Small Business Administration Loan Program 7A

The 7(a) loan program is the Small Business Administration's primary program for providing financial assistance to small businesses. Data include information on borrowers and lenders. The SBA data are linked to the Census Bureau's business register by EIN and SSN where possible, and for the remainder a probabilistic name and address match is conducted. The linkage allows for the analysis of recipient firms' employment, payroll, and industry in the Census Bureau's Longitudinal Business Database (LBD). The Census Bureau provides the SBA with tabulations on employment and revenue changes observed in these firms. The SBA receives valuable insight into the outcomes and impact of its 7(a) and 504 loan programs and how those may be related to firm characteristics. This will allow the SBA to more accurately explain outcomes and impacts to stakeholders and determine areas for program improvement.

The project review timeframes above do not apply to applications that request access to confidential data assets commingled with data that are either not owned, or are only co-owned, by the statistical agency(s) or unit(s) and require approval from third parties not subject to this policy (e.g., state and local government agencies).