Business Dynamics Statistics for SBA Covid 

Assistance Recipients

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF)

COVID-Economic Injury Disaster Loans (Covid-EIDL)

Shuttered Venues Operator Grants (SVOG)

Richard Beem

Martha Stinson

FCSM Conference - October 2023

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Any opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the author and do not represent the views of the 

U.S. Census Bureau. The Census Bureau has ensured appropriate access and use of confidential data and has 

reviewed these results for disclosure avoidance protection (Project 7513031: CBDRB-FY23-0465).
Project Goal: Use Longitudinal Business Database (LBD) 

to produce new Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS) tables

• Match loan/grant data to Census Bureau micro-data at the firm-level

• Tabulate statistics

• What types of firms got SBA financial assistance?

• Firm size

• Firm age

• Industrial sector

• Geography

• How did recipient firms fare post-award?

• Survival

• Job creation and destruction

• Track loan recipients over time

• Currently 2007-2021

• Will add additional years going forward

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Matching PPP Loans to the LBD

• Over 11 million dispersed PPP loans

• Potential employers

• Find an EIN in the Census data system that could be an employer

• Validate EIN provided on PPP loan by linking to list of known employer EINs

• Use name and address linking to search for EIN 

• Use PIK provided on PPP loan to link to Schedule C filings and look for EIN

• Potential non-employers

• Find a PIK in the Census data system that could be associated with self-employment

• Validate PIK provided on PPP loan by linking to list of known PIKs from Schedule C filings

• Use name and address linking to search for PIK in Schedule C filings

• Non-matching remainder

• PPP data classify this group mostly as self-employed, sole props, independent 

contractors, single member LLCs

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Matching PPP Loans to the LBD

• PPP loans with EINs

• Collapse to EIN-level by draw

• Take the total loan amount

• Take the earliest loan approval date

• Match to LBD by EIN

• Match by EIN

• Match by EIN in t-1

• Match by EIN from reorganizations 

• Non-matches

• Out of scope for BDS (some industries, island areas)

• Potential non-employers who also have EINs

• Some records where EIN was an employer in the past but doesn’t have recent payroll 

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PPP by Firm Size

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3.5 mil recipient firms matched to LBD

Small-firm take-up rate 

65% of firms

66% of estabs

77% of employment
PPP by Firm Age

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Firms older than age 10 but still born after 1976 represent the largest share (45%) of PPP recipients.
PPP by Industry Sector

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Geography of PPP Recipients

Distribution of firms across rural/urban counties

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74%

Predominantly Urban >= 80% urban

Mostly Urban >= 50% and < 80% urban

Mostly Rural >= 20% and < 50% urban

Predominantly Rural < 20% urban

A higher percentage of PPP recipients were in rural 

counties relative to non-recipients.
PPP – Establishment Exit Rate

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Businesses that received PPP exited at a lower rate relative to non-recipients.

Lowest exit rates at businesses that received both a 1st and 2nd draw from PPP.
PPP – Job Destruction by Sector

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PPP recipients destroyed jobs at a lower rate than non-recipients in almost all sectors.

Large differential in job destruction rates 

between recipients and non-recipients:

• 11 Agriculture

• 23 Construction

• 44-45 Retail Trade

• 56 Administrative and Support

• 62 Healthcare

• 72 Accommodation and Food Services
Other programs

• Similar tables prepared for all four programs for this release

• SVOG and RRF were launched after March 12, 2021.

• Need 2022 BDS data to measure a “recipient effect.”

• More in-depth analysis on all four SBA-backed pandemic programs, 

including Covid-EIDL, to be produced before the second vintage of 

BDS-SBA Covid Response statistics. 

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Release Plans

• Working Paper

• Outline matching process and summarizes findings.

• Detail the differences in methodology between our employment-weighted 

small-firm take-up rate for PPP and other well-known estimates that were 

produced early during the pandemic without firm identifiers.

• Tables

• Goal to release BDS SBA Covid tables on BDS Experimental Website by end of 

the year. Will include PPP, Covid-EIDL, RRF, SVOG tables separately and one 

table classifying multiple program recipients.

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