2023 U.S. Data Release Notes

2017 BEA Benchmark I-O Tables Incorporated 

Every 5 years, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) releases a comprehensive revision and update to its Benchmark Input-Output (I-O) tables. These tables are a critical component of IMPLAN’s annual U.S.-based datasets, serving as a base for annual production for the subsequent 5 years. The release of new Benchmark tables provides many important updates to the base data used for many data elements in IMPLAN’s annual U.S.-based models, as described briefly here and in more detail in the recording of our BEA Benchmark webinar. 

Changes to the Underlying Structure of the Economy 

• Foreign trade of services: The BEA Benchmark represents our only source of commodity-specific foreign trade for the service commodities. The Benchmark values are controlled annually to current BEA NIPA totals for the foreign exports and imports of services. 

• Commodity margins: For commodities that are sold through retail outlets, these margins show the percentage of the total annual sales value that accrues to the producing industry, the transportation industries, the appropriate wholesale industry, and the appropriate retail industry.  

• Industry spending patterns (also known as industry production functions): The BEA Benchmark represents our only source of industry spending patterns.  The Benchmark values are updated annually to conform to annual values of Industry Output, Industry Value Added, Final Demand, and Institutional Sales.  

• Investment spending patterns: The Benchmark values for Private Investment and Government Investment are updated to conform to annual BEA NIPA control totals.  

• Government consumption and investment spending patterns: The Benchmark values are updated to conform to annual BEA NIPA control totals. 

• Byproducts matrix: The byproducts matrix shows the proportions of each commodity that is produced by each industry.  This is important for being able to move between industry-by-industry and commodity-by-industry bases. 

Changes to the Industry Set 

Because the BEA Benchmark represents the only data source for industry production functions, IMPLAN’s sectoring schemes are largely limited to industries for which the BEA has provided production functions at some point and for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) includes in its Census of Employment and Wages (CEW) data. Exceptions include those industries for which we do not rely on CEW for employment figures, such as the electric power generation industries, for which we use additional data sources to split out the BEA Benchmark’s single Electric power generation, transmission, and distribution industry into 8 distinct electricity generation industries by power source and a distinct industry for the transmission and distribution of electricity. 

While the number of industries covered by the BEA Benchmark has decreased with each successive Benchmark release beginning with the 2002 Benchmark, IMPLAN has typically grown its industry set with each Benchmark release beginning with the 2007 Benchmark by updating any previously-existing BEA industry and converting its production function to incorporate all subsequently added commodities (please watch the recording of our BEA Benchmark webinar for a demonstration of this splitting technique). However, as mentioned previously, it is not enough that the BEA at some point provided a production function for each industry, but also that annual employment values exist for the industry (with the exceptions previously mentioned), in which case the industry must be deprecated. There were several such cases this year, listed directly below. The combination of industry expansions and deprecations has resulted in an updated IMPLAN industry count of 528.  

• Gold ore mining and Silver ore mining have been combined into Gold ore and silver ore mining (2022 NAICS Code 212220).  

• Uranium-radium-vanadium ore mining has been subsumed into Other metal ore mining (2022 NAICS code 212290). 

• Hosiery and sock mills and Other apparel knitting mills have been combined into Apparel knitting mills (2022 NAICS code 315120). 

• Men's and boys' cut and sew apparel manufacturing, Women's and girls' cut and sew apparel manufacturing, and Other cut and sew apparel manufacturing have been combined into Cut and sew apparel manufacturing (except contractors) (2022 NAICS code 315250). 

• Printing machinery and equipment manufacturing has been subsumed into All other industrial machinery manufacturing (2022 NAICS code 333248). 

• Optical instrument and lens manufacturing, Photographic and photocopying equipment manufacturing, and Other commercial service industry machinery manufacturing have been combined into Commercial and service industry machinery manufacturing (2022 NAICS code 333310).

• Blank magnetic and optical recording media manufacturing and Software and other prerecorded and record reproducing have been combined into Manufacturing and reproducing magnetic and optical media (2022 NAICS code 334610). 

• Household cooking appliance manufacturing, Household refrigerator and home freezer manufacturing, Household laundry equipment manufacturing, and Other major household appliance manufacturing have been combined into Major household appliance manufacturing (2022 NAICS code 335220). 

• Storage battery manufacturing and Primary battery manufacturing have been combined into Battery manufacturing (2022 NAICS code 335910). 

• Automobile manufacturing and Light truck and utility vehicle manufacturing have been combined into Automobile and light duty motor vehicle manufacturing (2022 NAICS code 336110). 

Improved Farm Sector Employment Estimates 

The BLS' CEW data are the only source of annual, non-lagged, industry-specific employment for the farm sectors. However, the CEW data exclude most agricultural workers on small farms, and thus do not represent a full accounting of farm employment. The BEA's REA data offer full coverage and thus represent a full accounting of farm employment, but the BEA REA data are a year lagged a year relative to the IMIPLAN data year and they do not have any farm-sector detail beyond the aggregate “Total Farm” sector. Prior to the 2023 data year, IMPLAN’s by-sector farm Employment estimates had been based on annual estimates of detailed farm-sector Output (described here) applied to Wage and Salary Employment per Output and Proprietor Employment per Output ratios from the latest BEA Benchmark Input-Output (I-O) tables.  

While this methodology is sound for sectors whose products do not fluctuate significantly in price from year to year, it becomes problematic for sectors whose product prices are more volatile, as can be the case for many farm sectors. In such cases, an increase in the price of a farm commodity will, all else equal, result in an increase in that sector’s Output, without any increase in physical production and thus without any need for additional labor, such that Output-based Employment estimates will be too high, and the change in Employment will not be indicative of a change in production levels.

Thus, beginning with the 2023 IMPLAN data, we have incorporated two improvements to this methodology: 

1. We now apply inflators to the Benchmark-based ratios prior to applying them to our annual Output estimates, with the intention to remove the effect of inflation (i.e., price changes) on Output, thereby putting the ratios more on par with the annual Output estimates and yielding Employment estimates that are related to changes in physical production more so than to changes in commodity prices.  

2. We then control these by-sector Wage and Salary Employment and Proprietor Employment estimates to projected BEA REA "Farm Total" Wage and Salary Employment and Proprietor Employment values.¹ This further ensures that our Employment estimates for the Farm Sectors are based on additional recent data – in addition to the current Output data.  

Improvement to Electricity Generation Industries 

Each time that the BEA I-O tables are revised according to the latest BEA Benchmark, IMPLAN ensures that the Electricity Generation, Transmission, and Distribution industry is split into component industries for Transmission and Distribution, and eight unique types of power generation. Calculating how to split these industries is described in the Intermediate Inputs data sources article. 

Starting with the 2023 IMPLAN data, fuel costs are now sourced from the International Energy Agency and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Employee Compensation splits are now based on Employee Compensation from the BLS' CEW data data. The Electric power generation – Nuclear industry also now purchases Uranium as part of its unique spending pattern.  

Change in Data Source for Federal Commodity Sales of Timber 

In general, national-level Federal Government commodity sales are derived by distributing total Federal Government sales from BEA NIPA Table 3.10.5 (Government Consumption Expenditures and General Government Gross Output) to IMPLAN commodities based on Federal Government commodity sales from the latest BEA Benchmark tables. In IMPLAN data years 2021, 2022 and all years prior to 2018, values for Federal Government sales of IMPLAN commodity 3015 (Forest, timber, and forest nursery products), at the national, state, and county levels, were obtained directly from the U.S. Forest Services (USFS). ²

For reasons of confidentiality, the USFS is no longer able to provide these data to IMPLAN. Rather than revert to the same method of deriving Federal Government commodity sales via distribution that we use for all other commodities, we have elected to use an alternative USFS data product as a proxy, at the recommendation of USFS. The Forest Products Cut and Sold from the National Forests and Grasslands report is used starting with Data Year 2023 to provide estimates for federal sales of commodity 3015. It is available at the national and state level. State level data is distributed to counties based on proportions of Industry 16 (Commercial logging), which is the primary purchaser of Commodity 3015. 

¹The BEA REA data are lagged one year relative to the current IMPLAN Data Year; we project them based on growth rates calculated from the BLS CEW data.

²In data years 2019 and 2020, we did not receive the necessary data from the USFS and thus used the same methodology for that commodity that is used for all other commodities; namely, BEA Benchmark values updated to reflect current BEA NIPA control totals.  

Written November 26, 2024