Census Bureau targets business

Starting this month, 7,000 businesses in the Aiken-Augusta area will begin receiving forms from the U.S. Census Bureau asking for intimate details.

Questions about payrolls, assets and location of facilities are included in the 2002 Economic Census, which the bureau launched Thursday.

The economic census is conducted every five years and provides the most comprehensive look at business statistics from the national to local level.

More than 5 million of the surveys will go out to businesses nationwide, which have until Feb. 12 to get their answers back to the Census Bureau.

Replying is mandatory under federal law.

But this time around, the government is making it easier for business owners to respond by allowing them to submit the forms through the Internet.

According to the Census Bureau, individual responses are kept confidential and are only used to create an aggregate look at the current economic state for geographic areas.

Businesses can use the updated results - which are expected to start being made public in early 2004 - to develop plans, locate facilities and gauge competition down to the regional level.

As director of research for the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce, Adela Reddell relies heavily on the numbers to chart the area's economic profile. Right now, she must use numbers from the last economic census in 1997 and the general population census taken in 2000.

New numbers would be more accurate, Ms. Reddell said.

"What it does for us, is we're able to get a clearer picture with the employment growth, how we're doing with payroll - if we're growing," she said. "Every time it's updated for us, it's a better picture of how we can see our economy in Augusta."

FORM FACTS

Here is some information that businesses should know about filling out the 2002 Economic Census forms:

Reach Vicky Eckenrode at (706) 823-3227 or vicky.eckenrode@augustachronicle.com.