NAICS 323 (Printing and Related Support Activities)

NAICS 323 is the three-digit classification for Printing and Related Support Activities - the level at which US statistical agencies organize their printing outputs before splitting finer. Its reach is visible across the catalog: the BLS Public Data API serves '49 PPI series under NAICS 323'; BEA's GDP and industry accounts use 'industry codes with a published NAICS concordance isolating printing NAICS 323'; and Statistics Canada's manufacturing data spans 'NAICS 323, 3231, 32311, 323113-323119, 32312, 32591'. Beneath it sit the four-digit NAICS 3231 and six-digit NAICS 32311, each with their own Census and Canadian products. For anyone assembling commercial-printing data, 323 is the anchor code every agency recognizes.

Three-digit breadth is convenient and dangerous at once. Pulling everything under 323 sweeps in related support activities that a commercial-printing study may want excluded, while stopping at 3231 or 32311 changes the population again - so unstated code levels produce mismatched series. Agency scope differs too: BLS's 49 PPI series track prices, BEA's accounts produce value added, Census products count establishments and shipments, and Statistics Canada adds its own sub-codes; the shared NAICS label does not make the concepts identical. International work adds a fifth wrinkle, since UK sources use SIC 2007 Division 18 instead, requiring an explicit mapping before combining.

1. Pin the code depth per series. Confirm whether figures are 323, 3231 or 32311 before aggregating; each level is a different population.

1. Match the concept to the agency. Prices (producer-price-index), value added (gdp-by-industry) and establishment counts answer different questions under one NAICS label.

1. Use the published concordance. BEA provides an industry-code-to-NAICS concordance isolating printing 323 - reuse it rather than improvising mappings.

1. Handle Canadian sub-codes deliberately. Statistics Canada spans 323, 3231, 32311 and 323113-323119, so choose the level matching your US series.

1. Ground establishment counts in the right census product. county-business-patterns is the annual reference for counts by code.

Entries that sit next to NAICS 323 in this glossary:

• county-business-patterns — Annual US establishment counts, employment and payroll by six-digit NAICS.
• gdp-by-industry — BEA accounts measuring value added, gross output and intermediate inputs, including printing (NAICS 323).
• naics-32311 — The six-digit code for commercial printing, the finest published level beneath NAICS 323.
• producer-price-index — Prices received by domestic producers, with 49 PPI series under NAICS 323.