Measuring the Digital Economy

Carol CaldwellUS Census Bureau

1

Ken RobertsonUS Bureau of Labor Statistics

Components of the Digital Economy

• E-business infrastructure: the share of total economic infrastructure used to support electronic business processes and conduct electronic commerce.

• E-business: any process that a business organization conducts over computer-mediated networks.

• E-commerce: the value of goods and services sold over computer-mediated networks.

2

US Census Bureau’s E-Commerce Products

• Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales• First published in 1999

• Presented as seasonally adjusted and not-seasonally adjusted series

• Annual E-Commerce Statistics• Covers manufacturing, retail, wholesale, and selected service industries

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4

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

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12.04Q

199

91Q

200

02Q

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12Q

200

13Q

200

14Q

200

11Q

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22Q

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23Q

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24Q

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21Q

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32Q

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33Q

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34Q

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42Q

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52Q

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53Q

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54Q

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62Q

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63Q

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61Q

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72Q

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73Q

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74Q

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71Q

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82Q

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92Q

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93Q

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11Q

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6 p

1Q 2

017

2Q 2

017

3Q 2

017

r4Q

201

7 p

E-Commerce Sales as a Percent of Total Retail Sales

Not Seasonally Adjusted Seasonally Adjusted

Source: Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Report.

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E-Commerce in the US is growing but evolving at different rates in different sectors

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

E-Commerce Sales as a Percent of Total SalesBy Sector

Manufacturing

Wholesale Trade

Selected Services

Retail Trade

Source: E-Stats Reports: Measuring the Electronic Economy.

6

$-

$1,000,000

$2,000,000

$3,000,000

$4,000,000

$5,000,000

$6,000,000

$7,000,000

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

E-Commerce Sales by Sector

Manufacturing Wholesale Trade Selected Services Retail Trade

Millions

Source: E-Stats Reports: Measuring the Electronic Economy.

Retail E-commerce

• The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) separates retail business operations that conduct all business without a physical store

• NAICS 454110: Electronic Shopping and Mail Order Houses

• Operations with both store and non-store transactions are classified as store retailers No clean measure of total retail e-commerce sales

• Census Bureau developed a supplemental product to begin to address this problem

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Supplemental Annual Retail E-commerce Table

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0 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000

Total Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order HousesMotor vehicle and parts dealers

Furniture and home furnishings storesElectronics and appliance stores

Building material and garden equipment and suppliesFood and beverage stores

Health and personal care storesGasoline stations

Clothing and clothing accessories storesSporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores

General merchandise storesMiscellaneous store retailers

Nonstore retailers

2015 Electronic Shopping and Mail Sales by Product

E-commerce Sales

Millions of Dollars

Source: Sales for U.S. Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses (NAICS 4541) – Total and E-commerce by Primary Business Activity (2011-2016)

Services E-Commerce: Clarifying questions to reduce suspected under-reporting

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Services E-Commerce

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Measurement of the Gig Economy:Nonemployer Statistics Program

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0

5

10

15

20

25

30

2004 2005 2003 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Mill

ions

Number of Nonemployer Businesses

Source: Nonemployer Statistics, American FactFinder

Measurement of the Gig Economy:Nonemployer Statistics Program

12

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

2004 2005 2003 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Number of Taxi and Limousine Nonemployers

Source: Nonemployer Statistics, American FactFinder

13 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

US Bureau of Labor StatisticsDigital Economy Data

Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Current Employment Statistics Producer Price Index

14 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

US Bureau of Labor Statistics

BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and WagesNumber of establishments, employment, and total wages paid for

each county, metropolitan area, state, and the nation by ownership (private and government – federal, state, local) and industry

A census of all unemployment-insurance covered establishments collected each quarter, covering all industries, including:

– Electronic Markets– Electronic shopping– Electronic auctions

15 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Current Employment StatisticsMonthly data on employment, hours, and earnings for all

employees and for production/nonsupervisory employees, by industry, for the nation, states, and metropolitan areas.

Industry detail decreases as geographic areas get more local. Industries include:

– Electronic markets and agents and brokers– Electronic shopping

16 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Producer Price Index (PPI)A family of monthly price indexesMeasures average change over time in selling prices received by

domestic producers of goods and services. The PPI produces approximately 535 industry price indexes in

combination with over 4,000 product line and product category sub-indexes, including:

– Electronic and mail-order shopping