A publication about Indiana's workforce and economy from the IBRC at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business

May-Jun 2009, Vol. 10, No. 3

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More Than One Census

Upon hearing the word “census,” the decennial census, which concerns itself primarily with the characteristics of the nation’s residents, is likely what comes to mind. However, two other major censuses have recently released data: the Census of Agriculture and the Economic Census. Both of these censuses occur every five years, covering years ending in “2” and “7.”

The Census of Agriculture

Conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the 2007 Census of Agriculture covers all things farm and livestock related, providing the only source of uniform county-level agricultural data for the entire nation. Among other things, it looks at land use, ownership, operator characteristics, production practices, income and expenditures. Data and maps are available at http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2007/.

The following are just a few Indiana highlights:

• With 60,938 farms, Indiana had a 1 percent increase in the number of farms since 2002, but a 2 percent decrease in the number of acres farmed. Indeed, the average farm size decreased slightly to 242 acres. However, it is worth noting that 33 percent of farms are much smaller, harvesting less than 50 acres.
• Over half of the harvested cropland was devoted to corn, with soybeans accounting for an additional 40 percent. Figure 1 and Figure 2 show the county-level percentages for these crops nationwide.
• The state ranks third in the nation in the number of layers (i.e., chickens) raised, fourth in the number of acres devoted to soybeans and fifth in acres devoted to corn (see Table 1).
• In terms of dollar value, the grains, oilseeds, dry beans and dry peas category made up 61 percent of Indiana farm sales in 2007. Hogs and pigs ranked second at 12 percent, closely followed by the poultry and eggs category.

Figure 1: Acres of Corn Harvested for Grain as a Percent of Harvested Cropland Acreage, 2007

Source: 2007 Census of Agriculture

Figure 2: Acres of Soybeans Harvested for Beans as a Percent of Harvested Cropland Acreage, 2007

Source: 2007 Census of Agriculture

Table 1: Indiana's Livestock and Crops, 2007

Top Livestock Inventory Items	Number of Animals	U.S. Rank	Universe
Layers	24,238,513	3	50
Pullets for laying flock replacement	6,928,062	5	50
Turkeys	5,971,548	7	50
Broilers and other meat-type chickens	5,536,933	23	50
Hogs and pigs	3,669,057	5	50
Top Crop Items	Number of Acres	U.S. Rank	Universe
Corn for grain	6,362,576	5	49
Soybeans for beans	4,783,821	4	40
Forage-land used for all hay and haylage, grass silage, and greenchop	546,764	33	50
Wheat for grain, all	362,571	19	47
Corn for silage	105,937	17	48

Note: Universe is number of states in U.S. with item
Source: 2007 Census of Agriculture

The Economic Census

Conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2007 Economic Census collects detailed data on the economy by industry for a variety of geographies: national, states, metro areas, counties, places and ZIP codes.
The first set of data, the Core Business Statistics Advance Report, was released in March for the national level, showing preliminary data for sectors and industries. This release will be followed by more in-depth datasets throughout the remainder of 2009 all the way through late 2011. Data are released via American FactFinder at http://www.census.gov/econ/census07/.
The following are some U.S. highlights from the 2007 Core Business Statistics Advance Report:

• Retail trade had the largest number of establishments, at 1.1 million.
• Health care and social assistance employed the largest number of people (nearly 16.9 million) followed by retail trade (see Table 2).
• Wholesale trade and manufacturing had the largest number of sales, each exceeding $5 trillion.
• Manufacturing had the largest numeric increase in sales ($1.4 trillion) since the 2002 Economic Census, while simultaneously experiencing the largest decline in employees in both numeric and percentage terms (see Table 3).

Table 2: National Economic Census Overview by Sector, 2007

Sector	Number of Establishments	Sales, Shipments, Receipts, Revenue, or Business Done ($1,000)	Annual Payroll ($1,000)	Number of Paid Employees for Pay Period Including March 12
Health Care and Social Assistance	779,074	1,697,230,614	665,831,857	16,859,513
Retail Trade	1,122,703	3,932,027,444	364,991,713	15,610,710
Manufacturing	293,919	5,339,345,058	612,474,100	13,333,390
Accommodation and Food Services	626,558	612,949,468	169,845,677	11,587,814
Administrative, Support and Waste Management	381,599	629,304,120	290,546,420	10,153,833
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services	852,026	1,352,114,151	515,074,611	8,121,171
Construction	725,101	1,781,778,684	348,138,262	7,399,047
Finance and Insurance	503,156	3,641,082,600	494,484,693	6,562,546
Wholesale Trade	432,094	6,039,227,184	336,128,248	6,295,109
Transportation and Warehousing*	217,926	655,857,245	172,166,275	4,435,760
Other Services (Except Public Administration)	537,820	417,512,388	99,809,780	3,515,796
Information	141,034	1,075,153,974	223,376,793	3,428,262
Real Estate, Rental and Leasing	376,799	452,412,814	85,248,945	2,249,353
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation	123,965	188,975,642	57,545,590	2,070,524
Mining	21,169	369,191,012	37,308,193	703,129
Utilities	16,879	581,553,952	50,893,874	632,432
Educational Services	60,689	47,241,063	14,584,076	562,210

*Railroad transportation and U.S. postal service are out of scope for the 2007 Economic Census. Large certified air passenger carriers are included in the 2007 data, not included in the 2002 data, affecting comparability for this industry.
Note: Data for management of companies and enterprises were withheld because the estimate did not meet Census Bureau publication standards
Source: 2007 Economic Census

Table 3: U.S. Numeric and Percent Change by Sector, 2002 to 2007

	Number of establishments		Sales, shipments, receipts, revenue, or business done ($1,000)		Annual payroll ($1,000)		Number of paid employees for pay period including March 12
Sector	Numeric	Percent	Numeric	Percent	Numeric	Percent	Numeric	Percent
Manufacturing	-56,809	-16%	1,424,625,895	36%	43,980,075	8%	-1,330,995	-9%
Wholesale Trade	-3,427	-1%	1,404,472,072	30%	76,475,168	29%	416,704	7%
Retail Trade	8,066	1%	875,605,447	29%	62,878,132	21%	963,035	7%
Finance and Insurance	62,888	14%	837,227,732	30%	116,694,521	31%	-16,271	0%
Construction	14,792	2%	573,045,132	47%	93,836,950	37%	205,818	3%
Health Care and Social Assistance	74,548	11%	489,930,880	41%	169,986,028	34%	1,807,258	12%
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services	80,721	10%	465,313,113	52%	138,984,559	37%	877,666	12%
Transportation and Warehousing*	18,308	9%	273,705,205	72%	56,177,542	48%	784,901	21%
Administrative, Support and Waste Management	31,016	9%	196,726,540	45%	84,107,091	41%	1,411,979	16%
Mining	-2,918	-12%	186,279,919	102%	16,262,868	77%	228,006	48%
Information	3,356	2%	183,308,018	21%	28,706,630	15%	-307,799	-8%
Utilities	-224	-1%	182,646,908	46%	8,476,044	20%	-30,612	-5%
Accommodation and Food Services	60,968	11%	163,450,750	36%	42,291,194	33%	1,466,863	14%
Real Estate, Rental and Leasing	53,984	17%	116,825,108	35%	25,026,361	42%	300,696	15%
Other Services (Except Public Administration)	244	0%	110,462,927	36%	16,854,841	20%	40,486	1%
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation	13,652	12%	47,071,533	33%	12,376,473	27%	221,850	12%
Educational Services	11,370	23%	16,550,356	54%	4,419,698	43%	132,046	31%

*Railroad transportation and U.S. postal service are out of scope for the 2007 Economic Census. Large certified air passenger carriers are included in the 2007 data, not included in the 2002 data, affecting comparability for this industry.
Note: Data for management of companies and enterprises were withheld because the estimate did not meet Census Bureau publication standards
Source: 2007 Economic Census

Rachel Justis, Geodemographic Analyst
Indiana Business Research Center, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University