United States DEPARTMENT of Commerce

P e r f o r m a n c e S e c t i o n * s t r a t e g i c g o a l 1
Performance Outcome: Meet the needs of policymakers, businesses, non-profit organizations,
and the public for current and benchmark measures of the U.S. population, economy, and
governments (ESA/Census)
The Census Bureau collects and disseminates a wide range of current demographic and economic information
and provides benchmark measures of the Nation’s economy and population to help decisionmakers and
the public make informed decisions.
The Census Bureau’s current economic statistics program
provides public and private data users with monthly, quarterly,
Number of Reported Results
and annual national statistical profiles of the U.S. economy.
Agencies, like the Federal Reserve Board and BEA are two of
the major users of these data. These data are used to develop
the GDP, production indexes, and Congressional economic
projections. Also, these data allow users to gauge competition,
calculate operating ratios, analyze changes in the Nation’s
Below
Target
0 Slightly Below
Target
0 On
Target
5 Exceeded
Target
0
economic structure, calculate market share, locate business markets, and design sales territories.
See Appendix A: Performance and Resource Tables for individual reported results.
In FY 2007, the Census Bureau released more than 400 economic reports, including 124 principal economic indicators, providing
information on retail and wholesale trade and selected service industries, construction activity, quantity and value of industrial
output, capital expenditure information, e-commerce sales, foreign trade, and state and local government activities.
The current demographic statistics programs provide accurate, timely, and efficient information on the social and economic
condition of the population. These programs include:
The Current Population Survey (CPS) provides the official source of monthly labor force estimates, quarterly housing vacancy
estimates, and annual estimates of work experience, income, poverty, migration, and school enrollment. In January 2007,
the questionnaire instrument software for the core labor force questions and all the monthly supplements was successfully
upgraded to a Windows-based version.
The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is the major source of information on the economic well being of
Americans over time. The data are used to estimate future costs and coverage for government programs and to provide detailed
statistics on the distribution and source of income in the United States. The Census Bureau also continued efforts to improve
its statistical methods to collect information on economic well being so that the data collection and processing systems on
income and federal and state program dynamics better meet the policy and operational needs of the country. In FY 2007, the
Department began work to evaluate the following:
Use of administrative records data to evaluate and improve data quality;
Improvements in the instrument and processing system;
Use of the American Community Survey (ACS) for the sampling frame;
Use of the event history calendar to improve recall;
The review and revision/update of content.
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