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For more information goto: http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html
NAICS = North American Industry Classification System
NAICS, which is replacing the SIC (see below), is an industry classification system that groups establishments into industries based on the activities in which they are primarily engaged. It is a comprehensive system covering the entire field of economic activities, producing and nonproducing. There are 20 sectors in NAICS and 1,170 industries in NAICS United States.
Background
In July 1992, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
established the Economic Classification Policy Committee (ECPC) and charged it
with a ‘‘fresh slate’’ examination of economic classifications for statistical
purposes. The ECPC prepared a number of issue papers regarding classification,
consulted with outside users, and ultimately joined with Mexico’s Instituto
Nacional de Estadística, Geografía eInformática (INEGI) and Statistics Canada to
develop the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), which
replaces the 1987 U.S. SIC and the classification systems of Canada (1980 SIC)
and Mexico (1994 Mexican Classification of Activities and Products (CMAP)).
SIC = Standard Industry Classification
The SIC was developed for use in the classification of establishments by type of activity in which they are primarily engaged; for purposes of facilitating the collection, tabulation, presentation, and analysis of data relating to establishments; and for promoting uniformity and comparability in the presentation of statistical data collected by various agencies of the United States Government, State agencies, trade associations, and private research organizations. The SIC covered the entire field of economic activities by defining industries in accordance with the composition and structure of the economy.
Background
In 1937, the Central Statistical Board established an Interdepartmental Committee on Industrial
Classification ‘‘to develop a plan of classification of various types of statistical data by industries
and to promote the general adoption of such classification as the standard classification of the
Federal Government.1 ’’ The List of Industries for manufacturing was first available in 1938, with
the List of Industries for nonmanufacturing following in 1939. These Lists of Industries became the
first Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) for the United States.
Since the inception of the SIC in the 1930s, the system has been periodically revised to reflect
the economy’s changing industrial composition and organization. The last revision of the SIC was
in 1987.
Rapid changes in both the U.S. and world economies brought the SIC under increasing criticism.
In 1991, an International Conference on the Classification of Economic Activities was convened in
Williamsburg, Virginia, to provide aforum for responding to such criticism and to explore new
approaches to classifying economic activity.
