The Annual Business Survey (ABS) is conducted by the Census Bureau in partnership with the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics within the National Science Foundation. The ABS collects data on research and development (for businesses with one to nine employees), innovation, technology, intellectual property, and business owner characteristics, with additional rotating content that changes from year to year.

Abstract

The Future of Business Survey is a new source of information on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Launched in February 2016, the monthly survey - a partnership between Facebook, OECD, and The World Bank - provides a timely pulse on the economic environment in which businesses operate and who those businesses are to help inform decision-making at all levels and to deliver insights that can help businesses grow. The Future of Business Survey provides a perspective from newer and long-standing digitalized businesses and provides a unique window into a new mobilized economy.

Policymakers, researchers and businesses share a common interest in the environment in which SMEs operate, as well their outlook on the future, not least because young and innovative SMEs in particular are often an important source of considerable economic and employment growth. Better insights and timely information about SMEs improve our understanding of economic trends, and can provide new insights that can further stimulate and help these businesses grow.

To help provide these insights, Facebook, OECD and The World Bank have collaborated to develop a monthly survey that attempts to improve our understanding of SMEs in a timely and forward-looking manner. The three organizations share a desire to create new ways to hear from businesses and help them succeed in the emerging digitally-connected economy. The shared goal is to help policymakers, researchers, and businesses better understand business sentiment, and to leverage a digital platform to provide a unique source of information to complement existing indicators.

With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Geographic coverage

When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. The Future of Business Survey is now conducted in over 90 countries in every region of the world.

Countries included in at least one wave: Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas (the) Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bolivia (Plurinational State of) Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cayman Islands (the) Central African Republic (the) Chad Chile Colombia Congo (the) Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d'Ivoire Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic (the) Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Faroe Islands (the) Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Gambia (the) Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kenya Korea (the Republic of) Kuwait Lao People's Democratic Republic (the) Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malawi Malaysia Mali Malta Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Monaco Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal Netherlands (the) New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger (the) Nigeria North Macedonia Northern Mariana Islands (the) Norway Oman Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines (the) Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russian Federation (the) Rwanda Réunion Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tanzania, the United Republic of Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turks and Caicos Islands (the) Uganda United Arab Emirates (the) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the) United States of America (the) Uruguay Vanuatu Viet Nam Virgin Islands (British) Virgin Islands (U.S.) Zambia.

Analysis unit

The study describes small and medium-sized enterprises.

Universe

The target population consists of SMEs that have an active Facebook business Page and include both newer and longer-standing businesses, spanning across a variety of sectors. With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Twice a year in over 97 countries, the Facebook Survey Team sends the Future of Business to admins and owners of Facebook-designated small business pages. When we share data from this survey, we anonymize responses to all survey questions and only share country-level data publicly. To achieve better representation of the broader small business population, we also weight our results based on known characteristics of the Facebook Page admin population.

A random sample of firms, representing the target population in each country, is selected to respond to the Future of Business Survey each month.

Mode of data collection

Internet [int]

Research instrument

The survey includes questions about perceptions of current and future economic activity, challenges, business characteristics and strategy. Custom modules include questions related to regulation, access to finance, digital payments, and digital skills. The full questionnaire is available for download.

Response rate

Response rates to online surveys vary widely depending on a number of factors including survey length, region, strength of the relationship with invitees, incentive mechanisms, invite copy, interest of respondents in the topic and survey design.

Note: Response rates are calculated as the number of respondents who completed the survey divided by the total number of SMEs invited.

Sampling error estimates

Any survey data is prone to several forms of error and biases that need to be considered to understand how closely the results reflect the intended population. In particular, the following components of the total survey error are noteworthy:

Sampling error is a natural characteristic of every survey based on samples and reflects the uncertainty in any survey result that is attributable to the fact that not the whole population is surveyed.

Other factors beyond sampling error that contribute to such potential differences are frame or coverage error (sampling frame of page owners does not include all relevant businesses but also may include individuals that don't represent businesses), and nonresponse error.

Note that the sample is meant to reflect the population of businesses on Facebook, not the population of small businesses in general. This group of digitized SMEs is itself a community worthy of deeper consideration and of considerable policy interest. However, care should be taken when extrapolating to the population of SMEs in general. Moreover, future work should evaluate the external validity of the sample. Particularly, respondents should be compared to the broader population of SMEs on Facebook, and the economy as a whole.

The Annual Business Survey (ABS) is conducted jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics within the National Science Foundation. It provides information on selected economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status. The ABS can be used to examine demographic characteristics of U.S. business-owners in arts-related sectors such as arts, entertainment, and recreation; information services; professional, scientific, and technical services; educational services; manufacturing; and retail trade. The 2022 ABS data tables include tables on design activities (tables 62-65), which encompass arts, entertainment, and recreation industries. These tables can be freely viewed and downloaded from the NCSES website: Table 62: Companies with design activities, by industry: 2021 Table 63: Companies with design activities, by company size: 2021 Table 64: Companies that provided resources for design activities, by industry: 2021 Table 65: Companies that provided resources for design activities, by company size: 2021

The Survey of Business Owners (SBO) provides the only comprehensive, regularly collected source of information on selected economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by gender, ethnicity, race, and veteran status. Data have been collected every 5 years since 1972, for years ending in '2' and '7' as part of the economic census. The program began as a special project for minority-owned businesses in 1969 and was incorporated into the economic census in 1972 along with the Survey of Women-Owned Businesses. Read more information about The Survey of Business Owners. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sbo/about.html

The Annual Business Survey (ABS) provides information on selected economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status. Further, the survey measures research and development (for microbusinesses), new business topics such as innovation and technology, as well as other business characteristics. The U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center conduct the ABS jointly for Science and Engineering Statistics within the National Science Foundation. The ABS replaces the five-year Survey of Business Owners (SBO) for employer businesses, the Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs (ASE), the Business R&D and Innovation for Microbusinesses survey (BRDI-M), and the innovation section of the Business R&D and Innovation Survey (BRDI-S). https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs.html

This table provides up-to-date information, including uncertainty margins, about the opinions held by Dutch entrepreneurs on their achievements, expectations and judgments regarding their business. This panel survey is aimed at gaining insight into the current situation, future development and judgments of Dutch enterprises. As a result it is possible to detect turning points in optimism or pessimism at an early stage, providing an early indication of possible trend changes in the economic activities of Dutch enterprises. Data are broken down by main business activity (SITC 2008). The questions submitted to the entrepreneurs at the beginning of a quarter concern output, turnover, prices, order books, stocks, investments, competitive position, economic climate, staff size and the obstacles they have encountered. In answering the questions relating to developments in the past three months and expectations for the next three months, the entrepreneurs are asked for a comparison with the preceding period of three months.

Data available from: January 2012

Status of the figures: All figures are definitive.

Changes as of May 27th 2025: Figures of May 2025 have been added.

When will new figures be published? Figures of June 2025 are expected to be published the 27th of June 2025.

Abstract

The World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) is a firm-level survey of a representative sample of an economy's private sector. The surveys cover a broad range of topics related to the business environment including access to finance, corruption, infrastructure, competition, and performance.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

The primary sampling unit of the study is the establishment. An establishment is a physical location where business is carried out and where industrial operations take place or services are provided. A firm may be composed of one or more establishments. For example, a brewery may have several bottling plants and several establishments for distribution. For the purposes of this survey an establishment must make its own financial decisions and have its own financial statements separate from those of the firm. An establishment must also have its own management and control over its payroll.

Universe

The universe of inference includes all formal (i.e., registered) private sector businesses (with at least 1% private ownership) and with at least five employees. In terms of sectoral criteria, all manufacturing businesses (ISIC Rev 4. codes 10-33) are eligible; for services businesses, those corresponding to the ISIC Rev 4 codes 41-43, 45-47, 49-53, 55-56, 58, 61-62, 69-75, 79, and 95 are included in the Enterprise Surveys. Cooperatives and collectives are excluded from the Enterprise Surveys. All eligible establishments must be registered with the registration agency. In the case of Indonesia, registration are those establishments in possession of TDP (Company registration Certificate)/NIB (Business Identification Number). Both TDP and NIB are included as the implementation of the Omnibus Law on Job Creation from 2020 was being implemented and businesses were transitioning to the new definitions.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The WBES use stratified random sampling, where the population of establishments is first separated into non-overlapping groups, called strata, and then respondents are selected through simple random sampling from each stratum. The detailed methodology is provided in the Sampling Note (https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/content/dam/enterprisesurveys/documents/methodology/Sampling_Note-Consolidated-2-16-22.pdf). Stratified random sampling has several advantages over simple random sampling. In particular, it:

• produces unbiased estimates of the whole population or universe of inference, as well as at the levels of stratification
• ensures representativeness by including observations in all of those categories
• produces more precise estimates for a given sample size or budget allocation, and
• may reduce implementation costs by splitting the population into convenient subdivisions.

The WBES typically use three levels of stratification: industry classification, establishment size, and subnational region (used in combination). Starting in 2022, the WBES bases the industry classification on ISIC Rev. 4 (with earlier surveys using ISIC Rev. 3.1). For regional coverage within a country, the WBES has national coverage.

Note: Refer to Sampling Structure section in "The Indonesia 2023 World Bank Enterprise Survey Implementation Report" for detailed methodology on sampling.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The standard WBES questionnaire covers several topics regarding the business environment and business performance. These topics include general firm characteristics, infrastructure, sales and supplies, management practices, competition, innovation, capacity, land and permits, finance, business-government relations, exposure to bribery, labor, and performance. Information about the general structure of the questionnaire is available in the Enterprise Surveys Manual and Guide (https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/content/dam/enterprisesurveys/documents/methodology/Enterprise-Surveys-Manual-and-Guide.pdf).

In addition to the standard set of questions administered to all respondents, the sample was randomly split with two different modules that cover different set of questions: Version A – B-Ready contains additional questions tailored for the Business Ready Report covering infrastructure, trade, government regulations, finance, labor, and other topics. Version B – Green Economy and Taxation covers questions with regards to taxes, green economy, and maternity policies.

The different modules in the dataset are reflected in variable q_version.

Response rate

Overall survey response rate was 41.2%.

Abstract

The Future of Business Survey is a new source of information on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Launched in February 2016, the monthly survey - a partnership between Facebook, OECD, and The World Bank - provides a timely pulse on the economic environment in which businesses operate and who those businesses are to help inform decision-making at all levels and to deliver insights that can help businesses grow. The Future of Business Survey provides a perspective from newer and long-standing digitalized businesses and provides a unique window into a new mobilized economy.

Policymakers, researchers and businesses share a common interest in the environment in which SMEs operate, as well their outlook on the future, not least because young and innovative SMEs in particular are often an important source of considerable economic and employment growth. Better insights and timely information about SMEs improve our understanding of economic trends, and can provide new insights that can further stimulate and help these businesses grow.

To help provide these insights, Facebook, OECD and The World Bank have collaborated to develop a monthly survey that attempts to improve our understanding of SMEs in a timely and forward-looking manner. The three organizations share a desire to create new ways to hear from businesses and help them succeed in the emerging digitally-connected economy. The shared goal is to help policymakers, researchers, and businesses better understand business sentiment, and to leverage a digital platform to provide a unique source of information to complement existing indicators.

With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Geographic coverage

When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. The Future of Business Survey is now conducted in over 90 countries in every region of the world.

Analysis unit

The study describes small and medium-sized enterprises.

Universe

The target population consists of SMEs that have an active Facebook business Page and include both newer and longer-standing businesses, spanning across a variety of sectors. With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Twice a year in over 97 countries, the Facebook Survey Team sends the Future of Business to admins and owners of Facebook-designated small business pages. When we share data from this survey, we anonymize responses to all survey questions and only share country-level data publicly. To achieve better representation of the broader small business population, we also weight our results based on known characteristics of the Facebook Page admin population.

A random sample of firms, representing the target population in each country, is selected to respond to the Future of Business Survey each month.

Mode of data collection

Internet [int]

Research instrument

The survey includes questions about perceptions of current and future economic activity, challenges, business characteristics and strategy. Custom modules include questions related to regulation, access to finance, digital payments, and digital skills. The full questionnaire is available for download.

The questionnaire was pretested by the target audience, as well as experts from the area of research interest. Additionally, steps were taken to translate the survey in order to reduce sensitivities to cultural response bias: - Respondents were given the option to respond to the survey in any of fifteen languages native to the countries in which it was conducted. - Translations were done only by native speakers, with two rounds of additional online checks in the context of the survey environment. - Translators were provided with context material for this survey (e.g., the Facebook for Business website) in order to understand the context of the survey. They were also instructed to take the English survey at least two times before starting with the translations. - Translations were discussed in a group in order to ensure a common understanding of questions and items. - The tone (formal vs. informal) of the survey was based on cultural conventions, e.g., Facebook usually uses an informal tone, while in cultures such as the Japanese this is very uncommon and thus a formal tone was used there.

Response rate

Response rates to online surveys vary widely depending on a number of factors including survey length, region, strength of the relationship with invitees, incentive mechanisms, invite copy, interest of respondents in the topic and survey design.

Note: Response rates are calculated as the number of respondents who completed the survey divided by the total number of SMEs invited.

Sampling error estimates

Any survey data is prone to several forms of error and biases that need to be considered to understand how closely the results reflect the intended population. In particular, the following components of the total survey error are noteworthy:

Sampling error is a natural characteristic of every survey based on samples and reflects the uncertainty in any survey result that is attributable to the fact that not the whole population is surveyed.

Other factors beyond sampling error that contribute to such potential differences are frame or coverage error (sampling frame of page owners does not include all relevant businesses but also may include individuals that don't represent businesses), and nonresponse error.

Note that the sample is meant to reflect the population of businesses on Facebook, not the population of small businesses in general. This group of digitized SMEs is itself a community worthy of deeper consideration and of considerable policy interest. However, care should be taken when extrapolating to the population of SMEs in general. Moreover, future work should evaluate the external validity of the sample. Particularly, respondents should be compared to the broader population of SMEs on Facebook, and the economy as a whole.

The indicators and analysis presented in this bulletin are based on responses from the new voluntary fortnightly business survey, which captures businesses responses on how their turnover, workforce prices, trade and business resilience have been affected in the two week reference period. These data relate to the period 6 April 2020 to 19 April 2020.

The Annual Business Survey (ABS) provides information on selected economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status. Further, the survey measures research and development (for microbusinesses), new business topics such as innovation and technology, as well as other business characteristics. The U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center conduct the ABS jointly for Science and Engineering Statistics within the National Science Foundation. The ABS replaces the five-year Survey of Business Owners (SBO) for employer businesses, the Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs (ASE), the Business R&D and Innovation for Microbusinesses survey (BRDI-M), and the innovation section of the Business R&D and Innovation Survey (BRDI-S). https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs.html

This page is no longer updated. It has been superseded by the Business insights and impacts on the UK economy dataset page (see link in Notices). It contains comprehensive weighted datasets for Wave 7 onwards. All future BICS datasets will be available there. The datasets on this page include mainly unweighted responses from the voluntary fortnightly business survey, which captures businesses’ responses on how their turnover, workforce prices, trade and business resilience have been affected in the two-week reference period, up to Wave 17.

Key Table Information.Table Title.Annual Business Survey: Statistics for Employer Firms by Sex for the U.S.: 2021.Table ID.ABSCS2021.AB00MYCSA01A.Survey/Program.Economic Surveys.Year.2021.Dataset.ECNSVY Annual Business Survey Company Summary.Release Date.2023-10-26.Release Schedule.The Annual Business Survey (ABS) occurs every year, beginning in reference year 2017.For more information about ABS planned data product releases, see Tentative ABS Schedule..Dataset Universe.The dataset universe consists of employer firms that are in operation for at least some part of the reference year, are located in one of the 50 U.S. states, associated offshore areas, or the District of Columbia, have paid employees and annual receipts of $1,000 or more, and are classified in one of nineteen in-scope sectors defined by the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), except for NAICS 111, 112, 482, 491, 521, 525, 813, 814, and 92 which are not covered..Sponsor.National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, U.S. National Science Foundation.Methodology.Data Items and Other Identifying Records.Number of employer firms (firms with paid employees)Sales and receipts of employer firms (reported in $1,000s of dollars)Number of employees (during the March 12 pay period)Annual payroll (reported in $1,000s of dollars)These data are aggregated by the following demographic classifications of firm for:All firms Classifiable (firms classifiable by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status) Sex Female Male Equally male/female Unclassifiable (firms not classifiable by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status) Definitions can be found by clicking on the column header in the table or by accessing the Economic Census Glossary..Unit(s) of Observation.The reporting units for the ABS are employer companies or firms rather than establishments. A company or firm is comprised of one or more in-scope establishments that operate under the ownership or control of a single organization..Geography Coverage.The data are shown for the U.S. only.For information about geographies, see Geographies..Industry Coverage.The data are shown for the total of all sectors ("00") NAICS code. Sector "00" is not an official NAICS sector but is rather a way to indicate a total for multiple sectors. Note: Other programs outside of ABS may use sector 00 to indicate when multiple NAICS sectors are being displayed within the same table and/or dataset.The following are excluded from the total of all sectors:Crop and Animal Production (NAICS 111 and 112)Rail Transportation (NAICS 482)Postal Service (NAICS 491)Monetary Authorities-Central Bank (NAICS 521)Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (NAICS 525)Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (NAICS 813)Private Households (NAICS 814)Public Administration (NAICS 92)For information about NAICS, see North American Industry Classification System..Sampling.The ABS sample includes firms that are selected with certainty if they have known research and development activities, were included in the 2021 BERD sample, or have high receipts, payroll, or employment. Total sample size is 300,000 firms. The universe is stratified by state, industry group, and expected demographic group. Firms selected to the sample receive a questionnaire. For all data on this table, firms not selected into the sample are represented with administrative, 2017 Economic Census, or other economic surveys records.For more information about the sample design, see Annual Business Survey Methodology..Confidentiality.The Census Bureau has reviewed this data product to ensure appropriate access, use, and disclosure avoidance protection of the confidential source data (Project No. P-7504866, Disclosure Review Board (DRB) approval number: CBDRB-FY23-0479).To protect confidentiality, the U.S. Census Bureau suppresses cell values to minimize the risk of identifying a particular business' data or identity.To comply with data quality standards, data rows with high relative standard errors (RSE) are not presented. Additionally, firm counts are suppressed when other select statistics in the same row are suppressed. More information on disclosure avoidance is available in the Annual Business Survey Methodology..Technical Documentation/Methodology.For detailed information about the methods used to collect data and produce statistics, survey questionnaires, Primary Business Activity/NAICS codes, and more, see Technical Documentation..Weights.For more information about weighting, see Annual Business Survey Methodology..Table Information.FTP Download.https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs/data/2021/.API Information.Annual Business Survey (ABS) data are housed in the Census Bureau Application Programming Interface (API)..Symbols.D - Withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual companies; data are included in higher level totalsS - Estimate does not meet publication standards because of high sampling variability...

Business Survey: Metropolitan France: Business Sentiment Indicator data was reported at 96.400 % in Apr 2025. This records a decrease from the previous number of 96.600 % for Mar 2025. Business Survey: Metropolitan France: Business Sentiment Indicator data is updated monthly, averaging 101.600 % from Apr 1976 (Median) to Apr 2025, with 589 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 121.000 % in Dec 1999 and a record low of 47.000 % in Apr 2020. Business Survey: Metropolitan France: Business Sentiment Indicator data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. The data is categorized under Global Database’s France – Table FR.S001: Business Survey: INSEE. [COVID-19-IMPACT]

Abstract

The main objective of undertaking this survey of 2019 is to generate data that are statistically representative for urban businesses operating in the country with a fixed location; with the aim of bridging the information or data gaps those were created by the conflict on businesses in the country.

The specific objectives will be to:

• Obtain the spread of businesses by economic activity
• Determine the employment in businesses by sex
• Determine the ownership status of businesses
• Determine the location of businesses in the country
• Determine the age of businesses and status of computer use and ownership.
• Determine the cost and profit structure of businesses as well as the inventory
• Determine the perception of regulations and doing business
• Determine the impact of the conflict on businesses

Geographic coverage

Coverage of business establishments in the 12 most populated urban areas of South Sudan in 2019. Towns included are Aweil, Bor, Juba, Kuajok, Maridi, Nimule, Renk, Rumbek, Tonj, Torit, Wau and Yambio.

Analysis unit

Businesses

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The IBES 2019 generated the required Business Register for business establishments in South Sudan, which can be used for any business establishment survey. For enterprise surveys, an Establishment Censuses (EC) or business registries undertaken by a country at regular intervals generally provide the sampling frame, giving a count of enterprises and workers by broad industry group at the primary level of geographical units. In South Sudan there is no establishment census or useable business registry that has ever been undertaken, and in such circumstances, the listing of businesses/enterprises and workers by broad industry group in the concerned geographic areas was used as the only option. As it was done for the IBES 2010, the listing of all enterprises and workers (in formal and informal sectors) by broad industry group for the selected 12 major towns/cities that took place in June-July 2018 listed 13, 348 businesses that served as the sampling frame for the IBES 2019. This listing process collected minimum required information for sampling frame purposes, such as name and location of each business establishments, the main economic activity of the business in ISIC format, number of workers/employees, registration status, maintaining regular accounts or not and the year of establishment, among others.

Formal and Informal Sectors: The existing definition of formal business used in IBES 2010 as described above had limitations due to the fact that it did not consider the registration status with tax government agency (i.e. value added tax and/or income tax), and the status of keeping accounts, which was recommended and implemented in IBES 2019. The required information for the new definition of “formal sector” was also collected during the listing operation.

Using the information collected from the listing operation, about 55 percent of listed business establishments were formal irrespective of the employment size. However, when the employment size factor was considered, i.e. adding a third condition of having 6 or more employees (Medium and Large business establishments), only about 10.7 percent of business establishments were classified as “formal sector”. Given also the fact that the average number of employees per surveyed enterprises in 2010 was 2.7, and that about 58.7 percent of listed business establishments had 0-2 employees, it was highly important to have proper definition of Micro, Small, Medium and Large enterprises in terms of number of employees for sampling purposes. Based on the information of the IBES 2019 listing operation, table 3 describes the distribution of listed business establishments by different size of employment. It is observed that 13.8 percent of listed business establishments are classified as medium and large.

Sampling and stratification: The IBES 2019 sampling frame includes 13,348 business establishments from both formal and informal sectors based on the new definition. In order to improve the sampling efficiency for business surveys, it was important to stratify the business enterprises in the frame by size of employment, generally defined in terms of the total number of employees. Therefore, the frame was stratified by the following categories of employment size:

• 0-2 employees
• 3-5 employees
• 6-9 employees
• 10+ employees

The reasons of proposing these categories of employment size for stratification are that in developing countries, business environment is largely composed of informal sector where the majority of business establishments are micro and small in nature. For example, many business establishments are small shops in the neighborhood, and often owned by households, and most of the time, the family will employee 1 or 2 people to work in such shops. For business surveys, it is very important to stratify them under such small employment size to capture the reality on the ground. The same employment size category is also used to allow comparability with IBES 2010 survey. Given the important contribution of the medium and larger business enterprises to the value of production, capital investment, value added and other measures of the economy, and comparability with IBES 2010, it was important to include all the business establishments with 6 or more employees in the IBES 2019 sample with certainty (that is, with a probability of selection equal to 1). Therefore, there were 1,838 business establishments with 6 or more employees for all economic sectors in the sampling frame.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

The questionnaire is structured.

Response rate

The response rate for the IBES 2019 was 87 percent.

Key Table Information.Table Title.Annual Business Survey: Statistics for Employer Firms by Race for the U.S.: 2021.Table ID.ABSCS2021.AB00MYCSA01C.Survey/Program.Economic Surveys.Year.2021.Dataset.ECNSVY Annual Business Survey Company Summary.Release Date.2023-10-26.Release Schedule.The Annual Business Survey (ABS) occurs every year, beginning in reference year 2017.For more information about ABS planned data product releases, see Tentative ABS Schedule..Dataset Universe.The dataset universe consists of employer firms that are in operation for at least some part of the reference year, are located in one of the 50 U.S. states, associated offshore areas, or the District of Columbia, have paid employees and annual receipts of $1,000 or more, and are classified in one of nineteen in-scope sectors defined by the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), except for NAICS 111, 112, 482, 491, 521, 525, 813, 814, and 92 which are not covered..Sponsor.National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, U.S. National Science Foundation.Methodology.Data Items and Other Identifying Records.Number of employer firms (firms with paid employees)Sales and receipts of employer firms (reported in $1,000s of dollars)Number of employees (during the March 12 pay period)Annual payroll (reported in $1,000s of dollars)These data are aggregated by the following demographic classifications of firm for:All firms Classifiable (firms classifiable by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status) Race White Black or African American American Indian and Alaska Native Asian Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Minority (Firms classified as any race and ethnicity combination other than non-Hispanic and White) Equally minority/nonminority Nonminority (Firms classified as non-Hispanic and White) Unclassifiable (firms not classifiable by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status) Definitions can be found by clicking on the column header in the table or by accessing the Economic Census Glossary..Unit(s) of Observation.The reporting units for the ABS are employer companies or firms rather than establishments. A company or firm is comprised of one or more in-scope establishments that operate under the ownership or control of a single organization..Geography Coverage.The data are shown for the U.S. only.For information about geographies, see Geographies..Industry Coverage.The data are shown for the total of all sectors ("00") NAICS code. Sector "00" is not an official NAICS sector but is rather a way to indicate a total for multiple sectors. Note: Other programs outside of ABS may use sector 00 to indicate when multiple NAICS sectors are being displayed within the same table and/or dataset.The following are excluded from the total of all sectors:Crop and Animal Production (NAICS 111 and 112)Rail Transportation (NAICS 482)Postal Service (NAICS 491)Monetary Authorities-Central Bank (NAICS 521)Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (NAICS 525)Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (NAICS 813)Private Households (NAICS 814)Public Administration (NAICS 92)For information about NAICS, see North American Industry Classification System..Sampling.The ABS sample includes firms that are selected with certainty if they have known research and development activities, were included in the 2021 BERD sample, or have high receipts, payroll, or employment. Total sample size is 300,000 firms. The universe is stratified by state, industry group, and expected demographic group. Firms selected to the sample receive a questionnaire. For all data on this table, firms not selected into the sample are represented with administrative, 2017 Economic Census, or other economic surveys records.For more information about the sample design, see Annual Business Survey Methodology..Confidentiality.The Census Bureau has reviewed this data product to ensure appropriate access, use, and disclosure avoidance protection of the confidential source data (Project No. P-7504866, Disclosure Review Board (DRB) approval number: CBDRB-FY23-0479).To protect confidentiality, the U.S. Census Bureau suppresses cell values to minimize the risk of identifying a particular business' data or identity.To comply with data quality standards, data rows with high relative standard errors (RSE) are not presented. Additionally, firm counts are suppressed when other select statistics in the same row are suppressed. More information on disclosure avoidance is available in the Annual Business Survey Methodology..Technical Documentation/Methodology.For detailed information about the methods used to collect data and produce statistics, survey questionnaires, Primary Business Activity/NAICS codes, and more, see Technical Documentation..Weights.For more information about weighting, see Annual Business Survey Methodology..Table Information.FTP Download.https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs/data/2021/.API Information.Annual Business Survey (ABS) data...

BIE: Sales Level vs Normal Times: Somewhat Greater Than Normal data was reported at 8.781 % in Apr 2025. This records a decrease from the previous number of 10.056 % for Mar 2025. BIE: Sales Level vs Normal Times: Somewhat Greater Than Normal data is updated monthly, averaging 19.817 % from Oct 2011 (Median) to Apr 2025, with 163 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 36.698 % in Feb 2022 and a record low of 3.319 % in May 2020. BIE: Sales Level vs Normal Times: Somewhat Greater Than Normal data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.I121: Business Inflation Expectations Survey. Business Inflation Expectations Survey Questionnaire: How do your SALES LEVELS compare with “normal” times?

In the fiscal year 2023, there were over **** thousand registered surveying businesses in Japan. Every person or business that performs surveying in Japan has to register with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, in accordance with the Survey Act.