6/7/2005 

Progress Toward Completing Historical Production Accounts 

using the North American Industry Classification System 

Michael J. Harper (BLS), Barbara M. Fraumeni (BEA), Susan G. Powers (BLS), 

and Robert E. Yuskavage (BEA) 

This paper has been prepared for presentation to the Federal Economic Statistics 

Advisory Committee (FESAC) on June 10, 2005. It represents work in progress and does 

not represent any agency’s final positions on issues addressed. The FESAC is a Federal 

Advisory Committee sponsored jointly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. 

Department of Labor and by the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of the 

Census of the U.S. Department of Commerce. 

The authors wish to thank staff members at all three agencies for contributing text 

describing their work in their areas.
1

Progress Toward Completing Historical Production Accounts 

using the North American Industry Classification System 

Abstract 

This paper reviews efforts to create historical industry time series information classified 

on a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) basis. Some of these 

projects have been completed by the various U.S. statistical agencies and others are being 

pursued, some on an exploratory basis. There is a good prospect that these projects could 

lead us back to a situation where many industry time series measures are available that 

span the past three to four decades. However, this type of work is difficult and 

problematic. The quality of the series that can be generated often depends on difficult 

work with very detailed data. Statistical agency staff members have been meeting to 

discuss and coordinate efforts. 

 

1. Background 

The Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the Bureau of 

Labor Statistics (BLS) are nearing the completion of a major effort to present their 

industry statistics in line with the North American Industry Classification System 

(NAICS). Now that survey data are available on a NAICS basis, the final step has been 

to convert “downstream” programs that use tabulated raw data from a variety of data 

sources to create more intricate measures. Examples are the BEA programs on national 

accounts, industries, and states and the BLS programs on productivity and employment 

projections. 

The timing of the NAICS conversion of these downstream programs coincides 

with a new collaborative effort to better integrate the BEA national accounts, inputoutput accounts, industry output measures, and the BLS productivity statistics. The goal 

of this effort is to create “production accounts” for both the business sector and the entire 

economy that include industry data on a NAICS basis. Broadly, a production account 
2

would bring together information on industry outputs, inputs and productivity. The 

information in a production account would support research that explores the sources of 

growth of GDP and of productivity. 

 A production account would provide this information on a basis in which 

industrial coverage is consistently defined across various outputs and inputs and over 

time and which is complete in its coverage. Data would need to be adjusted to address 

issues of inconsistency as they are placed into the account. A production account would 

include both nominal and real components. In each year the nominal account would 

reconcile the value of output with input costs at the aggregate level, it would do the same 

for a complete subset of industries, and would trace the interindustry flows of goods and 

services. The real account would track rates of change over time in real flows of output 

and of labor, capital and intermediate inputs by industry. 

 A detailed paper on production accounting was provided at a 2004 conference on 

National Accounts Architecture sponsored by the Conference on Research in Income and 

Wealth (CRIW). A revised version of that paper (Fraumeni, Harper, Powers and 

Yuskavage [2005], FHPY) has been provided to FESAC members as further background. 

One theme of that paper was to find the sources of differences between BEA and BLS 

output measures Our other paper for this FESAC session, “Comparison of BEA and BLS 

NAICS-based Output Measures,” describes our efforts to begin this activity for NAICS 

data. 

The NAICS was the result of an intensive collaborative research effort by 

statistical agencies in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Data tabulated under 

NAICS are more useful for studying the modern economy and for ensuring comparability 
3

of data in the three countries. Having said that, the conversion of data systems to NAICS 

has been a daunting challenge for many programs in each of the three U.S. statistical 

agencies, and the issue of retabulating historical data on a NAICS basis has been a 

secondary priority to producing current estimates. Complicating matters is the fact that 

there are two versions of NAICS (1997 and 2002). Some data that are currently available 

are on one version, and some on the other. 

Since the conversion of “downstream” programs to NAICS necessitates a fair 

amount of redesign of data systems, it represents an opportunity to incorporate 

information that reconciles and better integrates the data, providing an improved basis for 

constructing a production account. The present paper has been prepared to describe 

agency projects, some complete and some still being planned, that could lead to historical 

production accounts. Historical production accounts are used by economists, both those 

primarily interested in past history and those interested in the future. Economic 

forecasters make critical assumptions about future productivity growth based on a 

detailed understanding of the sources of past growth. For example, the recent dramatic 

gains in aggregate productivity have been linked to high tech investments through 

rigorous accounting of historical shifts in industry output and in investment inputs. 

Conclusions rest on comparing developments in the past decade with previous decades. 

Other important structural shifts have occurred, such as the shift from manufacturing to 

services. This shift has continued over a very long time period and has had implications 

for productivity and labor markets. To examine these trends, many forecasters, analysts 

and researchers find it valuable to work with industry data that have been consistently 

tabulated over very long time spans. 
4

During the past year the authors have held several informal meetings with staff in 

various programs of the three statistical agencies to discuss and coordinate work related 

to production accounts. The meetings have been useful in exchanging information about 

the plans, needs and resource constraints of the various programs. They have also been 

useful in keeping some attention on the issue of historical NAICS data and in compiling 

the information in this paper. Prof. Dale Jorgenson of Harvard University, who has 

participated in these meetings, has suggested that a reasonable goal would be to 

reconstruct the ingredients needed to measure total factor productivity for about 65 

industry divisions classified according to NAICS back to 1973. The 65 industry level of 

detail would correspond to the NIPA industry structure under NAICS. These ingredients 

include nominal and real gross output, labor hours, labor compensation, labor 

composition effects, nominal and real intermediate inputs, investment by disaggregate 

types of asset, capital stock, capital services and property income. We note that some 

customers and “downstream” programs do not need this much information while others 

would like additional industry detail and earlier history. 

In order to have historical production accounts spanning several decades, it will 

be necessary to estimate NAICS time series for each of many categories of industry 

outputs and inputs. The problem of changes in the industrial classification is not new 

with NAICS. Periodic changes occurred in the older Standard Industrial Classification 

System (SIC). Statistical agency programs did publish time series estimates that 

depended on linking approaches. The quality of the links varied depending on the care 

and detail with which they were performed and also on the extent of redefinitions in the 

various SIC changes. In contrast to SIC changes, the 1997 NAICS differs quite 
5

significantly from the 1987 SIC. The NAICS introduced new principles by which it 

groups producing units into industries and this led to some major structural differences, 

such as changes in the boundaries of manufacturing. 

As part of the NAICS conversion processes, some statistical agency programs 

provided historical data on a NAICS basis. Subsequent to that, additional projects have 

been started to transform more data. There are two major types of approaches to doing 

NAICS conversions on “raw” data. The traditional one involves taking a table, for an 

overlap year, that comprehensively maps two classification systems and which includes 

data classified both ways for a “measure of interest”. Many higher-level industries can 

simply be shifted and retabulated if detailed industry information is available under the 

old classification system. This approach has a shortcoming when the new system 

contains new industries that did not exist in the old system because it may not be possible 

to determine, from archives tabulated on the old system, how to split industries into 

categories specified in the new system. The approach also has shortcomings if historical 

data are not available in enough detail or if historical data are not available for the 

“measure of interest”. This approach therefore requires assumptions that carry 

relationships back to years prior to the overlap. A second approach is to go back to the 

original microdata, reclassify establishments, and retabulate all measures. Conversion of 

“downstream” data systems to NAICS requires good quality “raw” data from many 

sources and often involves other issues as well. 

 The balance of this paper summarizes some completed projects and some 

exploratory projects related to NAICS conversion of data that would be useful in 

production accounts. Section 2 describes some projects that are already complete. 
6

Section 3 describes research efforts that are currently underway at each agency to 

develop more data on a NAICS basis, to extend the series further back in time, or to 

improve the quality of the historical information. 

2. Current Information and Historical NAICS-Classified Industry 

Time Series Already Published by BEA, BLS and Census 

 In this section we summarize those data being produced on a NAICS basis that 

will be particularly useful in developing production accounts. This is not meant to be a 

comprehensive list of NAICS products, as the statistical agencies have many additional 

programs that publish industry data on a NAICS basis.1 

Census Bureau 

The first statistical program to convert to NAICS was the Census Bureau’s 

Economic Census program, collecting, tabulating, and publishing the 1997 data on the 

basis of NAICS 1997. The Census Bureau published a “bridge table” for 1997 that 

contained a mapping between four-digit SIC industries and six-digit NAICS industries, 

which included information on payroll, employment, and shipments (or receipts). This 

has been valuable to customers and downstream programs interested in linking historical 

data to the NAICS. 

The Census Bureau reclassified historic data for three Census Bureau programs. 

The Manufacturing and Construction Division (MCD) recast the M3 – Manufacturer’s 

Shipments, Orders, and Inventories on a NAICS 1997 basis – back to 1992. They used 

 

1 For example, BEA publishes measures of gross state product (GSP) by industry on a NAICS basis for 

1998-2002 and state personal income, earnings, compensation, and wages by industry, for 2001-2004. The 

GSP measures are described in the January 2005 issue of the Survey of Current Business. The BLS 

publishes numerous statistics including employment, compensation and producer prices on an industry 

basis. Most of these have been converted to NAICS or will be converted in the near future. The complete 

BLS NAICS conversion schedule is available at https://www.bls.gov/bls/naics_implementation.htm. 
7

bridge table information and aggregate time series methods, but checked their findings 

with 1992 Census of Manufacturing micro data reclassified on a NAICS 1997 basis at the 

Center for Economic Studies (CES). 

The Services Sector Statistics Division's Monthly and Annual Surveys of Retail 

and Wholesale Trade also have been classified on a NAICS 1997 basis back to 1992. In 

this case, the surveys were benchmarked directly to the 1992 Census of Retail Trade and 

1992 Census of Wholesale Trade microdata recast on a NAICS 1997 basis. 

BEA 

Benchmark Input-Output Accounts 

The 1997 benchmark input-output (I-O) accounts present industries on the basis 

of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). These accounts, which 

were published in the December 2002 Survey of Current Business (Survey), show the 

flows of 483 commodities to 491 industries and to 13 final uses. NAICS-based 

classifications are more in line with the principle underlying the I-O classifications: 

Industries are classified in the I-O accounts so that each industry has a unique production 

function. As a result of the incorporation of NAICS, the 1997 benchmark I-O accounts 

provide a more detailed presentation of the increasingly important service industries. 

Capital Flow Table 

 The 1997 NAICS-based capital flow table, which was published in the November 

2003 Survey, supplements the 1997 benchmark I-O accounts. The use table from the 

benchmark I-O accounts shows the materials and services input requirements for each 

industry. The capital flow table shows the structure of flows of new capital goods and 
8

services for each industry. It provides the most detailed view of investment by 

commodity and by using industry, showing flows of 180 commodities to 123 private 

sector industries. 

Integrated Industry Accounts 

The integrated industry accounts are a set of integrated estimates that include the 

Annual Input-Output (I-O) Accounts and the Gross-Domestic-Product (GDP)-byIndustry Accounts. Integrated accounts present fully consistent measures of gross output, 

intermediate inputs, and value added by industry. Currently, the Annual I-O Accounts 

and GDP-by-Industry Accounts are integrated, beginning with estimates for 1998. Prior 

to integration, the two sets of accounts were often inconsistent because of the use of 

different methodologies, classification frameworks, and source data. Producing 

integrated industry accounts required BEA to reconcile these differences. The integration 

of these accounts eliminated inconsistencies and improved the accuracy of both sets of 

accounts. BEA’s longer-term goal is to integrate all industry accounts, including the 

benchmark I-O accounts, annual I-O accounts, GDP-by-industry accounts, and gross state 

product accounts. 

Annual I-O Accounts 

The Annual I-O Accounts are presented at the 65 industry level of detail, 

including 61 private and 4 government industries--federal general government and 

government enterprises and state and local general government and government 

enterprises. They are consistent with the 2003 comprehensive revision of the national 
9

income and product accounts (NIPAs) as well as the GDP-by-industry accounts. These 

accounts provide detailed information on the changing structure of the U.S. economy, 

including the annual contributions of private industries and government to the Nation’s 

GDP and the annual flows of goods and services used in the production processes of 

industries. 

 

GDP-by-Industry Accounts 

BEA prepares estimates of value added for 61 private and 4 government 

industries. Value added is a measure of the contribution of each private industry and of 

government to the Nation's GDP. It is defined as an industry's gross output (which 

consists of sales or receipts and other operating income, commodity taxes, and inventory 

change) minus its intermediate inputs (which consists of energy, raw materials, semifinished goods, and services that are purchased from domestic industries or from foreign 

sources). The value-added estimates by industry are available in current dollars. Real, or 

inflation-adjusted, estimates are also prepared by BEA. 

BEA published the NAICS-based 1998-2003 integrated GDP-by-Industry 

Accounts and the I-O Accounts in the June 2004 Survey. The revised estimates of the 

integrated accounts for 2001-2003, including more detailed estimates for 2003, were 

published in the January 2005 Survey. 

Backcast NAICS-Based GDP-by-Industry Estimates, 1987-1997 

 BEA published estimates of GDP-by-industry for 1987-97 based on the 1997 

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) in the November 2004 issue of 
10

the Survey. The industry definitions are the same as those used for the integrated annual 

industry accounts for 1998-2003 that were released in June 2004 as part of the 

comprehensive revision. For 65 detailed NAICS industries and related industry groups, 

BEA provided estimates of current-dollar and real gross output, current-dollar and real 

intermediate inputs, current-dollar and real value added, and the three major components 

of current-dollar value added: Compensation of employees, “taxes on production and 

imports less subsidies,” and gross operating surplus. 

 For current-dollar estimates, the revised industry estimates from the 

comprehensive revision based on the 1987 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 

system were converted to NAICS industry estimates using “conversion matrices” that 

indicate the share of an SIC industry estimate allocated to a particular NAICS industry. 

These conversion matrices were computed for gross output and for each of the major 

components of current-dollar value added. An important feature of these matrices is that 

the allocation shares change over time to reflect changes in the relative importance of 

NAICS industries, rather than remaining fixed based on the 1997 SIC-NAICS 

concordance. Detailed SIC-based industry shipments, sales, and receipts series that were 

matched to detailed NAICS industry data for 1997 were used to extrapolate the 1997 

concordance annually back to 1987. 

 Real estimates (chain-type quantity indexes) of gross output, intermediate inputs, 

and value added were prepared for each of the 65 detailed industries and for related 

industry groups. Real value-added estimates were computed using the double-deflation 

method after first computing Fisher price indexes for industry gross output and for 

intermediate input commodities from the detailed SIC-based price index series in the 
11

benchmark concordance. These price indexes were generally available at the same level 

of detail as the shipments, sales, and receipts data. The double-deflation procedure used 

for these estimates is a close approximation of the procedure used for the revised SICbased estimates, and it is similar to the procedure used for the integrated estimates. 

Approximate versions of NAICS-based industry use tables were prepared at summary 

levels for selected years a part of the double-deflation procedure. 

Investment and Capital Stock Data: 

BEA recently released NAICS-based estimates of net stocks and depreciation of 

fixed assets and of the investment flows used to derive them, beginning with 1987. For 

most asset types, estimates for net stocks were derived by industry (1997 NAICS basis), 

by asset type, and by legal form using the perpetual inventory method beginning with 

1901. For assets that existed prior to 1901, the existing stock levels for 1901 (by asset 

type) were distributed to NAICS industries by legal form using detailed investment 

shares from 1901 (investment by industry, by type and by legal form). 

Very broadly, investment estimates were converted at the most detailed level (by 

asset and by legal form) from an SIC basis to a NAICS basis using a multi-step bridging 

process. The process was designed to retain as many of the desirable characteristics of 

the previously published investment flows as possible (especially legal form information) 

while incorporating NAICS-based estimates from the 1997 Capital Flow Table and 1997 

Economic Census. A primary goal for the historical based NAICS estimates was to 

preserve previously published asset mix and legal form shares for “special” industry 

aggregates (approximately 25). These special aggregates were defined such that the asset 
12

type and legal form shares should be comparable whether they are derived from SIC 

industries or NAICS industries. The process incorporated many different sources, 

including published BEA fixed assets, 1997 Economic Census, 1997 Capital Flow Table, 

Census Enterprise Statistics and Census Annual Capital Expenditures Survey data. 

BLS 

Employment and Hours: 

The BLS Division of Current Employment Statistics (DCES) first published 

monthly data on employment, average weekly hours, and average hourly earnings on a 

NAICS basis in early 2003. All National level CES industry series were reconstructed on 

a NAICS basis back to at least 1990. At the NAICS super sector and higher levels, the 

reconstruction was carried back to 1939, the existing start date for SIC major industry 

division series. For finer levels of industry detail, start dates for the reconstructed 

NAICS-based series varied depending on the scope of the definitional change between 

SIC and NAICS. Series that were nearly identical between SIC and NAICS were 

reconstructed back to the SIC start date. The reconstruction methodology was 

straightforward. BLS had just one dual coded quarter of UI-universe based micro level 

data which contained both SIC and NAICS codes for every business in the universe file. 

From this file, ratios were calculated that mapped employment from SIC series to 

corresponding NAICS counterparts. Ratios were then applied to existing CES series to 

form NAICS-based series. 

As an example, March 2001 ratios indicated that NAICS 325 (chemical 

manufacturing) was formed from 95% of SIC 28 (chemical manufacturing), 3% of SIC 
13

30 (rubber and plastics), and 2% of SIC 38 (instruments). To produce the NAICS 325 

historical series, these percentages were applied to the historical SIC series and the results 

summed. An analogous procedure was used to reconstruct hours and earnings series. 

The NAICS-based series were produced from a weighted average of SIC component 

industries. The weights were the NAICS/SIC ratios. 

One advantage of this methodology was that it allowed for comprehensive 

reconstruction at minimal cost and it preserved overall CES time series properties; there 

were no outliers or level shifts in the resultant reconstructed series, because such issues 

did not exist in the published SIC series. The method also preserved overall CES 

seasonal patterns, important to providing a historical time series that could be used to 

produce viable seasonal factors going forward. 

Obvious limitations of the methodology are that the 2001 NAICS/SIC ratios may 

not be appropriate historically, and the method therefore had the potential for distorting 

trends in rapidly growing or declining industries. For these type industries, additional 

review was undertaken including comparisons to UI longitudinal microfiles which were 

NAICS-coded back to 1990. As an example, the hotel industry was split into casino 

hotels and all other hotels with the NAICS conversion. The review of UI microdata 

indicated differing seasonal patterns and growth trends for the two segments from 1990-

2000. The casino hotels were growing rapidly and had a much milder seasonal pattern 

than other hotels. Therefore this data, rather than the simple ratio method, was used to 

reconstruct these two series. For most industries the ratio method either produced similar 

results to a microdata-based method or produced superior results, in that the microdata 
14

method resulted in frequent level shifts or outlier observations that appeared to be noneconomic in nature. 

Industry Labor Productivity: 

The BLS Division of Industry Productivity Studies (DIPS) publishes labor 

productivity and cost measures from 1987 forward for all 3- and 4-digit NAICS 

industries in manufacturing, retail trade, and wholesale trade. This includes measures for 

21 3-digit and 86 4-digit NAICS industries in manufacturing and for over 90 selected 3- 

and 4-digit industries in mining, utilities, trade, transportation, and services. Measures 

for additional selected industries at the 5- and 6-digit NAICS level are maintained by 

DIPS and are available upon request. Except for a few industries where the physical 

quantity of output is measured, most output measures used by DIPS are sectoral measures 

that are constructed using detailed revenue data from the Census Bureau. For 

manufacturing industries, the output measures reflect Census shipments adjusted for 

inventory change and intraindustry transfers, and deflated with appropriate price indexes 

(generally producer price indexes) at the most detailed level possible. The DIPS staff 

used the Census bridge tables in developing the historical NAICS output series. In 

measuring labor input the concept is hours paid; information on the relationship between 

hours worked and hours paid are not available at the detailed industry level. DIPS uses 

data on employment and average weekly hours from the BLS DCES for the period 1990 

forward, and extrapolates these estimates back to 1987 using information supplied by 

DCES. For trade, transportation, and service industries where partners, proprietors and 

unpaid family workers play an important role, DIPS estimates the hours of these workers 

based on data from the CPS. 
15

3. Other Areas Where Exploratory Research is Planned or Conceivable 

Many of the research ideas mentioned below are still exploratory in nature and, as 

such, the programs have not made specific commitments as to what results may be 

issued. Some possible projects are mentioned that are conceivable, but probably 

unfeasible. It does appear that the goal of having production accounts for about 65 

industries back to 1973 (see Section I) may be obtainable if this research agenda were to 

be successfully completed. There are, however, significant concerns among program staff 

about the potential limitations of some of the data that may emerge. 

Our informal interagency group discussed the possibility of converting historical 

benchmark input-output tables to NAICS. Such tables would be very useful because they 

would potentially increase the quality of industry output and intermediate input measures. 

However, creating such tables would take an enormous effort because the archival 

benchmark tables have different cell structures and do not reflect current national 

accounting conventions. There would undoubtedly be other difficulties and such 

extensive work may not possible with available resources. Other efforts described in this 

section should meet many user needs in the area of outputs and intermediate inputs. 

BLS 

Input-Output: 

The BLS Division of Industry Employment Projections (DIEP) has for many 

years maintained annual time series of historical input-output tables classified under SIC. 

The data they maintain are about 200 order. Their approach has been to use the most 

recent benchmark input-output table published by BEA as a starting point, to “collapse” 
16

that to about 200 order, and then to estimate annual input-output tables for four to five 

years before and four to five years after the benchmark. The methodology for estimating 

annual tables adjusts the “collapsed” benchmark table to information from the most 

recently published National Income and Product Accounts. The DIEP uses these results 

in their employment projections model to forecast employment by occupation. The DIEP 

also has some “collapsed” tables for archival years. The tables have been made available 

to others, and have been an important source of information for multifactor productivity 

estimates by the BLS Division of Major Sector Productivity (DMSP) and for productivity 

estimates of researchers. It would be conceivable that the DIEP or some other agency 

program could use this type of approach to estimate NAICS tables for past benchmark 

years. The potential quality of such a product would be dependent on some of the other 

efforts described in this section. 

Major Sector Multifactor Productivity: 

The BLS DMSP has calculated multifactor productivity (MFP) for 2-digit SIC 

manufacturing industries back to the late 1940s. This includes published measures of 

output per combined unit of capital, labor, energy, nonenergy materials, and purchased 

business services (KLEMS) for manufacturing and corresponding research measures for 

nonmanufacturing industries within the business sector. Also, Gullickson and Harper 

[2002] conducted research that began to develop nonmanufacturing MFP measures. As 

part of this work, the BLS DMSP also has maintained measures of capital services for a 

complete set of 2-digit industries spanning the private business sector. The business 

sector capital service measures are also developed by aggregating this 2-digit detail, 
17

which allows them to reflect interindustry shifts in capital. DMSP is in the process of 

converting this work to a NAICS basis. Based on released or soon-to-be released data 

from statistical agencies, private business measures will be constructed back to 1987. 

The quality of this data development effort and the availability of data prior to 1987 are 

quite dependent on the other research described in this section. 

Hours Worked: 

For many years the BLS Division of Major Sector Productivity (DMSP) has 

maintained estimates of hours worked for all persons at the two-digit SIC level. These 

hours estimates reflect employee hours paid from the BLS Current Establishment Survey, 

conversion ratios to hours at work from the Hours at Work Survey and Employment Cost 

Index and hours at work of farm workers, unpaid family workers and the self employed 

from the Current Population Survey. This datafile has been used by DMSP in its 

estimates of multifactor productivity (MFP) work for 2-digit SIC industries and were also 

used in. The file is also used in developing hours in both the quarterly output per hour 

data and the annual MFP data of DMSP. DMSP is engaged in exploratory research 

aimed at creating a similar file of hours worked for NAICS industries at the 

(corresponding) 3-digit NAICS level. This project is currently using mapping and 

linking techniques. The BLS is also doing exploratory research extend and improve 

industry hours series back in time before 1990. 

Detailed Industry Multifactor Productivity: 

The BLS DIPS is in the process of converting measures of MFP for detailed 

manufacturing industries to a NAICS basis. In addition to the 86 4-digit NAICS 
18

manufacturing industries where conversion efforts are underway, DIPS also maintains 

multifactor productivity measures for railroad transportation and air transportation. Rail 

transportation was unaffected by the NAICS conversion and air transportation was 

developed on a NAICS basis. Note that the DIPS work is published in more detail than 

the NIPA industry structure. 

Census Bureau: Reclassification Using Microdata from Historical Economic 

Censuses 

Trade: 

Beginning in March 1999 the Census Bureau’s Center for Economic Studies 

(CES) conducted research that reclassified each establishment in wholesale and retail 

trade in the 1992 Economic Census using micro data and the methodology described in 

Merrell and Klimek (2000). Working in the spring of 2005, CES has recast the 1992, 

1997, and 2002 Economic Census microdata for these sectors on both NAICS 2002 and 

NAICS 1997 bases. This project will be completed when the 2002 Economic Census is 

completed in summer 2005. 

Manufacturing: 

The CES and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB) are 

conducting a joint research project to construct NAICS-classified data for manufacturing 

using microdata from the Census of Manufactures. A preliminary description is available 

in Bayard and Klimek (2003), but another paper will be forthcoming in 2005 that will be 

more up-to-date and descriptive than the previous documentation. Some work remains, 

namely reclassification of the Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM). While the micro 
19

data approach still applies, sample weighting in the survey poses some potential problems 

for creating aggregate statistics on a NAICS basis. 

Future Longitudinal Business Database Focus: 

Future work on reclassification at CES will focus less on individual census years, 

and more on the Longitudinal Business Database (LBD). The LBD consists of 

longitudinally linked annual business register files with coverage of the universe of 

establishments that are in scope for the Economic Census. Prior projects should be 

incorporated into the LBD, and future projects should incorporate the LBD data and be 

recognized as the central repository for NAICS industry codes on historic data. 

Using an establishment level approach, it will be possible to tabulate any of the 

variables that were collected in the Census, such as shipments, employment and 

investment. The Census Advisory Committee has recommended that the Census Bureau 

publish the aggregate statistics derived from these micro data research projects at CES. 

Resources have not been available to work on the dissemination of the data and progress 

is slow since there are no resources dedicated solely to this work at the Census Bureau or 

the Federal Reserve Board. 

BEA 

Microdata Reclassification Work for Industries Other than Manufacturing and Trade: 

Recently, staff members of the BEA Regional and Industry programs have 

initiated a research study at the CES designed to classify establishments that are outside 

of manufacturing or trade on a NAICS basis. This work will initially focus on the 1997, 

1992, and 1987 economic censuses. The BEA staff are beginning the process of 
20

reclassifying certain data elements in these censuses from an SIC to a NAICS basis, using 

the same methodology as reported in Klimek-Bayard. Of course, once reclassified, the 

data can be aggregated to any level of geography and arrayed for any variable in the 

economic censuses, and should enable BEA to provide NAICS-based Gross State Product 

(GSP) by Industry estimates for 1987-97. By extending the reclassification effort to all 

industries, this work has strong potential to improve the quality of national level industry 

measures prior to 1998. Moreover, this work could prove useful if there were a future 

effort to convert BEA’s historical benchmark input-output accounts to from an SIC to a 

NAICS basis. 

 

GDP by Industry before 1987: 

BEA is currently investigating options for providing NAICS-based GDP-byindustry estimates for years before 1987. Because the data that are available before 1987 

do not support the full methodology that was used for 1987-97, BEA is considering 

simpler approaches that would provide a more limited set of data items for a long time 

period at fairly detailed industry levels. Trade-offs between the reliability of the 

estimates and the level of industry detail will need to be carefully evaluated. One option 

under consideration would provide estimates of nominal and real value added by industry 

back to 1959, but would not provide estimates of gross output and intermediate inputs by 

industry. These NAICS value added estimates would be useful for studying industry 

contributions to economic growth over long periods. 

Capital Data: 
21

 BEA is presently evaluating its options for publishing historical NAICS-based 

estimates for investment, net stocks, and depreciation for years prior to 1987. These data 

are extremely important to the development of an historical production account. One 

option under consideration is to publish NAICS-based estimates back to 1959. These 

estimates were prepared using the same multi-step bridging process that was used to 

prepare the NAICS-based estimates that begin with 1987. Under this option, trade-offs 

between the reliability of the estimates and the level of industry detail will need to be 

carefully evaluated. BEA will continue to work closely with users of the capital data to 

identify additional issues and to better understand the impacts of the various publication 

options. 

4. Concluding Remarks 

Judging by customer inquiries, work by statistical agencies to create production 

accounts and work that transforms archival data to a NAICS basis may be valuable. The 

historical dimension of this work is akin to maintenance of old capital. The statistical 

agency programs that collect “raw” data are in the best position to convert their own 

tabulations to NAICS. It is their staffs who have knowledge of the data and who have 

access to historical microdata. Similarly, staff members of “downstream” programs, such 

as the BLS productivity program and the BEA programs, are in the best position to 

determine the sources of differences in their measures. Customer efforts to do similar 

work are likely to be less accurate. In addition, the program staff can provide a single or 

small number of estimates that many people can use, reducing spurious differences in 

analyses due to the way the conversion was handled. 
22

We are seeking comments from FESAC members on the potential value and 

advisable scope of these types of efforts. 

References 

Bayard, Kimberly and Shawn Klimek, 2003, “Creating a Historical Bridge for Manufacturing 

between the Standard Industrial Classification System and the North American Industrial 

Classification System”, The Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American 

Statistical Association, August. 

Fraumeni, Barbara, Michael Harper, Susan Powers and Robert Yuskavage, 2005, “An 

Integrated BEA/BLS Production Account: A First Step and Theoretical 

Considerations”, presented at the Conference on Research in Income and Wealth 

conference on “Architecture for the National Accounts,” April, 2004 and revised in 

February, 2005. 

Gullickson, William and Michael Harper, 2002, “Bias in Aggregate Productivity Trends 

Revisited,” Monthly Labor Review, March, pp. 32-40. 

Klimek, Shawn and David Merrell, 2000, “On Reclassifying Industries from Standard 

Industrial Classification System to the North American Industrial Classification 

System”, The Second International Conference on Establishment Surveys 

Proceedings, June. 

Lawson, Ann M., Kurt S. Bersani, Mahnaz Fahim-Nader, and Jiemen Guo, 2002, 

“Benchmark Input-Output Accounts of the United States, 1997,” Survey of Current 

Business, December, pp. 19-108. 

Meade, Douglas S., Stanislaw J. Rzeznik, and Darlene C. Robinson-Smith, 2003, 

“Business Investment by Industry in the U.S. Economy for 1997,” Survey of Current 

Business, November, pp. 18-70. 

Moyer, Brian C., Mark A. Planting, Paul V. Kern, and Abigail M. Kish, 2004, 

“Improved Annual Industry Accounts for 1998-2003: Integrated Annual Input-Output 

Accounts and Gross-Domestic-Product-by-Industry Accounts,” Survey of Current 

Business, January, pp. 21-57. 

Smith, George M., Matthew J. Gruenberg, Tameka R. L. Harris, and Erich H. Strassner, 

“Annual Industry Accounts: Revised Estimates. 2001-2003,” Survey of Current 

Business, January, pp 9-43. 

Yuskavage, Robert E. and Yvon H. Pho, 2004, “Gross Domestic Product by Industry for 

1987-2000,” Survey of Current Business, November, pp. 33-53. 
23

Addendum: Questions for FESAC 

How critical is it to have data back prior to 1987? 

Does the target of having 65 industries back to 1973 seem appropriate? 

In most cases, the older data that we might be able to develop would not meet our quality 

standards for current information. If we were to publish older information, how should 

we think about the quality tradeoffs? 

What could we do to improve upon the projects described here? 

What additional projects might we consider to improve the set of data that will be 

available?