Industry Data Sources

NAICS was developed jointly by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to provide new comparability in statistics about business activity across North America and includes definitions for each industry, tables showing correspondence between 2007 NAICS and 2002 NAICS for codes that changed.

United States government system for classifying industries by a four-digit code. Established in the 1930s, it was supplanted by the six-digit North American Industry Classification System in 1997. Although many still use this system, the New NAIC system is more comprehensive and in time the new system will be the norm.

Standard & Poor's and MSCI Barra jointly developed the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®) which establishes a common, global standard of industry classifications for companies worldwide.

The Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) is used in the compilation and comparison of trade statistics.