This tool was developed to provide a conservative estimate of the number of establishments (any physical location a firm is doing business at) and their employment of firms headquartered in the nine-county San Francisco-Silicon Valley Bay Area. Establishment and employment data were calculated using the National Establishment Time-Series (NETS) database. Supplemental data on wages were sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), and economic impacts were modeled using the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ Regional Input-Output Modeling System (RIMS II).
All figures are for 2014, the latest year of NETS data available. The strictest definition of “headquarters” was applied, and therefore establishments and employment of subsidiary firms headquartered in the Bay Area – but with a parent company outside of the Bay Area – were excluded. Individual company names and data were suppressed as required by the NETS licensing agreement. Data on wages within Congressional Districts use corresponding statewide industry averages. Total impact figures include direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts as defined by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
National Establishment Time-Series (NETS) Database
The NETS database provides an annual record of business dynamics within the U.S. economy. The database measures firm and establishment creation and destruction, employment creation and destruction, sales performance, mobility patterns, corporate affiliations, and more. The NETS Database is an annual snapshot (taken every January by Walls & Associates) of the full Dun & Bradstreet database that has followed over 58.8 million establishments between January 1990 and January 2014.1
The Brookings Institution, the Public Policy Institute of California, and others have used the NETS database in their research.
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW)
The QCEW program publishes a quarterly count of employment and wages reported by employers covering more than 95 percent of U.S. jobs available at the county, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), state and national levels by detailed industry. QCEW produces a comprehensive tabulation of data on the number of establishments, monthly employment and quarterly wages for workers covered by State unemployment insurance (UI) laws and Federal workers covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program. These data are aggregated to many different levels, starting at the 6-digit NAICS industry level, to higher industry levels (NAICS industry groups, sectors, and supersectors), and to higher geographic levels (MSA, State, and national).2
Regional Input-Output Modeling System (RIMS II)
The RIMS II model is a regional economic model used by investors, planners, and elected officials to objectively assess the potential economic impacts of various projects. This model produces multipliers that are used in economic impact studies to estimate the total impact of a project on a region. RIMS II is based on an accounting framework called an input-output (I-O) table. For each industry, an I-O table shows the industrial distribution of inputs purchased and outputs sold. A typical I-O table in RIMS II is derived mainly from two data sources: the BEA’s national I-O table, which shows the input and output structure of nearly 500 U.S. industries, and the BEA’s regional economic accounts, which are used to adjust the national I-O table to show a region’s industrial structure and trading patterns. RIMS II is widely used in both the public and private sector.3
Notes
1. National Establishment Time-Series (NETS) Database: Database Description, Walls & Associates, 2017.
2. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Overview, Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/cew/cewover.htm . Accessed June 2017.
3. RIMS II, Bureau of Economic Analysis https://www.bea.gov/regional/rims/rimsii/. Accessed June 2017.