Recent estimates show that industries that heavily rely on data from the U.S. government reached revenues of almost $800 billion in 2022, up from around $400 billion in 2012. Among industries that heavily use government data, the greatest revenue increases were seen in Internet Publishing and Broadcasting and Web Search Portals, and Management Consulting Services. Leveraging data from the U.S. Census Bureau, this Department of Commerce, Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs (OUSEA) blog provides analysis of trends in revenue of government data-reliant industries.

Key Findings:  

• Between 2012 and 2022, the revenues of government data-intensive sector (GDIS) experienced drastic growth: from $407.9 billion to $778.0 billion.

• Increases in revenue were driven by Internet Publishing and Broadcasting and Web Search Portals, which tripled in revenue, and by Management Consulting Services which grew by more than 40 percent.

• In this timeframe, the GDIS grew faster than the rest of the economy, increasing its share of U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 50%, from 1.9% to 2.9%. As a proportion of gross output, GDIS also grew by 50%, from 1.1% to 1.6%. GDIS also grew much faster than non-GDIS services.

Revenues for industries that rely heavily on government data increased sharply from 2012 to 2022

The Federal Government collects and disseminates data and statistics about individuals, households, and businesses. Much of this data is freely available to the public. Government data includes information published by the government for statistical purposes, information on individuals and businesses collected by program, administrative, and regulatory agencies that is not originally meant for statistical purposes, and physical measurements of natural phenomena by government agencies. The Federal Government publishes data on a wide range of topics, from prices and finances to weather and agricultural output. In FY2023, the 13 principal statistical agencies – which is just part of the federal data collection - had a combined budget of roughly $3.5 billion; that number is likely to triple in the year of the decennial census (2030), when collection efforts reach their peak for the decade.

Although all industries use government data to some degree, some industries - such as the professional, scientific, and technical services industry and the information industry - use it more. This blog presents the revenue generated by some of the industries that rely on government data and statistics in the private sector and its growth over the past decade. Specifically, it updates an estimate from a Department of Commerce report published in 2014 that measured the revenue of the industries that rely on government data.

Over the past 10 years, the revenue produced by industries that rely on government data has increased. As shown in Figure 1, total revenue of the industries that are most reliant on government data nearly doubled from 2012 to 2022, growing from $393.6 billion to $750.7 billion in 2022. The growth rate was relatively steady until a bump in 2020, followed by a flattening in 2021 and 2022.

Internet Publishing and Broadcasting and Web Search Portals drove much of the increase in revenues. Figure 2 shows the revenue of specific industries in both 2012 and 2022. Almost all government data-intensive industries grew in revenue. Internet Publishing, the 2^nd largest category in 2012, tripled in revenue and drove much of the increase, becoming the largest industry within the government data-intensive sector. Management Consulting, the largest category in 2012, grew by more than 40 percent and was the second largest in 2022. Overall, all industries other than News Syndicates grew.

Revenue of GDIS grew faster than the rest of the economy. As can be seen in Figure 3, compared to the growth in total revenue (blue), the revenue growth of GDIS was somewhat smaller as a percentage of gross output (grey) – but still significant. GDIS revenue growth followed a similar trend to that of total revenue, with a similar flattening between 2021 and 2022. As a proportion of gross output, total revenue grew by only 1.5 times from 2012 to 2022, growing from 1.1% to 1.6% of gross output. These trends are consistent with skill-intensive service industries growing more rapidly and comprising a larger share of the U.S. economy over this period. The growth in GDIS revenue is even stronger when compared to the revenue of non-GDIS services, like transportation or utilities. The revenue of all other service industries grew only by 1.3 times from 2012 to 2022, with a noticeable dip in 2020, and a very small rebound in 2021 and 2022 – considerably below its 2012-2019 trend.

Methodology

This methodology used in this brief is based on 2014 “Fostering Innovation, Creating Jobs, Driving Better Decisions: The Value of Government Data” report published in 2014 by the U.S. Department of Commerce. As defined in the original report, government data-intensive businesses are those firms “that rely heavily on Government data in their production process.” From further upstream to furthest downstream in the data value chain, these firms include: value-added re-packagers, benchmarkers, analysts, and data brokers. The original estimate for the upper bound was obtained by looking at firms that engage in these activities and estimating the revenues for the whole industry to which those firms belonged.

This analysis used the industries and NAICS codes that were used in the 2014 report. Data was then retrieved from the 2022 Service Annual Survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, using the revenue estimates for each year for employer firms, including establishments subject to and not subject to federal income tax. As a result, this memo assumes that the activities of firms included in these industries did not substantially change their use of government data.  A limitation to this analysis is that it uses the industries considered to be government data-intensive in 2012. Over the past decade, more industries and firms could have become government data-intensive, but those industries and firms, such as weather agencies, are omitted from this analysis.