoral distributions correlate with industry analyses by S&P Global, Moody's, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Economic and Policy Implications

Results feed into policy recommendations made to bodies such as the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and federal agencies including the Department of Labor and the Department of Treasury. They inform procurement set-aside programs overseen by the Small Business Administration and civil rights compliance reviews under the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. Economic modeling using the data appears in work by International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and domestic forecasting by the Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Limitations and Data Quality

Users are cautioned about issues paralleling those in other large-scale surveys like the Current Population Survey and the American Community Survey: sampling error, nonresponse bias, and misclassification under frameworks such as the North American Industry Classification System. Disclosure avoidance and confidentiality protocols applied by the United States Census Bureau can limit geographic granularity, a concern raised in debates around the 2020 United States Census redistricting products. Comparability across waves can be affected by questionnaire changes and redefinitions similar to those seen between successive Economic Census cycles.

Category:United States economic data collection