How does one find economic data for Minor Civil Divisions?

I need to find economic data for my township, especially daytime employment by industry, number of businesses, etc.

I have found income, employment by industry for residents, etc. at the Census’s American Fact Finder; however, I also need to locate data on businesses and what they do. E.g., only 19% of workers living in the township work in the township, and this translates into 27% of those working in the township being described by the data that I do have. So my data only describe just over a fourth of those working in the township, and thse data may be a poor sampling of township workers since my data include all those commuting to other jobs. (So, X% of those living in the township may be managerial types, but X-Y% jobs in the township may be managerial types.)

I have found data on ZIP Code Business Patterns for the zip code of the post office in the township; but, this post office doesn’t deliver! I have the result that there are just over sixty business in the township, though I stopped by the post office and, after a computer search, I was informed that there were just over 120 business P.O. Boxes there (presumably the mis-match may be from businsesses w/ employees vs. those without). The data I’m trying to update report over 160 businesses in the township in 1990.

I would also, if possible, like to find info on how township businesses per se are doing.

My searching led me to discover the term “Minor Civil Division,” which seems to mean “township” for quite a number of states, including Michingan. I have been trolling through all the stats databases I can find, e.g. Census, FedStats, U of M Stats resources, BLS, DOL, yadda, yadda, yadda. I have also tried the reference librarians at the local community college and the local library. I have also submitted questions to the Census question thingie and I am not having any luck. This is not to say that these sources don’t have the info I’m looking for, and I really hope I’m overlooking something that will save the day when I am directed to it.

So, does anybody know where I can find the sort of info I am looking for? Please!

p.s. The report w/ the 1990 data has no references! Aarrrg!

Sounds vaguely like a shift-share analysis (which I haven’t been called on to do since my grad school days).

Good luck - you may need it.

Say this ten times fast: “Professor Stutz’ Shift/Share site.”

I’m not doing shift-share analysis, but now that I’ve heard of it, I’m curious if anybody has actually done the work for this region.

I’m gonna snap…

I haven’t done work with Census Data in a long time but could you…

Overlay your township boundaries on census tracts, and then

Find the data you need going tract by tract?

I don’t know. That’s a good idea. I tried looking for tracts and I seem to recall a dead end; however, since I didn’t think of your strategy, new doors may be opened.

My only caveat is whether the business data is available by tract. So if anybody else has any good ideas, please don’t be shy.

Thanks!