The Feb. 12 deadline is at hand for the 13,000 Alaska businesses participating in the U.S. Census Bureau's 2002 Economic Census.
The census, taken every five years, monitors the ebb and flow of commerce throughout the United States and is a benchmark for determining 96 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, said Paul Zeisset, the marketing director for the census.
"It serves as the foundation for all the other information and statistics we collect," Zeisset said.
The census surveys about 5 million companies throughout the country to gather information on the number of employees in the workforce; the range of payroll; and "sales," or the amount of commercial revenue that companies generate within their industries.
Zeisset added that participants are pulled from each of the country's corporate industries except for government, agriculture and the railroads. Any company with more then six employees is eligible, he said.
Participating companies may return their information by mail, or, for the first time, in electronic form, Zeisset said.
Information on the census, the study itself, and assistance for participants can be found on-line at www.census.gov/econhelp.
