U.S. Businesses Show First Rise in Employment Since 2008 Led by Mining Sector, Census Bureau Reports

WASHINGTON, April 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In 2011, total employment from all U.S. business sectors was 113.4 million, an increase of 1.5 million employees from 2010, according to new statistics released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector led the way with a 12.0 percent increase in employment from 2010 to 2011. This year is the first since 2008 in which U.S. businesses reported an increase in employment over the prior year.

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There were 7.4 million U.S. businesses with paid employees for 2011, a loss of 42,585 establishments from 2010.  This is the fourth consecutive year of decline for the number of U.S. businesses.

These new findings released today are from County Business Patterns: 2011, which provides the only detailed annual information on the number of establishments, employees, and quarterly and annual payroll for nearly 1,200 industries covered at the national, state and county levels. The statistics are broken down according to employment-size classes (for example, number of establishments with one to four employees) and legal form of organization (for example, corporations and partnerships).

"The strength of this release is that we can measure the economic activity of businesses at the local level, including changes over time," said William Bostic, the Census Bureau's associate director for economic programs. "This year's County Business Patterns report is the first since the most recent recession to show a reversal in the downward trend of employment. The growth in employment combined with the increase in annual payroll is another indication of a recovering economy."

State and County Highlights

North Dakota showed the largest percentage rise in the number of establishments, total number of employees and total payroll for any state in 2011. There were 22,370 establishments in North Dakota in 2011, an increase of 538 (2.5 percent) from 2010. There were 306,064 employees in North Dakota in 2011, an increase of 11,157 (3.8 percent) from 2010. Annual payroll was at $12.3 billion, up $1.7 billion (16.5 percent) from 2010.

Among the top 50 counties in the United States ranked by number of establishments, Kings County, N.Y. (Brooklyn) had the largest percent increase in establishments and employment, with a gain of 1,625 establishments (3.4 percent) to 49,837 establishments, and a gain of 24,368 employees (5.0 percent) to 513,746 employees for 2011. 

Industry Sector Highlights

Other industry sectors that had an increase in employment included administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (4.6 percent), educational  services (3.4 percent), management of companies and enterprises (3.1 percent), and transportation and warehousing (2.4 percent).

Health care and social assistance added the most establishments, with 5,866 in 2011 (up 0.7 percent).  Construction showed the largest decline in establishments, losing 24,946 establishments (3.7 percent) in 2011, down to 657,738 overall.

The retail trade sector had the highest number of establishments (1.1 million). Next were professional, scientific and technical services (850,903); health care and social assistance (818,726); other services (except public administration) (722,398); construction (657,738); and accommodation and food services (649,011).

Annual Statistics for Puerto Rico and the Island Areas

Total number of establishments for Puerto Rico was 44,056 for 2011, a decrease of 1.4 percent from 2010.  Total annual payroll for Puerto Rico was $16.5 billion for 2011, an increase of 1.5 percent from 2010. Employment decreased to 673,677 in 2011, a loss of 0.7 percent from 2010.

Statistics for the individual Island Areas include:

• American Samoa reported a total of 479 establishments with a total annual payroll of $107.6 million. Employment rose 7.5 percent to 7,369 for 2011.
• Guam reported 3,379 establishments with an annual payroll of $1.3 billion. Employment rose 5.6 percent to 53,539 in 2011.
• The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands reported 1,237 establishments with an annual payroll of $153.3 million. Employment decreased to 10,450 in 2011, a loss of 1.1 percent.
• The U.S. Virgin Islands reported 2,725 establishments with an annual payroll of $1.1 billion. Employment increased 1.6 percent to 32,454 in 2011.

County Business Patterns excludes business owners who were self-employed, employees of private households, railroad employees, agriculture production workers and most government employees. Information on businesses without paid employees is released as part of the upcoming 2011 Nonemployer Statistics report. County Business Patterns data by five-digit ZIP codes will be released in May 2013.

County Business Patterns defines employment as all full- and part-time employees who were on the payroll during the pay period that includes March 12. Data are obtained from Census Bureau reports and administrative records from other federal agencies. Quality assurance procedures are applied to all phases of collection, processing and tabulation to minimize errors. The data are subject to error from miscoding and estimation for missing or misreported data. Values associated with each establishment are slightly modified to protect the confidentiality of the location. Further information about methodology and data limitations is available at <http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/methodology.htm>.

Brian Lavin
Public Information Office
301-763-3030                                                 
[email protected]

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau