Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics (NES-D) - Exploring Longitudinal Consistency and Sub-national Estimates

Sep 19, 2026

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Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics (NES-D) evaluates how to produce reliable, more frequent (annual) demographic estimates for approximately 25 million U.S. nonemployer businesses using administrative and census records. Replacing the nonemployer component of the Survey of Business Owners, NES-D assigns owner demographics such as race, ethnicity, sex, and veteran status without adding respondent burden and at lower imputation rates and costs. Results from multi-year research assess longitudinal consistency, coverage, industrial variation, subnational estimation, and imputation for missing values, showing high and stable assignment rates and minimal missingness.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPaper Templates

FormatPDF

Pages256

Reading Time1 h 30 min

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Abstract

Executive Summary

Research Approach and Expansion

Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics (NES-D): Exploring Longitudinal Consistency and Sub-national Estimates by Adela Luque U. S. Census Bureau Michaela Dillon U. S. Census Bureau Julia Manzella U. S. Census Bureau James Noon U. S. Census Bureau Kevin Rinz U. S. Census Bureau Victoria Udalova U. S. Census Bureau CES 19-34 December, 2019 The research program of the Center for Economic Studies (CES) produces a wide range of economic analyses to improve the statistical programs of the U.S. Census Bureau. Many of these analyses take the form of CES research papers. The papers have not undergone the review accorded Census Bureau publications and no endorsement should be inferred. Any opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Census Bureau. All results have been reviewed to ensure that no confidential information is disclosed. Republication in whole or part must be cleared with the authors. To obtain information about the series, [see www.census.gov/ces](see www.census.gov/ces) or contact Christopher Goetz, Editor, Discussion Papers, U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies 5K038E, 4600 Silver Hill Road, Washington, DC 20233, [CES.Working.Papers@census.gov](CES.Working.Papers@census.gov. To subscribe)[. To subscribe](CES.Working.Papers@census.gov. To subscribe) to the series, please click here. Abstract Until recently, the quinquennial Survey of Business Owners (SBO) was the only source of information for U.S. employer and nonemployer businesses by owner demographic characteristics such as race, ethnicity, sex and veteran status. Now, however, the Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics series (NES-D) will replace the SBO’s nonemployer component with reliable, and more frequent (annual) business demographic estimates with no additional respondent burden, and at lower imputation rates and costs. NES-D is not a survey; rather, it exploits existing administrative and census records to assign demographic characteristics to the universe of approximately 25 million (as of 2016) nonemployer businesses. Although only in the second year of its research phase, NES-D is rapidly moving towards production, with a planned prototype or experimental version release of 2017 nonemployer data in 2020, followed by annual releases of the series. After the first year of research, we released a working paper (Luque et al. , 2019) that assessed the viability of estimating nonemployer demographics exclusively with administrative records (AR) and census data. That paper used one year of data (2015) to produce preliminary tabulations of business counts at the national level. This year we expand that research in multiple ways by: i) examining the longitudinal consistency of administrative and census records coverage, and of our AR-based demographics estimates, ii) evaluating further coverage from additional data sources, iii) exploring estimates at the subnational level, iv) exploring estimates by industrial sector, v) examining demographics estimates of business receipts as well as of counts, and vi) implementing imputation of missing demographic values. Our current results are consistent with the main findings in Luque et al. (2019), and show that high coverage and demographic assignment rates are not the exception, but the norm. Specifically, we find that AR coverage rates are high and stable over time for each of the three years we examine, 2014-2016. We are able to identify owners for approximately 99 percent of nonemployer businesses (excluding C-corporations), 92 to 93 percent of identified nonemployer owners have no missing demographics, and only about 1 percent are missing three or more demographic characteristics in each of the three years. We also find that our demographics estimates are stable over time, with expected small annual changes that are consistent with underlying population trends in the U.S.. Due to data limit

FAQs

What is NES-D and how does it differ from the SBO nonemployer component?

NES-D is a program that replaces the SBO’s nonemployer component by producing more frequent (annual) estimates using administrative and census records. It is not a survey and avoids added respondent burden.

How does the research assess longitudinal consistency in NES-D?

The study examines coverage of administrative and census records and the stability of AR-based demographic assignment estimates across multiple years. It evaluates expected small annual changes aligned with underlying population trends.

What kinds of additional analyses are included beyond the first-year working paper?

The research expands by evaluating additional data-source coverage, exploring subnational estimates, examining industrial-sector results, estimating demographics for both receipts and counts, and implementing imputation of missing demographic values.

Sep 19, 2026

Upload by Kyle