Census Bureau to request data from area businesses

Next month 7,900 businesses in the Reno-Sparks metro area will be tapped for the 2007 Economic Census. Conducted every five years, the federal project asks 4 million businesses nationwide to complete the census form and return it by Feb.12.

Business owners are asked to tell number of employees, payroll, and value of goods or services produced. Compliance, says the government, is required and responses are kept confidential.

Reports can be filed electronically via the Internet. And anyone can see the results online at business.census.gov.

The information is dated by the time it is released, says Brian Bonnenfant, GIS program manager, geographic information services, Bureau of Business and Economic Research, Small Business Development Center, University of Nevada, Reno.

Data from the 2007 census won't be released until 2009, and more detailed reports will dribble out over three or four years afterward. Reports are first released showing national data, followed by state, county, zip code, minority business and women-owned business.

And those seeing information on the rural counties should take it with a grain of salt, he adds that data is hit and miss because, while the government says compliance is mandatory, nothing happens if you don't report.

The demographic reports that Bonnenfant creates in response to requests from local business, in contrast, are created with confidential data from the state's Department of Employment and Department of Taxation.