Sources & Reading List

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Industrial Patterns publishes reference editions describing operating performance, industry structure, and consolidation behavior in US industries. Every figure in every edition is computed from publicly available federal data using consistent definitions. This page lists the data programs the editions draw on, with annotations describing what each program measures and how Industrial Patterns uses it.

The sources are organized by issuing agency. A short cross-reference at the end of the page maps which sources serve which module.

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)

The federal classification framework used across all U.S. statistical programs. NAICS defines industries at six-digit granularity — e.g., 423310 is Lumber, plywood, millwork, and wood panel merchant wholesalers — grouping codes into four-digit subsectors, three-digit subindustries, and two-digit sectors. NAICS is revised every five years; the current vintage is NAICS 2022.

Industrial Patterns reports its peer set on the NAICS 2022 classification spine. Sources that publish on a prior NAICS vintage (e.g., County Business Patterns through 2023) are mapped onto the 2022 spine through a frozen, code-verified crosswalk. The peer set definition and any classification-change disclosures appear in the methodology appendix of every edition.

Link: https://www.census.gov/naics/

Economic Census (ECN)

The slow-moving structural anchor of U.S. industry statistics, conducted every five years (years ending in 2 and 7). The most recent vintage is 2022; the next is 2027 (publication approximately late 2028). Publishes firm and establishment counts, receipts, employment, payroll, and detailed structure-of-industry tables.

The Economic Census is the structural anchor for the Industry Structure Reference and supports the slow-moving peer-set composition table in Operating Benchmarks. Population counts in Industry Structure Reference Dimension 1 are drawn from the Economic Census.

Link: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census.html

Annual Business Survey (ABS)

Annual survey of U.S. business characteristics, conducted between economic censuses. Provides firm-structure data — including owner demographics, R&D activity, and innovation indicators — that complements the five-year Economic Census release.

Operating Benchmarks uses ABS for firm-structure characteristics. Industry Structure Reference draws on ABS for organisational form distributions (Dimension 6).

Link: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs.html

County Business Patterns (CBP)

Annual program publishing establishment counts, employment, and payroll by county and six-digit NAICS industry. CBP publishes establishment counts exactly at the county level; employment and payroll are noise-infused for disclosure protection. Whole county cells are withheld when an industry has very few establishments in a county.

The primary source for the Add-On Density Atlas, which maps the establishment universe at county geography across the peer set. Industry Structure Reference uses CBP for the establishment-size distribution (Dimension 2) and geographic structure (Dimension 5).

Link: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html

Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB)

Annual program publishing firm-level statistics by enterprise size. SUSB resolves firms — business organizations that may operate many establishments — rather than the establishment-level resolution of CBP. SUSB does not publish below state geography.

Industry Structure Reference uses SUSB for firm-size structure (Dimension 2): the distribution of firms by enterprise employment. The state-level resolution constraint is why establishment-level work (the Add-On Density Atlas, the establishment dimensions of ISR) uses CBP instead.

Link: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/susb.html

Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS)

Annual program publishing data on U.S. business establishment births, deaths, job creation, and job destruction. BDS does not publish below four-digit NAICS; the four-digit constraint is disclosed at the point of use in each edition that draws on it.

Industry Structure Reference uses BDS for entry and exit dynamics (Dimension 4) and for job creation and destruction rates as a complement to the slower-publishing Economic Census.

Link: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds.html

Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3)

Monthly survey of U.S. manufacturers tracking shipments, inventories, unfilled orders, and new orders. M3 publishes monthly with a roughly one-month lag.

Operating Benchmarks uses M3 in the current-conditions appendix as a faster-publishing read on production activity that complements the slower-publishing structural sources.

Link: https://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/

Building Permits Survey

Monthly survey of U.S. residential and non-residential construction permit activity. Permits are a leading indicator of construction activity that precedes the eventual build-out by months to quarters.

Operating Benchmarks uses the Building Permits Survey in the current-conditions appendix as a leading indicator of construction-driven demand, particularly relevant for the Building Materials peer set.

Link: https://www.census.gov/construction/bps/

Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW)

Quarterly census of U.S. employment and wages by establishment and industry. QCEW covers virtually all U.S. workers through unemployment-insurance administrative records, making it the most comprehensive employment data source available at industry granularity.

Operating Benchmarks uses QCEW for Family 2 (labor elasticity), computing the elasticity of industry employment with respect to total industry wage spending. Supplementary QCEW metrics include real wage per employee (CPI-U deflated) and employment dispersion by firm-size band.

Link: https://www.bls.gov/cew/

Producer Price Index (PPI)

Monthly index of U.S. producer-side prices by industry. PPI tracks the change in prices received by producers, providing an industry-level price signal that publishes faster than the annual BEA Industry Chain-Type Price Index.

Operating Benchmarks uses PPI as a faster-publishing cross-check on the BEA Industry Chain-Type Price Index and as the primary deflator for current-conditions metrics in the current-conditions appendix.

Link: https://www.bls.gov/ppi/

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)

Monthly survey of U.S. job openings, hires, and separations. JOLTS provides a forward-looking labor-market signal that complements the slower-publishing QCEW employment data.

Operating Benchmarks uses JOLTS in the current-conditions appendix as a labor-market indicator capturing turnover and hiring dynamics.

Link: https://www.bls.gov/jlt/

Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U)

The standard U.S. consumer-side price index, measuring the change in prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of goods and services. Published monthly.

Operating Benchmarks uses CPI-U as the deflator for real-wage analysis. CPI-U reflects worker purchasing power in the broader consumer market — the policy-relevant frame for wage interpretation — and is therefore distinct from the BEA Industry Chain-Type Price Index used to deflate industry-output figures.

Link: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/

GDP-by-Industry Accounts

Annual industry-level national accounts publishing value added, gross output, compensation, gross operating surplus, and intermediate inputs. The GDP-by-Industry data is the official source for U.S. industry-level production statistics, published approximately twelve to eighteen months after the reference year.

Operating Benchmarks uses the GDP-by-Industry data for Family 1 (margin behavior). The primary metric — the value-added margin (VA/GO) — is computed as the share of industry gross output not consumed by intermediate inputs. Supplementary metrics include compensation share and operating surplus margin.

Link: https://www.bea.gov/data/industries

Industry Chain-Type Price Indexes

BEA industry-output deflators (base year 2017). The Chain-Type indexes reflect industry-output composition and are the defensible choice for industry-level real-dollar metrics. Published as part of the BEA GDP-by-Industry release.

Operating Benchmarks uses the Industry Chain-Type Price Indexes as the deflator for industry-level dollar figures: revenue, gross output, value added, and asset aggregates. Distinct from CPI-U, which is used for real-wage analysis only.

Link: https://www.bea.gov/data/industries

Statistics of Income (SOI), Corporate Complete Report

IRS aggregate financial statistics for U.S. corporations, drawn from corporate tax filings. Published tables 1 and 5.1 provide tax-basis financial aggregates by minor industry. SOI data is tax-basis, which differs from financial-accounting basis in several specific ways disclosed in the methodology appendix of every edition. Released approximately 24–30 months after the reference tax year.

Operating Benchmarks draws on SOI for Family 3 (capital efficiency, via assets-to-receipts intensity and depreciation intensity), Family 4 (scale penalty, via refined overhead reconstruction from published deduction lines), and supplementary Family 1 metrics. The tax-basis caveat is disclosed at the head of every SOI-sourced section.

Link: https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-corporation-complete-report

G.17 Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

Monthly release on U.S. industrial production and capacity utilization. The G.17 is the Federal Reserve's monthly read on industrial activity across manufacturing, mining, and utilities; published with approximately a two-week lag from the reference month.

Operating Benchmarks uses G.17 in the current-conditions appendix as a faster-publishing read on industrial activity, complementary to the slower-publishing QCEW, SOI, and BEA sources.

Link: https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/

American Institute of Architects — Architecture Billings Index (ABI)

Monthly index of U.S. architecture firm billings, treated as a forward-looking indicator of non-residential construction activity. The ABI captures architecture billings before construction projects break ground, providing a lead time of approximately nine to twelve months relative to construction spending.

Operating Benchmarks uses the ABI in the current-conditions appendix as a leading construction-demand signal, particularly relevant for the non-residential portion of the Building Materials peer set. The ABI is the only non-federal source in the Industrial Patterns source set; it is included because no federal program publishes a directly comparable leading indicator of non-residential construction demand.

Link: https://www.aia.org/practicing-architect/industry-research/abi

The same source set serves the three modules in different ways. The following maps which programs serve which module.

Operating Benchmarks (Module 1)

Structural sources: IRS Statistics of Income (Families 1, 3, 4); BEA GDP-by-Industry Accounts and Industry Chain-Type Price Indexes (Family 1, industry-output deflation); BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (Family 2); BLS Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (real-wage deflation); U.S. Census Economic Census and Annual Business Survey (peer-set composition and firm-structure characteristics).

Current-conditions sources: Federal Reserve G.17 Industrial Production; U.S. Census Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3); U.S. Census Building Permits Survey; BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS); BLS Producer Price Index (PPI); American Institute of Architects Architecture Billings Index (ABI).

Industry Structure Reference (Module 2)

Structural anchor: U.S. Census Economic Census (Dimension 1: population and composition; Dimension 6: organisational form). Annual programs: U.S. Census County Business Patterns (Dimension 2: establishment-size distribution; Dimension 5: geographic structure); U.S. Census Statistics of U.S. Businesses (Dimension 2: firm-size distribution); U.S. Census Business Dynamics Statistics (Dimension 4: entry and exit dynamics).

Add-On Density Atlas (Module 3)

U.S. Census County Business Patterns is the single primary source. The Atlas maps establishment density at county geography across the peer set using the most recent CBP vintage as the cross-section and a five-year trailing window for the trend layer.

Each edition discloses the specific vintage of each source it draws on. Source vintage drift between editions is documented in the methodology appendix of every edition. Where a source revises previously-published values after an edition has shipped, the revisions appear in the next edition; published editions are not amended retroactively. This convention preserves edition integrity over time.

Annotations on this page describe each source as it is used by Industrial Patterns and are not intended as a comprehensive guide to the program. Each source page linked above is the canonical reference for program methodology, vintage history, and release schedule.