Estimates by Firm Size Using the CES Survey

• Activity Number: 395
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Government Statistics
• Author(s): Nathan Clausen*+ and Chris Manning
• Companies: Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Keywords: Size Class Employment ; CES Estimation Methodology

Abstract

The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), surveys approximately 440,000 establishments in order to provide detailed industry data on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on nonfarm payrolls. The authors have been researching the use of CES survey data to produce industry estimates by firm size. This paper first details research to develop methodologies for producing CES estimates by firm size. This includes defining size classes, determining firm size, additivity across size classes, forecasting net birth/death residuals, seasonal adjustment, and the creation of a historical series of CES size class estimates. Next, the paper covers several issues addressed by the developed methodology. CES considered the adequacy of the sample for size class estimates along with movements of firms between size classes to understand how this might impa