Countries With Fastest Growth Rate of US Imports

The four charts below were created using Goggle’s chart tools.

These four vertical bar charts show (for four $ value import ranges) the five countries with the greatest percentage increases of imports from the United States from 2005 to 2009. The US Census Bureau has dollar values of imports from the United States for 177 countries in a report that can be read by clicking here (PDF file). The data is for years 2005 through 2009.

Percentage increases from 2005 to 2009 were computed for all countries and then the five countries with the fastest growth rates of US imports were selected (in each of four $ value import ranges using 2009 data) to display on the graphs.

These graphs and data might be useful in targeting a US company’s exports to countries where demand for US imports have been growing the fastest in recent years.

Salary per Employee Compared to Revenue per Employee - a Performance Measurement

The graph below was created using Google’s graph tools.

The horizontal bar graph shows, for 11 business sectors, the average sales per employee and the average revenue per employee for 2007. The amounts were computed by dividing the total employees into the total salaries and then into the total revenues for each business sector.

The comparison of the two results for each business sector shows how much more revenue is generated per employee compared to the salary paid by the business sector. Businesses that have earned more revenues on a per employee basis compared to the salary per employee could be thought of as achieving a better return on an important asset – human capital.

A relative comparison between the business sectors might be the number obtained by dividing the revenues per employee by the salary per employee to give a multiplier number (a multiplier effect). This number represents how much a business sector is generating revenues per employee compared to other sectors.

The multiplier numbers are shown in the graph’s legend and range from 2.6 for the professional & technical services business sector to 19.9 for the wholesale trade sector. The average multiplier is 6.6, and four business sectors exceed the average: finance & insurance (7.4); manufacturing (8.5); retail trade (10.4); and wholesale trade (19.9).

Companies might compare their multiplier number to numbers shown on the graph to gauge how well the company is doing compared to other companies in their sector.

The graph is based on US Census Bureau data. This data can be seen by clicking here, and then the business sector links.

Payroll Per Employee by Business Sector

The graph below was created using Google’s graph tools.

The horizontal bar graph shows the 2007 per employee salary for 11 business sectors. The 2007 per employee salary amounts were calculated from US Census Bureau data that gives the total payroll for each business sector in 2007 as well as 2007’s total number of employees for the business sector.

The data shows a range of average annual salaries from $14,725 for the accommodation & food services sector to a high of $75,347 for the finance & insurance sector. Also shown is the 2007 average annual salary for all business sectors, including some not shown on the graph.

The data should be useful both to employees and employers in making decisions about their salary levels.

The data in the graph comes from US Census Bureau reports on business sectors that can be read by clicking here and then the sector.

Relative Number of Business Entitites in the United States in 2007

The graph below was created using Google’s Chart Tools.

The graph is shows the relative numbers of business entities in the United States. As shown on the graph, sole proprietorships represent slightly more than 70 % of business entities, followed by S corporations with between 10 and 15 %, and then C corporations, limited liability corporations, general partnerships, and limited partnerships, each with less than 6 %.

However, C corporations account for more than 60% of reported revenues.

Data from the Internal Revenue Service tax statistics for 2007 was used to generate the graph.

Gross Profit Margins by Product

The graph below was created using Google’s Chart Tools.

The graph shows how gross profit margins can vary significantly according to the type of product sold. For example, gasoline products have a gross profit margin percentage in the 15 to 20 % range in recent years and women’s clothing in the 45 to 50 % range.

The graph also shows that gross profit margin percentages usually do not vary much within a retail sector. For example, the heights of the bars for each type of retail product remain fairly constant from year to year.

Data on the graph is from the US Census Bureau. Click here to access the data.