Policymakers to Get Full Data Coverage of the Nation's Service Sector

• Author(s): Barry Bosworth*+ and Carol Corrado*+ and Mark Wallace*+
• Companies: The Brookings Institution and The Conference Board/Economic Programs and Service Sector Statistics Division

Abstract

With the passage of the fiscal year 2009 budget by Congress in March 2009, the Census Bureau is moving forward to provide the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Council of Economic Advisers, the Federal Reserve Board and other policymakers, business leaders, and the American public with comprehensive - and timely - data on the service economy which now accounts for 55 percent of economic activity. This session will describe activities now underway for filling a longstanding data gap - namely, the provision of quarterly and annual data on all twelve service sectors, matching the coverage of the 5-year Economic Census. Further, the session will outline steps currently being taken to provide timely data on banking in response to urgent needs for this critical information. Panelists will discuss how the availability of these new comprehensive and timely data on the service sector will help to assess the effectiveness of economic recovery measures and will offer suggestions for increasing the awareness and use of these services statistics by policymakers in the public and private sectors.