Government Resources for Entrepreneurs: Using Florida as a Case Study: Get Data

Overview of BEBR research programs.

This is a monthly telephone and online survey that captures how Floridians feel about the economy, focusing on both present and future conditions. Useful for: Entrepreneurs who want to time the introduction of a new product or service.

Florida's official population estimates and projections. Useful for: Helping entrepreneurs expand to a new city or county.

The official portal for the Census Bureau. Useful for: Helping entrepreneurs find basic information about a market, including consumer demographics and industry concentration.

The big one, surveying the whole population every ten years as mandated by the Constitution. Useful for: Getting baseline demographic information about a market, such as population, race/ethnicity, gender, and age.

Measures change in local markets in between the Decennial Census, so entrepreneurs and other stakeholders have current information. Useful for: Finding consumer demographics, such as education level, not covered by the Decennial Census.

The Economic Census surveys businesses rather than households. Useful for: Determining the number of potential competitors in a given market.

NAICS is a system of hierarchical codes, ranging from two to six digits, used to classify different industries. Useful for: Helping entrepreneurs think through what industries their business and their competitors might fall under.

NAPCS is a relatively new system that categorizes products rather than industries, with each product category having five digits. Useful for: Identifying products sold in an area regardless of industry.

"Our mission is to produce, analyze, and deliver timely and reliable labor statistics to improve economic decision-making.

We provide a variety of labor market, economic, and demographic data such as:

Employment and Wages - current employment, projections, and wages by industry and occupation, occupational profiles, and career information.
Labor Force - labor force, employment, unemployment, and unemployment rates.
Economic Indicators - Florida Price Level Index, Consumer Price Index, income, and unemployment claims data.
Population - age, race, gender, income, veteran's status, and education information.
Labor market data are provided via reports, publications, CDs, brochures, posters, and the Internet."

A portal for Florida-specific labor market information, integrating state and federal data.

"The 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system is a federal statistical standard used by federal agencies to classify workers into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, or disseminating data. All workers are classified into one of 867 detailed occupations according to their occupational definition. To facilitate classification, detailed occupations are combined to form 459 broad occupations, 98 minor groups, and 23 major groups. Detailed occupations in the SOC with similar job duties, and in some cases skills, education, and/or training, are grouped together. General questions concerning the SOC may be sent by email or faxed to 202-691-6444. To sign up to receive email notifications when this page is updated with new information on the SOC, enter your email address in the “Subscribe to Standard Occupational Classification Update” box on the left-side menu of this page."

"The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program is a semi-annual survey of business establishments that collects occupational employment and wage estimates for workers in over 800 occupations. The survey is conducted in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Data gathered from the OEWS survey are used to produce occupational employment and wage estimates at the State, metro, and national levels. Estimates are based on Standard Occupational Classification Codes."