Source Data for the Manufacturing, Processing, and Mining Industries

This chapter provides an overview of the source data for the manufacturing, processing, and mining industries. The manufacturing sector is divided into a number of sectors for the purposes of input-output and may or may not include intermediate processing industries. In many developing countries, industries processing raw materials are the major part of this section of the economy, and final manufacturing industries may be few in number and type. Whatever method of classification is used, the general remarks on source data that follow is applied. Although both large and small businesses usually exist in manufacturing and processing, each industry is often dominated either by large or small businesses. One of the main sources of data is of tax returns for the larger businesses. No difficulty is experienced in obtaining grouped data processed in the taxation department which, when they reach the national income statistician, is in the form of a balancing account for the aggregate businesses covered. As with other sectors, it is important to obtain details of coverage in terms of the number of firms, physical output, or any other information that indicates what proportion of the industry is covered by these accounts.