Census Bureau CFS 2007 Planning Issues

摘要

It's a pleasure to have the opportunity to participate in this groundbreaking user's conference on the Commodity Flow Survey (CFS). Let me start with just a brief overview of the Economic Census. The Economic Census is the single largest compilation of economic statistics undertaken by the federal government and second only to the Decennial Census in its scope and complexity. The Economic Census is a multifaceted program consisting of the core establishment-based economic censuses that cover all nonagricultural sectors of the economy and a series of related programs focusing on topics of national interest such as the CFS, the Vehicle Inventory and Use Survey, and the Survey of Business Owners. The CFS, conducted jointly by the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, is an important component of our Economic Census program. While the CFS is unique in many ways, it leverages the underlying economic census infrastructure, uses the Business Register as its sampling frame, and takes advantage of the data we collect from individual establishments. Later, I will discuss how we are using some of the new information we collected in the 2002 Economic Census to help us improve the 2007 CFS, but first I want to briefly discuss some of the challenges all statistical programs will be facing over the next several years.