A Reconfiguration of Census Tabulations: Maintaining Historical Consistency of Aggregate Industrial Categories at the County-Level

Kristine Witkowski, University of Michigan
Myron P. Gutmann, University of Michigan

Consistent measures are imperative for conducting valid historical analyses. Collected in the long-form survey of the decennial census, employment data has traditionally been tabulated by aggregate industrial category for all counties. Starting in 2000, the industrial coding scheme drastically changed. In response, we develop a methodology to formulate “geographically-sensitive” conversion factors that reconfigure NAISC-based tabulations into long-established SIC categories. The accuracy and reliability of our proposed technique is assessed by comparing results with those produced from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.