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America Counts: Stories Behind the Numbers
Capturing Seasonal Changes in Industry Expense Estimates
The U.S. Census Bureau is now publishing seasonally adjusted expense estimates for 40 industries as part of its Quarterly Services Survey, making it easier to gauge whether expenses and revenues are going up or down in consecutive quarters.
It?s a significant move and benefit for economists and policymakers because non-seasonally adjusted expenses can mask underlying trends driven by seasonal shifts.
For instance, social assistance industry revenues typically increase during the fourth quarter, often from charitable giving around the holidays. Analysts use seasonal adjustment procedures to detect underlying trends in an industry with such large revenue increases. These procedures remove the seasonal effects that occur in the same calendar quarter with similar magnitude and direction each year.
Now that expense estimates are seasonally adjusted, we can more clearly compare an industry?s expenses with its revenue to see if the estimated gap between them is increasing, decreasing or statistically unchanged.
Continue reading?to learn more about:?
- Civic and social assistance organizations
- Health care
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