County and ZIP Business Patterns, via Missouri

The Missouri Census Data Center has downloaded and converted County Business Patterns data for 2007 thru 2009. These data are available at the nation, state, county, CBSA (Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas), and ZIP code levels. Access these data via the Uexplore/Dexter utility apps; take advantage of the Datasets.html directory page where all the new data has been forced to the top of the access table.

FedEx Express National Service Disruption

From FedEx

The Memphis hub and flight operations experienced substantial disruptions Monday night due to snow and ice. Potential delays are possible for shipment deliveries across the U.S. FedEx is committed to provide service to the best of our ability. Continue to check fedex.com for service updates as well as track the status of your shipment.

Consistent with the provisions of the FedEx Service Guide, the money-back guarantee is suspended for U.S. packages and shipments inbound into the U.S. from international locations with a delivery commitment of Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011.

WorldOMeters

Real time world statistics. Us, by the numbers, in the world, and in the United States.

Fuel Economy Guide 2012

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy produce the Fuel Economy Guide to help car buyers choose the most fuel-efficient vehicle that meets their needs. ...

This Guide provides annual fuel cost estimates for each vehicle. The estimates are based on the assumptions that you travel 15,000 miles per year (55% under city driving conditions and 45% under highway conditions).

More HERE.

Student Debt and the Class of 2010

From the Institute for College Access & Success [PDF]

College seniors who graduated with student loans in 2010 owed an average of $25,250, up five percent from the previous year, according to a new report from the Project on Student Debt at the Institute for College Access & Success. The Class of 2010 also faced the highest unemployment levels for new college graduates in recent history: 9.1 percent.

The 10 Most Educated People on the Planet

Found HERE.

Supplement to Education and Synthetic Work-life Earnings

In September, the Census Bureau released a study that examined the economic value of educational attainment by estimating the amount of money that people might earn over the course of a 40-year career given their level of education. In response to the high level of media interest in these findings, the Census Bureau released a series of supplemental tables. These tables include an estimate for the total population — all people regardless of gender, race, and Hispanic origin. They show that a person with bachelor’s degree working full time from ages 25 to 65 would have $1 million more in earnings than a similar person with high school diploma.
Internet address
News release
Report [PDF]

Bribe Payers Index 2011

From Transparency International:

Bribing public officials when doing business abroad is a regular occurrence, according to a survey of 3,000 business executives from developed and developing countries.

Transparency International’s 2011 Bribe Payers Index ... ranks 28 leading international and regional exporting countries by the likelihood of their firms to bribe abroad. Companies from Russia and China, who invested US $120 billion overseas in 2010, are seen as most likely to pay bribes abroad. Companies from the Netherlands and Switzerland are seen as least likely to bribe.

More HERE.

Product service codes

Here is a link to Federal Product Service Codes and Federal Supply Codes. Revised Product Service Codes and Federal supply codes Effective 10/01/2011. The red codes expired 09/30/2011 and the blue codes have been added as of 10/01/2011

Product service codes are used by the United States government to describe the products, services, and research and development purchased by the government. Government procurement specialists and government contractors alike require a solid understanding of these codes in order to produce quality partnerships between buyers and suppliers.

Foreign Labor Certification Data Center

The Foreign Labor Certification Data Center includes an Online Wage Library with Download Data Files, plus Foreign Labor Certification (FLC) disclosure data for the Permanent, H-1B, H-2A and H-2B programs.

Births: Final Data for 2009

National Center for Health Statistics - [PDF]

Demographic change in Metropolitan America: 2000 to 2010

The Center for Urban Research -- through its three constituent units: the CUNY Data Service, the CUNY Mapping Service, and the NYC Labor Market Information Service -- has developed a deep understanding of Census data through its academic and applied research projects. Over several decades of using Census data, analyzing it statistically, visualizing it through maps, and working closely with researchers and practitioners engaged in similar efforts, it understands well how myriad constituencies benefit from Census data, whether they need a single citywide population statistic, a comprehensive demographic profile comparing neighborhoods throughout metropolitan areas, or an analysis of official record data linked to Census data for a specific geography.

More HERE.

Direct and Intermediated Marketing of Local Foods in the US

From the Department of Agriculture - Economic Research Service
PDF

Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) released Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, the most comprehensive, nationally representative research conducted in the past 10 years on sexual harassment in middle and high schools. Sexual harassment pervades the lives of students in grades 7–12.

Cyber Security and You

From New York's Libraries Information Network offers this advice from the Office of Cyber Security

1.Use Strong Passwords: Passwords should have at least eight characters and include letters (uppercase and lowercase), numbers and special characters. It is important to maintain separate passwords for different accounts to reduce the likelihood of one password being compromised, which may make other accounts vulnerable as well. Developing good password practices will help keep your personal information and identity secure.

ALSO
2.Limit the Use of External Devices
3.Avoid Phishing and Social Engineering Attempts
4.Be Cautious When Shopping Online
5.Limit the Use of Administrator Accounts
6.Update Your Software
7.Protect and Secure Mobile Devices
8.Enable Your Firewall
9.Use Anti-virus and Anti-spyware Programs
10.Secure Wireless Networks

Mover Rate Reaches Record Low

The percentage of people who changed residences between 2010 and 2011 ─ 11.6 percent ─ was the lowest recorded rate since the Current Population Survey began collecting statistics on the movement of people in the United States in 1948, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. The rate, which was 20.2 percent in 1985, declined to a then-record low of 11.9 percent in 2008 before rising to 12.5 percent in 2009. The 2010 rate was not statistically different than the 2009 rate.

This information comes from Geographical Mobility: 2011, a collection of national- and regional-level tables from the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement. The tables shed light on movement of people within the United States from one location to another during the year prior to the survey. These tables were part of four migration-related data products released today, which also included:


Geographical Mobility: 2008 to 2009 [PDF], a report with analysis of various geographic mobility topics. It contains national- and state-level data from the 2009 Current Population Survey and American Community Survey.

2010 American Community Survey state-to-state migration flow tables.


Lifetime Mobility in the United States: 2010 [PDF], a 2010 American Community Survey brief on people who live in the state of their birth.

“Taken together, these products paint a vivid picture of a nation on the move and tell a more complete story than any one of them can separately,” said Alison Fields, chief of the Census Bureau's Journey-to-Work and Migration Statistics Branch. “The record low mover rate was driven by a drop in the likelihood of people moving from one location to another within the same county. The last time this rate was so low, the overall mover rate also reached a record low.”

Reasons for Moving

For those who moved to a different county or state, the reasons for moving varied considerably by the length of their move. According to Geographical Mobility: 2008 to 2009, when people moved a considerable distance between 2008 and 2009 ─ 500 or more miles ─ it was most likely for employment-related reasons, which were cited by 43.9 percent of such movers, as opposed to housing-related reasons, given by 11.6 percent. Conversely, when people didn’t move far ─ less than 50 miles ─ 40.0 percent did so for housing-related reasons.

Living in State of Birth

As of 2010, the majority of Americans (59 percent) lived in the state in which they were born, so says Lifetime Mobility in the United States: 2010. The state with the highest such percentage was Louisiana (78.8 percent), followed by Michigan (76.6 percent), Ohio (75.1 percent) and Pennsylvania (74.0 percent). Conversely, in four states ─ Alaska, Arizona, Florida and Nevada ─ and in the District of Columbia, fewer than 40 percent of residents were born in that state or state-equivalent. Nevada, with less than a quarter, had the lowest percentage in the nation.

The Most Common State-to-State Moves

According to the 2010 American Community Survey, 45.3 million people lived in a different house within the United States one year earlier. Of these movers, 6.7 million lived in a different state. The most common state-to-state moves in 2010 were:


California to Texas (68,959 movers)
New York to Florida (55,011)
Florida to Georgia (49,901)
California to Arizona (47,164)
New Jersey to Pennsylvania (42,456)
New York to New Jersey (41,374)
California to Washington (39,468)
Texas to California (36,582)
Georgia to Florida (35,615)
California to Nevada (35,472)


It should be noted that flows in the top 10 may not be significantly different from each other or flows outside the top 10.


Four years earlier, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the most common move was Louisiana to Texas (118,552 moves). Among the next largest moves were New York to Florida (87,576) and California to Arizona (85,497). All in all, 7.9 million people moved between states during the 2005 to 2006 period.

In early 2012, the Census Bureau will release the American Community Survey 2005-2009 County-to-County Migration Flow File, the first data set addressing this topic since the 2000 Census. It will show the number of moves between pairs of counties, with tabulations provided by age, sex, and race and Hispanic origin.

A Profile of Canadian Exporters, 1996 to 2009

This issue [PDF] presents statistics, derived from the Exporter Register Database, on exporting establishments for the years 1996 to 2009. It continues to provide information on the number of Canadian exporters and the value of their domestic exports by industry (North American Industry Classification System–NAICS), exporter size, province of residence, countries of destination, and employment size (2009 only).

Noteworthy: "The number of Canadian establishments exporting to countries other than the United States rose," and "the value of exports to the United States fell to
$246.0 billion, a 29.1% decrease from its peak level in 2008 and its lowest value in more than a decade."

County-to-county migration

IRS county-to-county migration data is derived from matched tax returns (one year to the next) and gives very detailed information on the origin and destination of DOMESTIC migration.

Exploring the Digital Nation: Computer and Internet Use at Home

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
From the Economics and Statistics Administration blog:

The Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released a report entitled "Exploring the Digital Nation: Computer and Internet Use at Home." This report investigates broadband Internet use in the United States and finds that disparities continue to exist in broadband Internet adoption among demographic and geographic groups. The report also delves into the reasons why households have not adopted broadband Internet, an important input into the design of policies to achieve a more digitally connected nation.

Full Report [PDF]

The World Population at 7 Billion

The world’s population will shortly reach 7 billion. The United Nations estimates the world reached this milestone on October 31, 2011. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the world population will pass 7 billion on March 12, 2012.

More HERE.

2010-2011 Annual Statistical Report of New York State Tax Collections

Statistical Summaries and Historical Tables

This publication contains a series of statistical tabulations detailing taxes administered by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. The information presented includes revenues and selected tax structure information for the State's major taxes. It also presents data for some locally imposed taxes.

This edition presents information for New York State Fiscal Year 2010-2011 (SFY 2010-2011) and some historical statistics. New York State's fiscal year is April 1 - March 31.

25 Facts You Should Share During National Distance Learning Week

National Distance Learning Week spans the second week of November, and considering the ever-increasing popularity of online colleges and classes, the holiday certainly doesn’t lack compelling content to share. Although it’s not yet a perfect system, Internet-based and other distance learning strategies remain an integral component of secondary and tertiary education these days.

More HERE.

Profiles on Legal Permanent Residents

From the Department of Homeland Security

Legal permanent residents (LPRs) are foreign nationals who have been granted the right to reside permanently in the United States. LPRs are often referred to simply as "immigrants," but they are also known as "permanent resident aliens" and "green card holders."

Profiles of selected demographic characteristics of immigrants who became legal permanent residents during the fiscal year are available by country of birth, state of residence, and metropolitan area of residence.

In FY 2010, of the 1,042,625 persons obtaining legal permanent resident status, 471,849 were men, and 570,771 were women. 476,049 were new arrivals, which means they went to their consulates out of country (214,214 men; 261,833 women). 566,576
were "adjustments of status", meaning they were in the US under a student visa, temporary work visa or other provision (257,635 men; 308,938 women).

Moving to U.S. and Amassing a Fortune, No English Needed

By KIRK SEMPLE
More than 40 years after arriving in New York from Mexico uneducated and broke, Felix Sanchez de la Vega Guzman still can barely speak English. Ask him a question, and he will respond with a few halting phrases and an apologetic smile before shifting back to the comfort of Spanish.
Yet Mr. Sanchez has lived the great American success story. He turned a business selling tortillas on the street into a $19 million food manufacturing empire that threaded together the Mexican diaspora from coast to coast and reached back into Mexico itself.
Mr. Sanchez is part of a small class of immigrants who arrived in the United States with nothing and, despite speaking little or no English, became remarkably prosperous. And while generations of immigrants have thrived despite language barriers, technology, these days, has made it easier for such entrepreneurs to attain considerable affluence.
Many have rooted their businesses in big cities with immigrant populations large enough to insulate them from everyday situations that demand English. After gaining traction in their own communities, they have used the tools of modern communication, transportation and commerce to tap far-flung resources and exploit markets in similar enclaves around the country and the world.

More HERE.

The Rising Age Gap in Economic Well-being

Source: Pew Research Center [PDF]

Households headed by older adults have made dramatic gains relative to those headed by younger adults in their economic well-being over the past quarter of a century, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of a wide array of government data. In 2009, households headed by adults ages 65 and older possessed 42% more median net worth (assets minus debt) than households headed by their same-aged counterparts had in 1984. During this same period, households headed by adults younger than 35 had 68% less wealth than households of their same-aged counterparts had.

Government Counting Sheep? Now, Only in Its Dreams

By WILLIAM NEUMAN
Last year, Wisconsin led the nation in mink farming, producing 833,430 pelts. Texas was the undisputed king of pansies, growing 1.8 million flats of the flowers. And no state harvested more hops than Washington, with 24,336 acres.
This year? Who knows? The government has stopped counting.
Forced to cut its budget, the Agriculture Department has decided to eliminate dozens of reports, including the annual goat census (current population: three million), and the number of catfish on the nation’s fish farms (177 million, not counting the small fry).
Which raises an existential question: If the government stops counting catfish, do catfish farmers no longer count?
...
The decision, announced last month, to stop measuring various categories of agricultural products reflects a cold-blooded assessment of the economic usefulness of the 500 or so reports that the National Agriculture Statistics Service does every year. Corn, soybeans, cotton and other major commodities vital to the national economy will still be weighed, inventoried and otherwise tallied down to the last acre, bushel or bale. The same is true for cattle, pigs and poultry.
But the Agriculture Department is saying, in effect, that the nation can get by just fine, thank you, without knowing how much hops brewers are holding in storage (46 million pounds in September) or the value of honey sold by North Dakota beekeepers ($70 million in 2010).
Farmers say such data is crucial — and not just because it helps them decide how much to plant or how many animals to raise. Potato farmers use reports on potato stocks to decide when to sell. Hops farmers use the data to persuade bankers to lend them money for costly processing facilities. Restaurant chains watch catfish numbers to anticipate price changes. With the Texas drought forcing farmers to send their sheep herds to other states, wool and lamb buyers would normally use federal data to see where the animals went.
The government began producing regular crop reports in 1863, the year after Lincoln created the Agriculture Department. One of the reports being eliminated, an annual sheep inventory (5.5 million head on Jan. 1), can trace its roots at least as far back as 1866. Also ending are reports on bees, honey production, flowers and nursery crops.
The statistics service said it was forced to reduce the frequency of some reports and eliminate others because its budget was cut for the fiscal year that ended in September and it expects further cuts for the current year. The eliminated reports will save $11 million a year.
...
More HERE.

To summarize (Census)

One of my colleagues was doing a presentation about various free data sources. This is what was written about the Census:

The Census Bureau conducts a number of programs. The most famous is the decennial Census, mandated in Article 1 Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. The 2010 Census had only handful of question pertaining to race, Hispanic origin, gender, age, and whether the address is one’s primary residence.

Census 2000 was the last iteration to contain a long form for approximately 1 household in 6 to fill out. That information included data about income, education, mobility, nativity,, ancestry, disability, military service, housing stock and more. These types of data are now being captured in something called the American Community Survey, which, starting in 2010, will be released every year for all geographies. Because the sample size is smaller than the Census 2000 long form sample, there are data releases for periods of 1-, 3- or 5-year groupings, depending on the size of geographies. There are reasoning behind these breakdowns, but suffice to say here that one ought not ever compare 1-year data with 3-year or 5-year data.

There is also an Economic Census, measuring the country’s businesses every five years, reflecting those years ending with 2 and 7. Since the survey isn’t sent out until the very end of the target years, data for these years released don’t start coming out until a couple years after the named years. Incidentally, there are separate surveys for agriculture and governments conducted at the same time.

If you go to Census.gov, you’ll see headings such as People & Households and Business & Industry in the center of the page. Although not immediately obvious, these terms are hyperlinks that may provide you with easier access to Census data.

An AFF2 how-to guide

With the Legacy American FactFinder ending by the end of 2011, you may find this how-to guide from Michigan’s Dept of Technology helpful.

Honor the Fallen

Honoring those who fought and died in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan)

Half of First-Time Mothers Receive Paid Leave

Fifty-one percent of working women who had their first birth between 2006 and 2008 received paid leave (i.e. maternity leave, sick leave, vacation) compared with 42 percent between 1996 and 2000, according to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

This finding comes from Maternity Leave and Employment Patterns of First-Time Mothers: 1961-2008 [PDF], a report that analyzes trends in women’s work experience before their first child, identifies their maternity leave arrangements before and after the birth and examines how rapidly they returned to work...

The likelihood that a mother has access to paid leave varies with age, hours worked and education. About 24 percent of women under age 22 used paid leave compared with 61 percent of women 25 and older. Full-time workers were more likely to use paid-leave benefits than part-time workers (56 percent and 21 percent, respectively). Women who have not graduated from high school are less likely to use paid maternity leave as women who have graduated from college.

Other highlights:

Women are more likely to work while pregnant than they did in the 1960s. Two-thirds (66 percent) of women who had their first birth between 2006 and 2008 worked during pregnancy, compared with 44 percent who had their first birth between 1961 and 1965.

Eight out of 10 (82 percent) working women who had their first birth between 2006 and 2008 worked within one month of their child’s birth compared with 73 percent of working women who gave birth to their first child between 1991 and 1995.

Older mothers are more likely than younger mothers to work closer to the end of their pregnancies. Sixty-seven percent of mothers 22 and older worked into the last month of their pregnancy, compared with 56 percent of mothers less than age 22.

Four out of 10 (42 percent) women received unpaid maternity leave. Both paid and unpaid maternity leave were more likely to be used after birth than before.

Twenty-two percent of first time mothers quit their jobs – 16 percent while they were pregnant and another 6 percent by 12 weeks after their child’s birth.

Women who worked during their pregnancy are more likely to return to work within three to five months compared with women who did not work before the birth of their first child.

Eight out of 10 mothers who worked during their pregnancy returned to work within a year of their child’s birth to the same employer. About seven out of 10 of these women returned to a job at the same pay, skill level and hours worked per week.

Two out of 10 mothers switched employers when returning to work. These mothers experienced greater job changes compared with mothers who returned to the same employer. One out of four was employed at a new job that had comparable pay, skill level and hours worked.

The Research Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2010

The Census Bureau, with assistance from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and in consultation with other appropriate agencies and outside experts, introduces a new measure of poverty to complement the official measure, which has been in use since the 1960s. The official measure will continue to be produced every year and be used to assess eligibility for government programs and determine funding distribution. The supplemental poverty measure, on the other hand, is intended to better reflect contemporary social and economic realities and government policy effects and thus provide a further understanding of economic conditions and trends. This report [PDF] presents estimates of the prevalence of poverty at the national level in 2010 -- overall and for selected demographic groups -- for both the official and supplemental measures.

Your Economy

Explore economic activity in your own community - and across the country.

YourEconomy.org is a business census containing more than 24 million active establishments (over 41 million total) providing detailed information about the performance of businesses from a local to a national perspective.

Video game sales

One of my colleagues spent a while looking for a source that identified unit sales for the various “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” games. Finally, he found this:
www.vgchartz.com.

The “Sales” tab is particularly cool, in that you can enter a title & get unit sales for worldwide & the U.S.

China Agricultural and Economic Data

Where to find data for Chinese agriculture? The US Dept of Agriculture!

The national level database contains 250 annual series, including crop and livestock production, input use, macroeconomic data, industrial output, price indexes, and food consumption.

Map of New York

Map Courtesy of Digital-Topo-Maps.com

The New NHGIS

The Minnesota Population Center is pleased to announce the release of the new National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) website, including:
A redesigned front page providing access to new FAQs, user guides and data documentation
A redesigned data extract system that allows users to:
download multiple years of data in one extract
download multiple geographic levels (states, counties, etc.) in one extract
constrain or expand data searches flexibly by specifying any combination of geographic levels, years, topics, or datasets
The new site also provides Census 2010 Redistricting Data with corresponding 2010 shapefiles. More new data from the American Community Survey and 2010 Summary File 1 will be added throughout the year.
Explore the new site now!
Please note: the original NHGIS website remains accessible, but will be taken offline later this fall, after which users will no longer be able to access previously requested extracts. If you still need to download some requested data or would like to revise or resubmit older extracts through the original site, please do so in the near future.

More Young Adults are Living in Their Parents' Home

Between 2005 and 2011, the proportion of young adults living in their parents' home increased, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The percentage of men age 25 to 34 living in the home of their parents rose from 14 percent in 2005 to 19 percent in 2011 and from 8 percent to 10 percent over the period for women.

These statistics come from http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2011, a series of tables from the 2011 Current Population Survey providing a look at the socioeconomic characteristics of families and households at the national level.

Every Secretary of State office in the US

Here's a link to a directory of all 50 states' Secretary of State sites, where one incorporates.

State & County QuickFacts and USA Counties

State & County QuickFacts provides "Quick, easy access to facts about people, business, and geography".

USA Counties features over 6,300 data items for the United States, States and counties from a variety of sources. Files include data published for 2010 population as well as many other items from the 2010 Census of Population and Housing, the 1990 census, the 1980 census and the 2007, 2002, 1997, and 1992 economic censuses.

Both from the US Census.

7 Billion: How Did We Get So Big So Fast?

From NPR:

It was just over two centuries ago that the global population was 1 billion — in 1804. But better medicine and improved agriculture resulted in higher life expectancy for children, dramatically increasing the world population, especially in the West.

As higher standards of living and better health care are reaching more parts of the world, the rates of fertility — and population growth — have started to slow down, though the population will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.

U.N. forecasts suggest the world population could hit a peak of 10.1 billion by 2100 before beginning to decline. But exact numbers are hard to come by — just small variations in fertility rates could mean a population of 15 billion by the end of the century.

New Birth, Death, and Employment Firm Size Data

U.S. Census Bureau annual employment size of firm data (partially funded by the SBA Office of Advocacy) on firm births, deaths and job creation has been updated for 2008. Nonemployer data for 2009 was also updated and saw a decline from 2008 levels. See HERE for data.

Should you need further information, please feel free to contact the Office of Advocacy at (202) 205-6533 or advocacy@sba.gov.