During slower times, business owners typically wonder what can be done to increase business activity. Several free sources exist that are beneficial in analyzing business opportunities and the changing economy. Probably the most obvious area of opportunity for shops is in increasing the number of repair orders; but another opportunity lies in the remaining "reachable potential." To help determine reachable potential, the U.S. Department of Commerce released the 117th edition of the Statistical Abstract of the United States in print and on the Internet at http://www.census.gov/statab/www/ .

This document houses an enormous amount of statistical information beneficial for any business owner. The amount of data appears threatening at first, but as you flip the pages and become familiar with the layout, it becomes merely a bunch of helpful numbers covering topics such as expenditures, labor force, earnings, consumer spending, transportation, retail and the service industry.

An extremely beneficial area of the Statistical Abstract of the United States lies within the state and county breakdown area at http://www.census.gov/datamap/www/index.html. With Internet access, analysis of a county or state is possible with a few clicks. This portion of the Web site includes the number of facilities in a particular county, the number of individuals employed within each trade, a profile of the population, the amount of spending, education levels, personal income, retail trade and federal funding. With this information, a business owner can make an educated decision about the level of "reachable potential" at his or her service center.

Stat Corner is written by Denise Caspersen, ASA's research management specialist. She can be reached at (800) 272-7467, ext. 236.

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