This is a PowerPoint presentation done for a class, The Cost of Information. These are the enhanced slides providing guidance on how to search for information by industry.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The Federal government classifies manufacturing and service industries and assigns each a Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code number in order to promote the comparability of statistics. These SIC codes are hierarchical and may range from 2 to 8 digits long. For example:
| Major Group | 37 | Transportation equipment |
| 371 | Motor vehicles and equipment | |
| 3711 | Motor vehicles and passenger car bodies | |
| 37111 | Automobiles | |
| 371124 | Minivans |
The SIC code has been revised over the years and some code numbers have changed. Be careful when comparing data from different publishers and over a long period of time. Currently, most sources are using the 1992 revision.
Beginning with the 1997 Economic Census, the Census Bureau used an entirely new North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) more closely aligned with international codes. NAICS was developed jointly by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico based on similar processes instead of by materials and breaks out many of the more recent industries.
Several new sectors were added: Information; Health Care and Social Assistance; and the Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services Sector. Commercial publications have started to convert to NAICS, but many still use SIC codes.
Thomas Register ("The Green Books")
Want to know who makes latex gloves? Check Thomas. AKA "the Green Book," a great source for information on industrial distributors and manufacturers and related services.
Funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education Title VI B grant, globalEDGE delivers a comprehensive research tool for academics, students and businesspeople.
Provides access to useful financial ratios, business statistics & benchmarks industry.
Vault publishes numerous employer, career, internship, resume, and interviewing guidebooks. Our guides cover industries such as law, consulting, investment banking, accounting, investment management, private equity, hedge funds, Internet and social media, IT and engineering, energy, health care, advertising, and more. (From website.)
NOTE: Some content requires a paid subscription however a large portion of their career information is available for free.
Registration required; free access to abstracts and tables of contents of over 300,000 reports.
Provides key data, including ratios like P/E, ROE%, dividend yield, long term debt to equity and more on dozens of industries ranging from advertising agencies to wireless communications. The information has been aggregated and displayed by Yahoo, but original data providers include well-known information firms like Hemscott Americas, S&P’s Capital IQ, Hoovers and others.
Government Sources
Department of Labor Direct Links
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. Produces the Consumer Price Index (CPI). SFSU has Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletins
Industries at a Glance | US Bureau of Labor Statistics
These pages display a ‘snapshot’ of national data obtained from different BLS surveys and programs. Many programs also produce additional industry detail, including state, county, and metropolitan area data.
Use geography, NAICS, and other limiters to locate industry information specific to Wisconsin counties.
Department of Commerce - The Census Bureau
Find demographic information related to census data.
The Census Business Builder (CBB) is a suite of services that provide selected demographic and economic data from the Census Bureau tailored to specific types of users in a simple to access and use format.
U.S. Census - Business and Economy
The Census Bureau produces economic data across the entire economy on a monthly, quarterly, yearly, and five-year basis.
Current Industrial Reports by the US Census Bureau
National production and shipment information are provided for selected manufactured products arranged by NAICS subsector.
Business and Industry Time Series and Trends Chart
This Census site allows users to zero in on one of dozens of official Census business surveys, select a key segment of the chosen survey, and then view just the data from that segment in one or more neat survey format charts.
Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB)
This US Government site provides detailed annual data for U.S. business by geography, industry, and enterprise size. It covers all NAICS industries except crop and animal production; rail transportation; National Postal Service; pension, health, welfare, and vacation funds; trusts, estates, and agency accounts; private households; and public administration. The SUSB also excludes most government employees.
Economic Census is done every five years, but a number of other reports are published during the off years. Try searching for annual survey and industry, for example, annual retail trade survey.
A few industries, including agriculture, are not covered by the Economic Census. You may need to look for data in other Government Sources. The Census of Agriculture, taken every 5 years, is a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. Even small plots of land - whether rural or urban - growing fruit, vegetables or some food animals count if $1,000 or more of such products were raised and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the Census year.
Provides subnational economic data by industry. Businesses use the data for analyzing market potential, measuring the effectiveness of sales & advertising programs, setting sales quotas, and developing budgets. Use American Fact Finder to locate the data table for the geographic area you are researching.
Export Information by Industry
U.S. International Trade Administration
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Search and apply for trademarks online.
To visit the entire Business Collection in Gale Cengage eBooks click here. Many other subject areas are also offered by Gale Cengage as well.
From Green Industries to Green Jobs by
Presents occupational profiles, alongside overviews of the green job that cover such details as, what job it is most similar to, what skills are required to perform the job, and what a typical day in the life of that job is like.
Artist Development Essentials: Strategizing, Developing, and Sustaining a Successful Profile in the Music Industry by
As a constantly evolving and developing industry, the music business environment continues to establish new standards in terms of operational efficiency, dynamics between the different parties involved in the professional cycles, and constructing and performing methodologies in the process of achieving the desired results that all the participants in the music world have to adapt to in order to establish a sustainable career. Hence, the main purpose of this book is to provide practical advice suitable to both aspiring music professionals and artists that need detailed guidance in the process of developing the basis of a fruitful, promising, and sustainable profile, not only in terms of business performance, but psychologically as well.
All public companies, foreign and domestic, are required to file registration statements, annual and quarterly reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through EDGAR.
A public company's website will provide SEC filings and other investor information. Private companies may share some information too. This will only what they've decided to make available and/or highlight.
Thousands of companies, alphabetical search, statistics, key dates, articles.
Hoovers (some free content--covers public and private companies)
Premium content available to subscribers, but Hoover's offers a lot of basic company information on thousands of public and private companies in its free version.