Operations Management — Demographics
STEP #5
While this assignment focuses on an organization's operations, no evaluation is complete without studying the demographics of the organization's location and if possible, the demographics of its customers. Demographics can be as general as the number of people in the city and as specific as the number of people between 34 - 45 who go to restaurants weekly. Demographics also include employment and occupational iinformation.
For a wide range of demographic sources, check the Demographics and Population section in the Marketing Guide.
The following sources provide data for specific geographic areas:
CENSUS DATA
The Dept. of Commerce's U.S. Census Bureau home page contains links to census data organized by People, Business, Geography, and Special Topics. The census is conducted every 10 years.
American FactFinder is your source for population, housing, economic and geographic data. This is a great site to find detailed information about population in the geographic area of your business.
Select FACT SHEET from the left menu bar to locate the age, race, income, and housing characteristics of the people living in your company's zip code or census track.
Community Sourcebook of ZIPcode Demographics
- the 2006 edition is in the Business Reference section of the library
- Contains information on population, households, income, race, age and spending potential for a wide variety of product and services
- Data on education, health, housing, income, living arrangement, spending and wealth - at a national level
- Be sure to check other books by the New Strategist publisher - on the same shelf - focused on other demographic groups.
EMPLOYMENT AND LABOR DATA
The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides you with a wealth of information including: Inflation and Consumer Spending, Wages and Earnings, Productivity, Occupation Outlook, Demographics of the Labor Force, Employment and Unemployment statistics and data by Industry.
The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program publishes a quarterly count of employment and wages reported by employers covering 98 percent of U.S. jobs, available at the county, MSA, state and national levels by industry
The Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program produces monthly and annual employment, unemployment, and labor force data for Census regions and divisions, States, counties, metropolitan areas, and many cities, by place of residence.
Two programs develop Productivity and Costs data for elements of the U.S. economy.
The Major Sector Productivity and Costs program publishes quarterly and annual output per hour and unit labor costs for the U.S. business, nonfarm business, and manufacturing sectors. These are the productivity statistics most often cited by the national media.
The Industry Productivity program publishes annual measures for output per hour and unit labor costs for over 500 3- and 4-digit SIC industries in the U.S., featuring complete coverage in manufacturing and in retail trade, as well as some coverage in other sectors.
