Consequently, only about one-third of the installations and terminations registered by the Tax Liability Branch are business births and deaths according to the definitions of this study. To isolate new economic activity from mere changes in ownership or organization, births are installations without a predecessor, the same business under a prior ownership or organizational structure. Similarly, deaths are terminations without a successor continuing operations under a new ownership or organizational structure. Do not have a successor account listed on either the Tax Master File or the ES-202 file. Birth date is the first month of non-zero employment equal to or subsequent to the initial liability date reported to the Tax Liability Branch.
Initial employment is the employment at the birth date.
Death date is the last month of non-zero employment prior to or equal to the termination date reported to the Tax Liability branch. Final employment is the employment at the death date. See the Methodological Notes for further information about definitions and project methodology. Figure 1 shows that business births increased 12.5 percent from 1993 to 1995. Meanwhile, business deaths dropped 33.4 percent over the same two years.