The documented dataset covers Enterprise Survey (ES) panel data collected in El Salvador in 2006, 2010 and 2016, as part of Africa Enterprise Surveys rollout, an initiative of the World Bank. The objective of the Enterprise Survey is to obtain feedback from enterprises on the state of the private sector as well as to help in building a panel of enterprise data that will make it possible to track changes in the business environment over time, thus allowing, for example, impact assessments of reforms. Enterprise Surveys target a sample consisting of longitudinal (panel) observations and new cross-sectional data. Panel firms are prioritized in the sample selection, comprising up to 50% of the sample. For all panel firms, regardless of the sample, current eligibility or operating status is determined and included in panel datasets. El Salvador ES 2010 was conducted in July 2010 April 2011, El Salvador ES 2016 was carried out in March August 2016. Stratified random sampling was used to select the surveyed businesses. Data was collected using face-to-face interviews. Data from 1,772 establishments was analyzed: 577 businesses were from 2006 only, 87 from 2010 only, 496 from 2016 only, 314 firms were from 2010 and 2016, 100 from 2006 and 2010, 198 firms were from 2006, 2010 and 2016. The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs and labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90 percent of the questions objectively measure characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance.
