OVERVIEW
IMPLAN’s Industry scheme and corresponding production functions are based largely on the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’s (BEA’s) Benchmark I-O Accounts. The BEA Benchmarks are prepared every five years based on detailed data from the Census Bureau’s Economic Census. Released in early 2024, the latest BEA Benchmark reflects the 2017 BEA I-O Accounts.
HOW IMPLAN COMPARES TO BEA
You may notice that the 2017 BEA benchmark has only 402 Industries. However, IMPLAN has 528. Where do the other 126 Industries come from? Well, there are a few places.
Using input from industry experts, IMPLAN has broken out the BEA Benchmark’s single aggregate “Electric power generation, transmission, and distribution” Industry into eight electrical power generation industries and one electric power transmission and distribution industry. The eight electrical power generation industries include power generation via the following energy sources: hydroelectric, fossil fuel (coal, oil, gas), nuclear, solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and tidal (other). More information about the source data and data processing methods can be found here: Intermediate Input Data.
Another reason that IMPLAN has more industries than BEA is that, when possible (namely, when a NAICS Code still exists for a detailed industry), IMPLAN will use earlier benchmarks to split the absorption coefficients, byproduct coefficients, and institutional spending into previously-existing detail. In other words, BEA industry data has become more aggregated but IMPLAN has maintained previous levels of industry detail, where possible, by using more-detailed breakouts from older benchmark data to split out more aggregate industries that exist in the latest benchmark tables.
An exception to this is when a previously existing industry no longer has a NAICS code. Without a NAICS code, there will be no employment or wage data in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' annual Census of Employment and Wages data sets or in any other source of raw data. In these cases, the industry simply no longer has industry statistics available. One example of this is the aggregation of IMPLAN Industry 24 (Gold ore mining) and Industry 25 (Silver ore mining) from the 546 Industry scheme to a single industry (Industry 24- Gold ore and silver ore mining) in the 528 Industry scheme. Changes to the IMPLAN Industry scheme only occur when a new BEA Benchmark is released and detailed descriptions of the changes are documented in the IMPLAN Release Notes.
HISTORY OF IMPLAN INDUSTRY SCHEMES
As the economy is constantly changing, BEA benchmarks and the corresponding IMPLAN Industry scheme also change. The current IMPLAN Industry scheme has 528 industries, but it hasn’t always been this way. The table below demonstrates how the number of IMPLAN Industries has changed over time.
| IMPLAN Database Years | Number of IMPLAN Industries | BEA Benchmarks |
|---|---|---|
|
1996-2000 |
528 |
1987 & 1992 |
|
2001-2004 2006* |
509 |
1997 |
|
2007-2012 |
440 |
2002 |
|
2013-2017 |
536 |
2007 with parts of 2002 and 1997 |
|
2018-2022 |
546 |
2012 with parts of 2007, 2002, and 1997 |
|
2023-2027 |
528 |
2017 with parts of 2012, 2007, 2002, and 1997 |
*Note: IMPLAN did not create an original data set for the calendar year 2005.
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Written April 18, 2024
Updated March 11, 2025