8/5/2009 11:28:02 AM By
E.J. Reedy
Youreconomy.org, a resource provided by the Edward Lowe Foundation, uses D&B-based data to provide an interactive means for people to understand businesses in their community. Now in version 2.0, it is a site worth checking out. From conversations with the Lowe Foundation, it seems they will also soon be releasing additional options meant to serve the research community. But more on those details when they become reality. More on their recent updates:
In July 2009 YourEconomy.org (YE) was updated using the 2008 NETS database release. We also developed and introduced two new components to YE, Industry and Rankings. And, there is a new statistical area we designated as the UP (Upper Peninsula) located in Michigan.
YE data is built by tracking individual establishments according to their DUNS number. DUNS numbers start with establishments as they open and stays with them as they grow, contract, move, and even close. Businesses are contacted each year by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) and asked to report changes in activity, employment and revenue.
Each time we update YE with new NETS data it adds a new year of data and changes the data across the entire timeline not just the most recent year.
Time Warp
The 2008 NETS release uses information from several 2008 D&B databases to better track and confirm changes that happened to establishments in 2007. This process of looking forward a year is combined with a process that looks back across several years to adjust establishment information that may have changed or has been discovered recently. These back and forth adjustments, (we affectionately call this Time Warp), provide a much more complete picture of establishment changes from the beginning of the YE data (1993) through the end of 2007.
Data Years
YE took the opportunity at this update to adjust the data so it more accurately reflect the actual calendar year reported rather than the date of the NETS release version being used. For example, when you see the label for 2007 in our charts it refers to data for the full year of 2007, rather than the data represented by the NETS 2007 release.