Business and Economic Information

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U.S. Government Information

• Annual Survey of Manufactures A database that provides state and national-level data on manufactures, including number of employees, payroll, number, hours of work, and wages of production workers, value added by manufacture, cost of materials, value of industry shipments, new capital expenditures and end of year inventories.
• Beige Book - Summaries of the economic conditions for the U.S. and for Federal Reserve Districts, available online back to 1970.
• Bureau of Economic Analysis provides selected national, international, and regional data and selected articles from Survey of Current Business.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics: publisher of
• Consumer Expenditure Survey "The Consumer Expenditure Survey collects information from the Nation's households and families on their buying habits (expenditures), income, and characteristics. The strength of the survey is that it allows data users to relate the expenditures and income of consumers to the characteristics of those consumers."
• Consumer Price Indices (CPI) For related information, see the Boskin Report which proposes a new method of calculating the CPI.
• Occupational Outlook Handbook
• Producer Price Indices
• Employment Statistics and more
• Congressional Joint Economic Committee for economic news and information with a Republican point of view.
• The Congressional Research Service (CRS), the research arm of Congress, prepares reports (usually under 20 pages long) on topics of interest to members of Congress. Search these CRS Reports CU through LexisNexis. Enter "business", "economic policy", "finance", or "international finance" as search terms.
• County Business Patterns is a database of employment by Standard Industrial Classification (1993 to 1997) or North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) (1998 to the present) for the US, all states and all counties. Among the items available are employment, annual payroll, first quarter payroll, total establishments, and number of establishments by employment size. Data are collected annually.
• Current Industrial Reports
• Economic Briefing Room (Census Bureau) provides monthly, quarterly, or annual data on topics such as: International Trade in Goods and Services, Housing Starts, Manufacturing, Retail Sales, Wholesale Trade, Manufacturer's Shipments, Inventories and Orders, Construction Spending, New Home Sales, Durable Goods, Homeownership, and other topics
• Economic Census
• Economic Census, 1997 Included reports on wholesale trade, retail trade, real estate, rental and leasing, professional, scientific, and technical services, administrative and support, waste management and remediation, health care and social assistance, arts, entertainment and recreation, accommodation and food services sectors of the economy. Reports include data by state, metropolitan area, and county. The 1997 Economic Census is based on North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes rather than SIC codes. See especially the 1997 NAICS and 1987 SIC Correspondence Tables which include an online index to the NAICS codes.
• Economic Census, 2002 This Economic Census will be released in from 2004-2006. Keep checking this page for updates.
• American Factfinder contains detailed data by state, metropolitan statistical area, county, and economic place. The data are available in a variety of formats: display in the browser window or download in comma and tab delimited ASCII text, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Word formats. The industry series includes data on selected sectors by state.
• Economic Census (1997): Comparative Statistics 1987 SIC Basis National and state data. These reports present data from the 1997 Economic Census classified according to the 1987 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. According to the Census, this is the "only basis that allows broad comparisons between the 1997 and prior year data". The application provides data on the number of establishments, sales, receipts, or shipments in $1,000s of dollars, number of paid employees, and annual payroll in $1,000s of dollars for the years 1992 and 1997 and the percent change from 1992 to 1997.
• Economic Census, 1992 includes data on most sectors of the economy in 1992. Data available for states, counties, cities with population 2500 or more, and zip codes. Recent additions include the Census of Mineral Industries, Census of Construction Industries, and Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses. Non employer Statistics, is now available for Retail; Taxable Service; Transportation, Communications, and Utilities; and Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate. To find a specific SIC code, search the SIC Manual from OSHA.
• Economic Indicators. available from GPO Access. This monthly publication has statistics on gross domestic product, employment and wages, production and business activity, prices, money and credit, federal finance, and international statistics.
• Economic Indicator.gov from the Economics and Statistics Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce, this site brings together the various commonly used economic indicators. It provides timely access to the daily releases of key economic indicators from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau.
• Economic Report of the President searchable from 1996 forward or download a report from 1995 forward.
• Economic Statistics Briefing Room online access to current Federal economic indicators from the White House.
• Export.gov This site requires free registration. It provides information on doing business in foreign countries, pricing, and markets.
• EDGAR Database of Corporate Information from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The EDGAR database contains corporate filings submitted to the Commission. Alternate sites for EDGAR data:
• Ecomp Executive Compensation a database with executive compensation data on 32,000 executives from over 9,000 publicly-held companies. The database is based on required filings to the SEC. Search by company, ticker, state, sector, or industry. Not all data is available for free.
• Forbes People Tracker provides compensation, biographical details and other information for executives officers of publicly held companies. Search by last name or ticker symbol. Free service that requires registration for use.
• Hoovers Online CU provides company profiles, stock prices, EDGAR database filings, industry information, and other data for about 13,000 publicly and privately held companies based both inside and outside of the U.S.
• Yahoo provides easy access to company filings. Search by company name. Select the company "Profile" and then choose the link to "Raw SEC filings."
• Federal Business Opportunities is the single government point-of-entry (GPE) for Federal government procurement opportunities over $25,000. Government buyers are able to publicize their business opportunities by posting information directly to FedBizOpps via the Internet. Through one portal - FedBizOpps(FBO) - commercial vendors seeking Federal markets for their products and services can search, monitor and retrieve opportunities solicited by the entire Federal contracting community." It replaced Commerce Business Daily
• Federal Reserve System, Board of Governors of the
• Federal Reserve Banks
• Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER) provides access to scanned images of historical economic statistical publications, releases, and documents.
• Fed In Print: an index to Federal Reserve economic research The index includes both complete bibliographic citation and a link to an electronic version if available. Indexes publications 1985 - present.
• Beige Book: Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District
• Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has extensive data: Economic Indicators, Financial Markets, General Publications, Monetary Policy (Beige Books), Papers and Texts Periodicals, and links to other Federal Reserve sites.
• Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis has an online calculator based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) that tells you What's a Dollar Worth?
• Economic Data - FRED II Provides historical U.S. economic and financial data, including daily U.S. interest rates, monetary and business indicators, exchange rates.
• Handbook of International Economic Statistics available from the CIA menu of publications.
• National Income and Product Accounts show the "value and composition of the Nation's output and the distribution of incomes generated in its production." Interactive data retrieval from 1959 - present.
• North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) a revision of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) implemented in 1997. See especially the 1997 NAICS and 1987 SIC Correspondence Tables which includes an online index to the NAICS codes.
• Occupational Outlook Handbook Browsable and Searchable. 
• Regional Economic Accounts includes estimates of personal income and per capita personal income by type and earnings by industry, full and part time employees by industry, regional economic profiles, transfer payments by type, and farm income and expenses for 1969-most recent year. Data available at a county level.
• Small Business Administration provides extensive information on small business opportunities, including practical tips on starting,financing, or expanding a company, a directory of local SBA offices, and database of small businesses:
• Economic Statistics and Research these pages present statistics, reports, and working papers on small business in the U.S.
• Dynamic Small Business Search A database of small, disadvantaged, and minority-owned businesses. Search by location, ownership (minorities, women, veterans, and others), SIC/NAICS industry codes, business type, and other parameters.
• Small Business Economic Indicators provides data on small business activity (new firms, employment, income and failures) in the United States nationally and by state. Tables listing indicators for about the last ten years are included.
• State Personal Income, 1969-1998 interactive retrieval of data.
• STAT-USA CU Business, Trade and Economic Information
• GLOBUS and National Trade Data Bank (NTDB)--current and historical trade-related releases, international market research, trade opportunities, country analysis, and a trade library. Use the International Trade Library CU page for access similar to the CD-ROM edition of NTDB
• State of the Nation--current and historic economic data and releases.
• Industry Sector Data from Export.gov
• Women and Minority-Owned Business Enterprises data from the Census Bureau.

• Commodity Price Data from the World Bank "Pink Sheet"
• G8 Information Centre
• Inter-American Development Bank
• International Monetary Fund includes numerous information including:
• Finance and Development from International Monetary Fund
• IMF Country Information
• IMF Publications search IMF publications available online, some from 1981 forward.
• Joint Bank Fund Library Network The catalog of the joint International Monetary Fund-World Bank Library. The library catalog includes the holdings of the library and indexing to about 800 periodicals on economics and finance. The catalog includes links to periodical articles when an online edition exists. An excellent source of information on international economics, finance, and the activities of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• OECD Statistics by Topic this page links to a number of freely available resources on business and economic information in OECD member countries.
• SourceOECD CU This database provides full-text access to numerous publications. To go directly to statistics in this database choose:
• Main Economic Indicators CU
• OECD Economic Outlook Statistics CU
• United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
• World Bank e-Library CU This database provides full text access to publications and working papers produced by the World Bank.

• Business Filings Databases--annotated links to business filings by state.
• Center for International Finance and Development, University of Iowa covers the roles of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in international finance and development.
• Consumer Price Index Conversion Factors by Prof. Robert Sahr, Oregon State University.
• Currency Converter from Olsen & Associates includes exchange rate data from Jan. 1, 1990 to the present for 164 currencies.
• Doing Business Guides (selected foreign countries) from Heiros Gamos, a comprehensive legal site. Each guide includes basic facts, investment principles, investment framework, sensitive areas, direct sales, exports, representatives, intellectual property, direct investment, purchase by foreign corporation, branches, incorporation, exchange controls, tax, labor, dissolution, international relationships, dispute resolution and appendices.
• EconData.Net "EconData.Net is designed to help practitioners, researchers, students, and other data users quickly gain access to relevant state and substate socioeconomic data.... EconData.Net is sponsored by the Economic Development Administration as a service to regional data users...." The site includes Socioeconomic Data for Understanding Your Regional Economy: A User's Guide, "a thorough, plainly written explanation of the principal data series used for analyzing the performance and structure of local economies, on topics such as population, income and earnings, employment and unemployment, cost of living, and exports. For each series, the User's Guide lists specific measures, time frame, geographic detail, methodology, means to accessing the data, and staff contacts."
• EU Business includes information on EU law, business developments, finance, EU programmes by industry sector, current awareness for Commission proposals, progress reports on draft legislation, country-specific information, information on doing business in EU countries, and other features.
• Europages Business Directory of European Businesses.
• Global Financial Data provides historical financial data from around the globe. Free information includes Stock Markets Since 1693, Inflation Rates Since 1264, Interest Rates Since 1700, Commodity Prices Since 1257, Exchange Rates Since 1800, Total Returns Since 1800, and Federal Income Tax Rates Since 1914.
• Guide to International Trade Law Sources on the Internet includes sections on: starting points, international agreements, international organizations, statistics, U.S. Government resources, and "doing business in".
• Inflation Conversion Factors charts, graphs and data on inflation from political science professor, Robert Sahr.
• LexisNexis Statistical CU A searchable database which contains detailed abstracts of the contents of government reports containing statistics. Many of the abstracts contain links to a web site where the publication is available or to the full text of the publication on Statistical Universe. When a link is not available to the full text, use the SuDoc (Superintendent of Documents) number to locate a copy of the publication in the Government Publications Library.
• Salary Calculator database with cost of living information for 450 cities in the US.
• Salary Wizard a "proprietary compensation database, which contains salary information on thousands of job titles. The Salary Wizard calculates salaries based on job title and geographic location."
• Telephone Directories on the Web includes links to yellow pages where available.
• TradeIndia includes an Exporters Yellow Pages, Indian Importers Directory, trade news, and other information.
• TradePort : a large collection of "trade information, trade leads and company databases" produced by the Bay Area Economic Forum and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, with funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration. One can browse by subject or search.
• UK Business Directory

• Banking, Banks, and Credit Unions
• Business Databases
• Electronic Commerce
• Trade