WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Census Bureau updated its application programming interface today with monthly and quarterly economic indicators. The API allows more access and easier customization of data products.

Developers could use the statistics available through the API to create a variety of apps and tools, such as ones that allow homebuyers to find the latest new residential construction statistics. By combining Census Bureau statistics with other data sets, developers can create tools for researchers to look at topics such as school quality, toxic waste or restaurants and how they impact a community.

"This will allow entrepreneurs to directly use government-generated data to launch new products, apps and startups while allowing you and your businesses to make better decisions about investments and hiring," said Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker to a group of technology industry experts in Silicon Valley today.

The Census Bureau's economic indicator surveys provide monthly and quarterly statistics that are timely, reliable and offer comprehensive measures of the U.S. economy. These surveys produce a variety of statistics covering construction, housing, international trade, retail trade, wholesale trade, services and manufacturing, and they provide measures of economic activity that allow analysis of economic performance and inform business investment and policy decisions. Also listed as part of the release are statistics from the Quarterly Summary of State and Local Taxes, Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions and the Manufactured Homes Survey.

"The economic indicator surveys are some of our most frequently used and sought after data products," said Bill Bostic, the Census Bureau's associate director for economic programs. "Today's update of the API with the indicators will help others develop powerful content and analysis of key economic data that frequently affect the market."

For the latest findings and more information on the monthly and quarterly indicators, including important notes on estimation and sampling variance, seasonal adjustment, measures of sampling variability and other information pertinent to the economic indicators, visit the individual programs' Web pages linked from the Economic Briefing Room.

No news release associated with this report. Tip Sheet only.

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau