Users can create customized SBET time series on this site. Time series can be created for all SBET economic variables for the time period desired by 1. major industry (or combinations of industries),1 2. geographic region (or combinations of regions), 3. employee size-of-business (or combinations of employee size-of-business), or 4. any combination thereof. SBET economic variables, each of the three demographic variables, and the length of time to be covered by the time series appear in their respective menus on this page.

There are three caveats the user must recognize. The first is that SBET data are quarterly until January 1986 and monthly thereafter. Should the desired series therefore pre-date the beginning of 1986, the user will be dealing with different observation units. Those units are clearly identified by date. The second is that at least 50 observations must be available or an “N.A.” will appear. An observation is suppressed whenever there are fewer than 50 cases. The third involves the prior two. When the switch was made from quarterly to monthly data collection, the sample sizes were reduced for cost reasons by about 2/3s.

That means the number of responses is systematically lower in the added eights than in the original four. Thus, monthly data are much more likely to have data suppressed due to fewer than 50 cases than quarterly data.

All data in customized time series are automatically seasonally-adjusted. The user should not add his or her own adjustments. Cross-tabulations, excepting those using the three demographic variables just identified, cannot be conducted on this site. For example, it is not possible to cross-tabulate reported compensation increases by current job openings in December, 2007. That cross-tabulation requires a special tabulation. Should special runs be required, please contact the NFIB Research Foundation.

1. See the Industries Index in the About Us tab for a description of major industries and their contents.

2. See the Region Index in the About Us tab for a description of the regions and the states within them.