Census Data: Manufactures

The purpose of the Annual Survey of Manufactures is to provide key intercensal measures of manufacturing activity, products, and location for the public and private sectors. The ASM provides the best current measure of current U.S. manufacturing industry outputs, inputs, and operating status, and is the primary basis for updates of the Longitudinal Research Database (LRD).

COVERAGE

Manufacturing establishments with one or more paid employees or nonemployers that use leased employees for manufacturing are classified in NAICS sector 31-33.

CONTENT

The ASM provides statistics on employment, payroll, worker hours, payroll supplements, cost of materials, selected operating expenses, value added by manufacturing, capital expenditures, inventories, and energy consumption. It also provides estimates of value of shipments for over 1400 classes of manufactured products.

FREQUENCY

The ASM is conducted annually, except for years ending in 2 and 7, at which time ASM data are included in the manufacturing sector of the Economic Census.

METHODS

The Annual Survey of Manufactures includes approximately 50,000 establishments selected from the census universe of 346,000 manufacturing establishments. Some 10,000 establishments are selected with certainty, and some 40,000 other establishments are selected with probability proportional to a composite measure of establishment size. The survey frame is updated from two sources; Internal Revenue Service administrative records are used to include new single-unit manufacturers and the Company Organization Survey identifies new establishments of multi-unit firms.