There are many different ways to search for information for business from government sources. Below you will find links to a variety sources and finding aids both governmental and commercial.
Starting Points
Gateway to searchable databases from the federal government. Includes the Federal Register and Congressional Record.
The CGP is the finding tool for federal publications that includes descriptive records for historical and current publications and provides direct links to those that are available online. Users can search by authoring agency, title, subject, and general key word.
Databases
Published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.
Data files used in the Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB) program were created from the annual County Business Patterns (CBP) files. The SUSB data files are developed in cooperation with, and partially funded by, the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
Your source for population, housing, economic, and geographic data.
Books & Library Materials
Published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.
Websites
One of the US Government's Official Web Portals - As the U.S. government's official web portal, USA.gov makes it easy for the public to get U.S. government information and services on the web. It also serves as the catalyst for a growing electronic government.
Official information and services from the U.S. government
Google U.S. Government Search offers a single location for searching across U.S. government information, and for keeping up to date on government news. You can choose to search for content located on either U.S. federal, state and local government websites or the entire Web -- from the same search box.
Search federal, state and local government information including federal and state courts.
GovSpot.com is a non-partisan government information portal designed to simplify the search for the best and most relevant government information online.
State and Local Government on the Net is a frequently updated directory of links to government sponsored and controlled resources on the Internet.
Access to categorized information for each state.
Business.gov, the official business link to the U.S. Government, is managed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in a partnership with 21 other federal agencies. This partnership, known as Business Gateway, is a Presidential E-government initiative that provides a single access point to government services and information to help the nation's businesses with their operations.
Provides access to a wide variety of data for and about small business.
The CPS is the primary source of information on the labor force characteristics of the U.S. population.
Several programs at the Bureau of Labor Statistics make significant amounts of data available for specific demographic categories.
The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has various indexes that measure different aspects of inflation.
From the Federal Reserve. These data are released around the fifth business day of each month.
Income Data - from the Census Bureau, Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division
The National Compensation Survey (NCS) provides comprehensive measures of occupational wages; employment cost trends, and benefit incidence and detailed plan provisions. Detailed occupational earnings are available for metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, broad geographic regions, and on a national basis.
BEA’s national economic statistics provide a comprehensive view of U.S. production, consumption, investment, exports and imports, and income and saving. These statistics are best known by summary measures such as gross domestic product (GDP), corporate profits, personal income and spending, and personal saving.
BEA's national economic program provides a quantitative view of US domestic production, consumption, and investment, of exports and imports, and of national and domestic income and saving.
The Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) program produces monthly data on changes in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of goods and services.
The Economic Census profiles American business every 5 years, from the national to the local level.
Federal Reserve Board Beige Book - Commonly known as the Beige Book, this report is published eight times per year. Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its District through reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. The Beige Book summarizes this information by District and sector. An overall summary of the twelve district reports is prepared by a designated Federal Reserve Bank on a rotating basis.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) program measures the average change over time in the selling prices received by domestic producers for their output. The prices included in the PPI are from the first commercial transaction for many products and some services.
The BLS Portal - The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics.
From the print edition of the Monthly Labor Review.
The Employment Projections Program develops information about the labor market for the Nation as a whole for 10 years in the future.
The weekly release is posted on Monday. Daily updates of the weekly release are posted Tuesday through Friday on this site. If Monday is a holiday, the weekly release will be posted on Tuesday after the holiday and the daily update will not be posted on that Tuesday.
The Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) provides sample estimates of statistics for all manufacturing establishments with one or more paid employee.
The Federal Reserve's monthly index of industrial production and the related capacity indexes and capacity utilization rates cover manufacturing, mining, and electric and gas utilities. The industrial sector, together with construction, accounts for the bulk of the variation in national output over the course of the business cycle. The industrial detail provided by these measures helps illuminate structural developments in the economy.
The USITC Interactive Tariff and Trade DataWeb provides international trade statistics and U.S. tariff data to the public full-time and free of charge.
From Export.gov - Presented by the Office of Trade and Industry Information (OTII), Manufacturing and Services, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.
