Title:  Number of paid employees in commerce - wholesale and retail trade establishments
Column Name:  comemp
Span:  1820-1997
Units:  Persons
Format:  Integer

Commercial Employees - 1820
The number of persons employed in commerce represents a count of the total number of people, including slaves, engaged in commerce. The classification scheme used divided possible occupations into three industrial divisions of work: agriculture, commerce, and manufactures.

Source (where directly obtained):
Haines, Michael R., and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000, Database 2896. Hamilton, NY: Colgate University/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producers], 2004. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005.
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Fourth Decennial Census of the United States, 1820. Census for 1820. Washington D.C.: Gales and Seaton, 1821.


Commercial Employees - 1840
Persons employed in commerce represents the total number of persons, including slaves, engaged in commerce. The classification scheme used divided possible occupations into several industrial divisions of work: agriculture; mining; commerce; manufactures and trades; navigation of the ocean; navigation of canals, lakes, and rivers; and learned professions and engineers.

Source (where directly obtained):
Haines, Michael R., and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000, Database 2896. Hamilton, NY: Colgate University/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producers], 2004. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005.
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Sixth Decennial Census of the United States, 1840. Compendium of the Enumeration of the Inhabitants & Statistics of the United States as Obtained at the Department of State, From the Returns of the Sixth Census by Counties and Principal Towns Exhibiting the Population, Wealth, and Resources of the Country... Washington D.C.: Thomas Allen, 1841.


Commercial Employees - 1930
The number of employees in wholesale establishments represents all paid employees, including hired executives, salesmen, and all office, warehouse, and other employees. Proprietors and firm members are not included. In the majority of cases, establishments reported the average number of employees on the payroll during any part of the year. The number employed in retail records the average of the number of full-time employees on the payroll as of April 15, July 15, October 15, and December 15, 1929, as well as those employed at the date of the enumerator's visit in the spring of 1930. However, especially for smaller establishments, the only figure obtained was the enumerator’s count of employees on the census day.

Source (where directly obtained):
Haines, Michael R., and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000, Database 2896. Hamilton, NY: Colgate University/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producers], 2004. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005.
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Decennial Census of the United States: 1930. Distribution, Volume I: Retail Distribution, Part I and Volume II: Wholesale Distribution. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1933.


Commercial Employees - 1950
The total number of people in the civilian labor force employed in wholesale and retail trade, including eating and drinking places, includes all civilians 14 years old or over. The industry data represented here are derived from a household enumeration, and may differ from data based on industry reports from establishments (e.g. the decennial census uses its own industrial classification system, and this enumeration represents an unduplicated count, with each person enumerated only once whether or not he or she worked at multiple establishments).

Source (where directly obtained):
Haines, Michael R., and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000, Database 2896. Hamilton, NY: Colgate University/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producers], 2004. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005.
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. County and City Data Book, 1952 (A Statistical Abstract Supplement). Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1953.


Commercial Employees - 1958
Paid employees consist of all employees, including salaried officers and executives of corporations, who were on the payroll during the workweek ending nearest November 15.


Source (where directly obtained):
Haines, Michael R., and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000, Database 2896. Hamilton, NY: Colgate University/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producers], 2004. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005.
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. County and City Data Book, 1967 (A Statistical Abstract Supplement). Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1967.


Commercial Employees - 1960
The total number of people in the civilian labor force employed in the wholesale and retail trades includes all civilians 14 years old or over. The industry data represented here are derived from a household enumeration, and may differ from data based on industry reports from establishments (e.g. the decennial census uses its own industrial classification system, and this enumeration represents an unduplicated count, with each person enumerated only once whether or not he or she worked at multiple establishments).

Source (where directly obtained):
Haines, Michael R., and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000, Database 2896. Hamilton, NY: Colgate University/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producers], 2004. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005.
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. County and City Data Book, 1962. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1962.


Commercial Employees - 1972, 1982, 1987, 1997
Paid employment consists of full- and part-time employees, including salaried officers and executives of corporations, who are on the payroll in the pay period including March 12. Employees on paid sick leave, holidays, and vacations are included; proprietors and partners of unincorporated businesses are excluded.

Source (where directly obtained):
County and City Data Books from the University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, 2003.
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/ccdb/ 

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. County & City Data Book, 1977. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1978.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. County & City Data Book [CD-ROM], 1988 Technical Documentation. Washington D.C.: Bureau of the Census, Data User Services Division, 1989.U.S. Bureau of the Census. County & City Data Book, 1988-2000 [CDROM]. Washington D.C.: Bureau of the Census, Data User Services Division, 1989-2001.