Using Administrative Records Data to Produce Business Statistics: 

The Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics Series (NES-D)

James Noon (presenter)

Michaela Dillon

Adela Luque

Kevin Rinz

(U.S. Census Bureau)

FCSM 

September 21, 2020

Disclaimer: Any opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not reflect the views 

of the U.S. Census Bureau. The Census Bureau’s Disclosure Review Board has approved all statistics and estimates 

presented today for public release under approval number CBDRB-FY20-053.
What is the Nonemployer Statistics by Demographic Series (NES-D)?

• New data series with first release in December 2020

• Leverages existing administrative records and Census data

• Assigns demographic characteristics to the nonemployer universe

• Approximately 25 million nonemployer businesses

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What is the nonemployer universe?

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• 2016 Nonemployer Universe: ~25,000,000

• Businesses with no paid employment, subject to federal 

income taxes, & w/ annual receipts of $1,000 or more 

($1 or more for Construction sector)

• Sole 

Proprietorships 

• (1 owner): 

• 87%

• Partnerships 

• (>1 owner): 

• 7%

• S-corporations 

• (>=1 owner): 

• 4%

• C-corporations & 

other LFOs 

• (>= 1 owner)

• 2%
21st Century Challenges to Business Surveys

• SBO nonemployers

• Nonemployer Statistics by 

Demographics

• (NES-D)

• SBO employers

• ASE (employers)

• BRDIS-M (employers)

• Annual Business Survey 

(ABS)

• Only employers

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In response to declining response rates, increasing operational costs ...

Longer-term goal: Annual Total Business Ownership

Integration of Nonemployers + Employers
Nonemployer Demographics – Past & Present

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Previously: 

Collected as Part of SBO

• Survey (2012) – sample size 

approx. 800,000 nonemployer 

firms & 940,000 employer 

firms

• Every five years 

• 3-year dissemination lag from 

reference year 

• High respondent burden 

• Low response rate => high 

imputation rate & costs

Currently: 

Blended Data Approach (NES-D)

• Not a survey - Nonemployer universe 

(approx. 25 million as of 2016)

• Leverages administrative records (AR) & 

Census data to assign demographics to 

business owners 

• Annual – higher frequency 

• Aims to shorten dissemination lag to 2 

years (from reference year) – more 

timely 

• No additional respondent burden 

• Reduces imputation & costs => higher 

quality 

• First release in 2020 with 2017 

reference year (when 2017 SBO would 

be released)
NES-D Content – First Release December 2020 with 2017 Data

Tabula

tions 

of:

• Number of businesses

• Business receipts

• Number of business owners

Dimen

sions. 

By:

• Demographic characteristics of business 

owner:

• Sex, race, Hispanic origin, veteran status, 

age, place of birth, citizenship 

• Future releases: additional characteristics

• Legal Form of Organization (LFO) – Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, S-Corp

• Receipt-size class

• Geography

• NAICS industry

• Cross-tabulations

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NES-D Content – First Release December 2020 with 2017 Data

Tabula

tions 

of:

• Number of businesses

• Business receipts

• Number of business owners

Dimen

sions. 

By:

• Demographic characteristics of business 

owner: 

- Sex, race, Hispanic origin, veteran status, 

age, place of birth, citizenship

• Legal Form of Organization (LFO) – Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, S-Corp

• Receipt-size class

• Geography

• North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)

• Cross-tabulations

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What data sources are used for NES-D?

Variables Data Sources

Receipts, industry, geographic location Nonemployers database from Business Register

Race (core demographic in SBO/ABS)

Hispanic origin (core demographic in SBO/ABS)

Sex (core demographic in SBO/ABS)

Age of owner

Place of birth

Citizenship status

Decennial Census Data, American Community Survey 

(ACS), & Numident (from SSA)

Veteran-status (core demographic in SBO/ABS) Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) AR data (USVETS).

Also exploring Department of Defense data.
How are demographics linked to business owners?

• Unique person identifiers called Protected Identification Keys (PIKs) 

facilitate linkage of records across data sources 

• Source of PIKs

• Sole proprietors – Tax form 1040

• Partnerships & S-corporations – Schedule K1 (Forms 1065 & 1022S)

• Owners of U.S. nonemployer C-corporations cannot be identified with 

tax or AR data (only 2% of nonemployers & 4% of receipts)

• Evaluating feasibility of imputation

• Missing demographics are imputed

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How well does NES-D cover nonemployers?

• Consistent coverage over time (2014-2016 nonemployers)

• PIK information available for approximately 99 percent of nonemployer 

firms in each year – not including C-corps

• Availability of sex, age, place of birth & citizenship for approximately 

98-99 percent of owners (w/ PIKs) in each year

• Availability of race and ethnicity data for approximately 90-95 percent of 

owners (w/ PIKs) in each year

• Approximately 90-95 percent of owners (w/ PIKs) are not missing any 

demographics

• Only about 1 percent are missing 3 or more demographics

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