{"schemaVersion":"1.0","id":"rs-2026-002","slug":"iron-steel-mill-firms-without-paid-employees","title":"U.S. Iron and Steel Mill Firms: 46% Had No Paid Employees in 2023","headline":"46% of U.S. Iron and Steel Mill Firms Had No Paid Employees in 2023 — Their Share of Sales, Shipments or Revenue Was 0.02%","summary":"The U.S. Census Bureau reports 326 firms in Iron and Steel Mills and Ferroalloy Manufacturing in 2023. Of those, 150 had no paid employees. Those firms made up 46% of the firm count but accounted for only 0.02% of sales, value of shipments, or revenue.","published":"2026-08-13","modified":"2026-08-13","status":"published","supersedes":null,"supersededBy":null,"topic":{"slug":"business-structure","label":"Business structure"},"subtopics":["Manufacturing","Nonemployer businesses","Iron and steel","Firm structure"],"country":"United States","geographyLevel":"National","geographies":["United States"],"period":"2023","metric":"Nonemployer share of firms and sales, value of shipments, or revenue","provenance":{"primarySources":[{"agency":"U.S. Census Bureau","dataset":"Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics — Statistics for Employer and Nonemployer Firms","period":"2023","role":"Firm counts and sales, value of shipments, or revenue for NAICS 3311","url":"https://data.census.gov/table/ABSNESD2023.AB00MYNESD01B?codeset=naics~3311"},{"agency":"U.S. Census Bureau","dataset":"Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics Methodology","period":"2023","role":"Definitions, coverage, rounding, disclosure protection and combined-data limitations","url":"https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs/technical-documentation/NESDmethodology.2023.html"},{"agency":"U.S. Census Bureau","dataset":"2023 NES-D API Documentation","period":"2023","role":"Variable definitions and employer/nonemployer source details","url":"https://www.census.gov/data/developers/data-sets/nesd/2023.html"}],"contextSources":[]},"transformation":{"calculationType":"calculated","formula":"Nonemployer firms ÷ total firms × 100; nonemployer sales, value of shipments, or revenue ÷ total sales, value of shipments, or revenue × 100","filters":["United States","NAICS 3311 — Iron and Steel Mills and Ferroalloy Manufacturing","Reference year 2023"],"transformations":["Calculate the nonemployer share of the published firm count.","Calculate the nonemployer share of published sales, value of shipments, or revenue.","Calculate the complementary employer shares."]},"findings":[{"claim":"Total published firm count","value":326,"unit":"firms","geography":"United States"},{"claim":"Published nonemployer firm count","value":150,"unit":"firms","geography":"United States"},{"claim":"Published employer firm count","value":176,"unit":"firms","geography":"United States"},{"claim":"Total published sales, value of shipments, or revenue","value":123054598000,"unit":"USD","geography":"United States"},{"claim":"Published nonemployer sales, value of shipments, or revenue","value":27401000,"unit":"USD","geography":"United States"},{"claim":"Published employer sales, value of shipments, or revenue","value":123027197000,"unit":"USD","geography":"United States"},{"claim":"Nonemployer share of published firm count","value":46.01226994,"unit":"percent","geography":"United States"},{"claim":"Employer share of published firm count","value":53.98773006,"unit":"percent","geography":"United States"},{"claim":"Nonemployer share of published sales, value of shipments, or revenue","value":0.02226735,"unit":"percent","geography":"United States"},{"claim":"Employer share of published sales, value of shipments, or revenue","value":99.97773265,"unit":"percent","geography":"United States"}],"limitations":["A nonemployer business has no paid employment or payroll under the Census definition. This does not mean its owner does no work or that the business is inactive.","Employer and nonemployer estimates come from different Census systems, and Census reports some over-coverage when firms move between the two frames during a year.","Census estimates the combined 2023 over-coverage at about 92,000 firms nationally but does not publish an NAICS 3311-specific amount in the cited methodology.","Census applies rounding rules to published firm counts, so calculated firm shares are based on the published Census counts.","The $27.401 million nonemployer value carries a G disclosure flag, which Census defines as a change of less than 2% caused by noise infusion.","The finding is descriptive and does not explain why the gap exists.","Sales, value of shipments, or revenue is not a measure of physical steel output."],"keywords":["U.S. iron and steel industry firms statistics","iron and steel mills statistics","U.S. steel firms","iron and steel mill firms","nonemployer manufacturing businesses","firms without paid employees","NAICS 3311","steel industry statistics","employer and nonemployer firms"],"aliases":["iron and steel mills","steel mills","nonemployer firms","firms without payroll","NAICS 3311","NES-D"],"citation":"RecurSave. “46% of U.S. Iron and Steel Mill Firms Had No Paid Employees in 2023 — Their Share of Sales, Shipments or Revenue Was 0.02%.” RecurSave Research, August 13, 2026.","canonicalUrl":"https://www.recursave.com/research/iron-steel-mill-firms-without-paid-employees","hasDataset":false,"metaDescription":"In 2023, 46% of U.S. iron and steel mill firms had no paid employees. Their share of sales, shipments or revenue was only 0.02%."}