2026-09-29
9 分钟NPR.
Five years, a sort of Olympics of government data collecting happens.
Kind of.
It's when changes to the NAICS codes are awarded.
And that time is coming up.
But what are NAICS codes?
Can't believe you don't know, Sally.
Just kidding.
I'm a fellow econ nerd.
It stands for North American Industry Classification System.
They're what we use to categorize industries, like 114 for fishing, hunting, and trapping, or mining.
212, but not for oil and gas, which has its own code.
Their main purpose is to monitor economic activity.
The BLS and Economic Census use NAICS.
Government contracts are awarded based on NAICS.
There's a lot of money at stake.
But if an industry doesn't have a code, it's a problem.
You can't make good decisions about an industry that you can't measure.
This is The Indicator from Planet Money.
I'm Waylon Wong here with friend of the show, Sally Hersheps.