Census of Manufactures

The Census of Manufactures (CMF) covers all manufacturing establishments with one or more paid employees. Manufacturing is defined as the mechanical, physical,or chemical transformation of materials or substances into new products. The assembly of components into new products is also considered manufacturing, except when it is appropriately classified as construction. This data is collected as part of the Economic Census. The Census of Manufactures includes questions on: General information (location, operational status, total value of shipments, input costs), products, dollar values of shipments, some physical quantities, material inputs, and special inquiries (asked of every industry or just a few.) The Census of Manufactures can be used for research on the following: the universe of manufacturing firm/plants (or a representative sample) detailed geography narrowly-defined industry definitions to study entry, exit or business-level dynamics in mfg. plant-level values of shipments and costs plant-level data since 1963