Online Program

Towards Unrestricted Public Use Business Microdata: The Synthetic Longitudinal Business Database. Access Protocols.

Keywords: Synthetic data, longitudinal, business register, administrative data, confidentiality protection, imputation

In most countries, national statistical agencies do not release establishment-level business microdata, because doing so represents too large a risk to establishments' confidentiality. One approach with the potential for overcoming these risks is to release synthetic data. We review the various modes used by the Census Bureau to make data available to users, and highlight the costs and benefits associated with each. We highlight some of the specific improvements underway or under consideration at the Census Bureau to better serve its data users, as well as discuss the broad strategies employed by statistical agencies to respond to the challenges of data access.