Sep 29, 2026 · 9 min
Missing industry codes leave businesses invisible and mispriced
What does every business need but not every industry has?
The classification system behind economic data can shape whether an industry is measured accurately, recognized by agencies, and charged appropriate insurance rates.
- 1NAICS codes make economic activity comparable, but businesses without dedicated categories can disappear into broader, less accurate groupings.
- 2Cannabis and emergency restoration show how missing classifications complicate data collection, visibility, regulation, and insurance pricing.
- 3Restoration representatives lost their application and must gather more evidence before seeking a dedicated code in the next five-year cycle.
Don't miss
Darren Hudema explains why emergency restoration’s rejected application matters for how companies are measured and insured.
The brief
NAICS codes quietly organize the economy, allowing agencies and analysts to compare businesses consistently; updating them is a five-year process involving public comments and interagency review.
Jennifer C. Boettcher traces the system from the older Standard Industrial Classification to NAICS, where distinctions such as grocery stores, department stores, and supercenters make economic data usable.
Industries without their own code face more than a statistical inconvenience: cannabis can be harder to identify, while emergency restoration may be grouped with businesses carrying unrelated risks.
Darren Hudema describes restoration companies handling fires, floods, mold, and other disasters, then seeking a classification that could improve measurement and insurance treatment.
The government rejected restoration’s application as too small and suggested another category, leaving the industry to collect more data and try again in five years.
Spaceports received a new classification, an oddly revealing contrast to restoration’s failed bid: economic recognition depends not only on what an industry does, but on how it fits the system.
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