Census Releases Results of the 2007 Economic Census Franchise Report
Written By: Jessica Seeley, Franchise Solutions
In September of 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau, released reports stating that franchise businesses accounted for 10.5 percent of all U.S. businesses. The 2007 Economic Census Franchise Report is the first comprehensive and detailed report by the Census Bureau on this segment of the U.S. economy.
Of the 4.3 million total establishments surveyed, 453,326 were either franchisee or franchisor-owned businesses.
Additionally, franchise businesses accounted for nearly $1.3 trillion of the $7.7 trillion in total sales for these industries, $153.7 billion out of the $1.6 trillion in total payroll, and 7.9 million workers out of a total workforce of 59 million.
The concept of collecting these data focused on better measuring the role of franchising in the economy. Previous economic censuses included a question on franchising for only two industries, limited-service and full-service restaurants.
"The understanding we gain from these statistics about what impact franchise businesses have on the U.S. economy is a good example of how government and business can partner to provide relevant, quality data to the business community," said Tom Mesenbourg, deputy director of the U.S. Census Bureau.
"Franchising plays a vital role in our nation's economy and drives new job creation," said Ken Walker, chairman of the International Franchise Association and Chairman and CEO of Driven Brands. "These new data demonstrate that franchise businesses provide many options for entrepreneurs who may be considering starting a franchise business. We appreciate the efforts by the Census Bureau to collect and make these data available."
This report will be done every five years and plans to monitor the growth and trends within the franchising industries.