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EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EST, DECEMBER 13, 2000 (WEDNESDAY)
Public Information Office CB00-210
301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax)
301-457-1037 (TDD)
email: p...@census.gov
Sheldon Ziman
Amy Peregoy
301-457-3315
Retailers' Operating Expenses
Near $700 Billion, Census Bureau Says
The nation's retailers spent $699.3 billion on operating expenses in
1997 compared with $546.2 billion in 1992, the Commerce Department's Census
Bureau said in a report today.
The report, Business Expenses, 1997 Economic Census, found that retailers'
expenses over the five-year period increased 28 percent while sales grew
34 percent.
The report provides national data on operating expenses for most sectors of
the economy. Examples of expenses include payroll, cost of fringe benefits,
rent, utilities, advertising and purchased computer services. Comparative data
for 1992 are included where available. For merchant wholesale and retail trades,
data on value added and other economic measures also are shown.
Highlights from the report:
Retail Trade
- Operating expenses of the retail industry totaled $699.3 billion in 1997,
27 percent of the $2.6 trillion in retail sales. Cost of goods sold were
$1.8 trillion, 68 percent of retail sales.
- Payroll in the retail industry made up 46 percent of operating expenses in
1997, with an additional 8 percent for fringe benefits, 9 percent for rent
and 6 percent for advertising services.
- Of the major retail industry groups, home furnishings and equipment stores
had the largest proportion of expenses for advertising services: 10 percent.
Merchant Wholesale
- Operating expenses for the nation's merchant wholesale employers totaled
$438.2 billion in 1997, 18 percent of sales of $2.5 trillion. In
1992 operating expenses were 17 percent of sales.
- Payroll made up 45 percent of all 1997 expenses, fringe benefits, 8 percent,
rent and depreciation, about 5 percent each.
Service Industries
- In the service sector, operating expenses of health services totaled
$700.2 billion, 84 percent of the $834.1 billion in receipts and revenues of
this industry. Payroll comprised 51 percent of their total expenses; fringe
benefits, 10 percent; and depreciation, 4 percent. Data for health and
certain other service industries included nonemployers for the first time in
1997 and, thus, are not directly comparable with 1992 data.
- Operating expenses for the nation's hotels and other lodging places totaled
$70.7 billion in 1997, 70 percent of receipts and revenues of $101.3 billion.
In 1992, operating expenses were notably higher as a percent of receipts and
revenues at 81 percent, with $57.9 billion in expenses and $71.8 billion in
receipts and revenues. Payroll made up 40 percent of total expenses in 1997;
fringe benefits, 10 percent; and depreciation, 9 percent.
Operating expenses for communication services, trucking and warehousing,
arrangement of passenger transportation, manufacturing, mining and construction
industries included in this report were previously released in other Census
Bureau reports. Expense data for the manufacturing, mining and construction
industries use the new 1997 North American Industry Classification System; data
for other industries are based on the old Standard Industrial Classification
system.
Data on expenses are subject to sampling variability, as well as nonsampling
error. Sources of nonsampling error include errors of response, nonreporting and
coverage.
The report will be available on the Internet and in the CD-ROM 97S Report
Series.
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Editor's note: The embargoed data can be accessed at
<http://www.census.gov/dcmd/www/embargo/embargo.html>. Call the Public
Information Office for a password. After the release time, go to
<http://www.census.gov/prod/ec97/e97cs-8.pdf>.
owner-pre...@info.census.gov
301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax)
301-457-1037 (TDD)
e-mail: p...@census.gov
Eric Newburger/Andrea Curry
301-457-2464
Census Bureau Says Nation's Educational Attainment Keeps Rising
About 84 percent of all U.S. adults age 25 and over had high school
diplomas and 26 percent had bachelor's degrees or higher -- both record
highs, a survey conducted this year and released today by the Commerce
Department's Census Bureau shows.
The results of the survey, contained in the report, Educational
Attainment in the United States: March 2000 (Update), and 18 accompanying
detailed tables,and three historical tables update the 1999 educational
attainment report issued last September. The statistics were collected
in the March 2000 Current Population Survey, which uses the 1990 census
as the base for its sample. The estimates should not be confused
with Census 2000 results, which will be released starting at the
end of the month.
The data on educational trends and attainment levels are shown by
characteristics such as age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status,
occupation, industry, nativity and period of entry, as well as
metropolitan and nonmetropolitan residence. The tabulations also look at
topics such as the relationship between earnings and educational
attainment. Although the statistics provided are primarily at the national
level, some data are shown for regions, states and large metropolitan
areas.
Statistics from surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error.
-X-
Editor's note: The embargoed data can be accessed at
http://www.census.gov/dcmd/www/embargo/embargo.html. Call the Public
Information Office for a password. After the release time, go to
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/educ-attn.html.