US a better bargain for foreigners

Cost of living shifts on global scale.

Naturalizations in the United States

From the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

State Export Data

Annual estimates of U.S. exports by State and commodity group based on each State’s share of U.S. agricultural production.

2010 Census Cost

2010 Census: Census Bureau Should Take Action to Improve the Credibility and Accuracy of Its Cost Estimate for the Decennial Census. GAO-08-554, June 16.

Highlights.

UN Recruitment Exam

2009 UNITED NATIONS NATIONAL COMPETITIVE RECRUITMENT EXAMINATION
For U.S. citizens seeking junior professional posts.

EXAMINATION CRITERIA (all must be met)
1. Be no more than 32 years old as of December 31, 2009 (UN requirement).
2. Have at least an undergraduate degree (advanced degree is an advantage but is not required) in one of the following occupational fields or related areas:
· Administration
· Economics
· Finance
· Information Technology
· Public Information
· Social Affairs
· Statistics
3. Be fluent in English and/or French, the two working languages of the
Secretariat. Knowledge of additional official languages of the UN (Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Spanish) is a definite advantage.

NOTE: The exam may be limited to the 40 most qualified Americans per occupational group.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: October 31, 2008

Detailed information and application forms may be obtained at target=_new>www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/examin/ncrepage.htm
Examination will be held on February 24, 2009, in New York City and San Francisco.
Travel expenses to and from exam site will NOT be paid by the UN or U.S. Government.

Births, Marriages, Divorces, and Deaths

Provisional Data for 2007.

ZIP Code to MSA

There's bad news and then there's good news.

The bad news is that the US Department of Labor link noted here no longer works. I discovered this when I was contacted by a Ph.D. student named Alan who came across the post.

I called the DOL to ask what was up. The person there, clearly reading a script, referred me to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That person, confused by why DOL referred me there, passed me on to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Census guy told me about this great program called the State Data Centers. Specifically he mentioned one in Missouri that has a cool database:

1. Click on the link on the right of above page to GEOCORR 2K.
2. Pick a state or states. (The Census guy I called tried NY.)
3. Select one or more SOURCE codes. (He picked the MSA). Select one or more TARGET codes. (He picked 5-digit ZIP, which are actually ZCTAs).
4. You need to pick a weighed variable. (He picked as 2000 Pop census). He picked CSV, and Codes and Names in both category.
5. Then run it. Then download it.

(I haven't tested it, but Alan probably wanted to flip what I got by putting ZIP on SOURCE and MSA as TARGET, which may be more like his goal.)

Still, since GEO IN GEO doesn't work on the American FactFinder for this purpose - for good reason - I really liked this solution. Not so incidentally, one can use this tool for other calculations as well, down to the block level.

Census Nixed Married Gay Couples

While the Canadian census will count same-sex married couples, the Census Bureau in the US contends that the federal so-called Defense of Marriage Act -- which defines marriage as solely between a man and a woman for all purposes related to federal regulations -- prohibits it from recognizing same-sex marriages, such as the ones now legal in Massachusetts and California. "For the 2010 survey, the bureau intends to maintain the policy established in 2000, whereby it will edit the responses of married same-sex couples. Same-sex spouses will be reported as "unmarried partners" in all census tabulations. Read the Census position.

New Birth, Death, and Employment Firm Size Data

Advocacy funded, U.S. Census Bureau Statistics of U.S. Businesses dynamic data has been updated to 2005. The data contains firm/establishment births, deaths, and related employment creation and destruction data by firm size, industry, and geographic location.

From 2004 to 2005, firm births numbered 644,122 and deaths numbered 565,745. Firms with fewer than 500 employees accounted for 78.9 percent of the net employment growth during this period. See the dynamic data sections of http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/data.html for details.

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

TradeVibes Company Search

From the J.J. Hill library.

Looking for detailed information on private companies, such as funding source, number of employees, names of key decision makers, and competitor listings? Good luck. This type of information is generally locked in the realm of expensive databases.

But TradeVibes isn't expensive. In fact, it's free. And it brings together just this type of detailed information on thousands of private companies throughout the consumer Web, technology, and advertising industries. There's that fairly strict industry focus, but if you're looking for data on a Web-savvy company, you'll likely find it here.

The site is built on a wiki platform, so anyone can contribute, but that makes it all the better as a good starting place for tech company research.

Baseball

From BNET: "From its origins amid scandal to its status as a legal monopoly to its modern-day experiments in online media, here's how the business of Major League Baseball has evolved." Also check out The Revenue Model: Why Baseball Is Booming and MLB’s Labor and R&D Formula, also linked off the post above.

Word clouds

I've read about word clouds, a/k/a tag clouds, how they reflect which words are being emphasized in a website/blog or newspaper or any written document. From Tag Crowd here's the one done on July 15, 2008 of the NYS Data Center website:

access affiliates age areas available bureau business census center change community contact cpi data demographic development economic empire employed ethnicity federal file history index individual information issues local metro ny organized page planning population product program rather records residents resources site state statistical subject symbols view web year-to-year years york

created at TagCrowd.com

And here's the cloud for this blog:

account affairs affiliates age agencies article available billion births blog bureau business census center com comments crime data department distinct fusion gas green growth hispanic immigration indian internet labels links litigation local network nys past pm population post prices program provide public reversal roger site skip state web years york

created at TagCrowd.com

Other sites that can generate clouds are Wordle and the Tag Cloud Generator.

Census Switch Worries Some

Yet another article. Subtitle: "Return to Paper Forms Leaves Little Time for Adjustment".

How to turn Census data into business knowledge

That's the provocative title of this article from the J.J. Hill library blog. It links to an Ad Age article about The Changing Face of the U.S. Consumer.

Crime in the United States

From BUSLIB-L:

The FBI tracks crime in its annual publication, Crime in the United States. Numbers for 2007 are preliminary, but 2006 is final.

There is a site called CrimeReports.com, which allows police departments to voluntarily load their crime stats (you can then run analytics for each department on daily, weekly or monthly intervals). For a list of participating agencies, go here. No NYS agencies are represented.

Census re-examines using Internet for 2010 count

This is "a reversal from its earlier assertion that it did not have the time to develop an application and could not adequately protect information from cyberattacks." Internet is merely an option being considered, not a sure thing. Read the whole article here.

World Population Approaches 7 Billion

The population is expected to go from 6 billion in 1999 to 7 billion in 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More detail data is available at The International Data Base.

Indian Affairs Web site reconnected

After years of litigation requiring its Internet links to be disconnected, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is back on the World Wide Web. I had written about a workaeround to the closure here.

Births, Not Immigration, Fueling Hispanic Growth

Births, not immigration, now account for most of the growth in the nation's Hispanic population, a distinct reversal of trends of the past 30 years.
Births, not immigration, now account for most of the growth in the nation's Hispanic population, a distinct reversal of trends of the past 30 years...

This natural increase -- more births than deaths -- is accelerating among Hispanics in the USA because they are younger than the U.S. population as a whole. Their median age is 27.4, compared with 37.9 overall, 40.8 for whites, 35.4 for Asians and 31.1 for blacks...

Copyright Office opens Web portal for online registrations

"The U.S. Copyright Office is opening a new online portal intended to help the office move from a paper-based environment to electronic processing.

The office, a part of the Library of Congress, handles about 550,000 copyright claims annually. Beginning July 1, anyone will be able to use the Electronic Copyright Office (eCO) portal to submit basic claims and copyright applications electronically, make online payments and upload works being registered. Those submitting hard copies of the registered material can generate and print shipping labels."

.com Is So Faux Pas

From the Branding Indentity Guru:
Web regulators Thursday voted to allow the creation of thousands of new domain names, from .paris to .Pepsi, in one of the biggest shake-ups in Internet history, a French web official said.

The overhaul is expected to radically change the way users navigate the Internet and has major implications for businesses and consumers worldwide.

Under the new system, the web’s 1.3 billion users would be able from 2009 to buy an unlimited number of generic addresses based on common words, brands or company names, cities or proper names.

The popular online trading site eBay is one of the many companies that wants to have its own domain name.

Read the entire story here.

Now, I'm wondering about someone buying pepsisucks.pepsi and what Pepsi might be able to do about it.

We're Number 15

SAN DIEGO – Massachusetts...is in the best position of any state to achieve high-quality economic growth thanks to its vast array of technology and science assets, a new Milken Institute study shows.

Massachusetts ranks first in the Milken Institute’s 2008 State Technology and Science Index, followed by Maryland, Colorado and California. And New York? See above. (Thanks, Dale.)

Trendpedia - Blog Search

From the James J. Hill Library

Say you're interested in finding recent blog posts on a particular topic or in a niche industry. Or you want to track the use of a term in blogs over time. Forget about Google. Remember Trendpedia.

Trendpedia searches across recent postings in an attempt to shed light on what bloggers are talking about at a distinct moment in time. Today, for example. Or yesterday. Run a search on a term and find a chart tracking that term's use over time, complete with links to the actual blog posts themselves. You can also compare multiple terms (e.g. mobile vs. email marketing) and email results.

The site is European, which becomes evident from the date structure (June 24 = "24-06"), but the coverage is universal. Use Trendpedia to keep close tabs on the blogosphere.

Religious Americans: My Faith Isn't the Only Way

Religious Americans embrace many paths to eternal life, even if their denominations don't.

Preparations for the 2010 census are a shambles.

From the June 23, 2008 New York Times; free registration may be required.

Committees in the House have been holding hearings to vet the problems and monitor progress. But with each hearing, it becomes more obvious that prospects for a robust census are unlikely to improve considerably unless and until the next president brings in new leaders. They are needed at the Commerce Department, which includes the Census Bureau, and at the bureau itself, which — like so many federal agencies — has been mismanaged and demoralized during the Bush years.

Gambling Revenue to the States

Gambling revenue plays a consistently important role in state finances, but slower growth in recent years may present new budget challenges for states, according to a new Rockefeller Institute report. States vary widely in their reliance on gambling revenue, the report finds. Read From a Bonanza to a Blue Chip? Gambling Revenue to the States.

"For more than two decades, states saw lotteries and casinos as a bonanza of new dollars for education and other programs," Institute researchers write. "Gambling revenue is now at an all-time high, but growth is slowing due to objections about social impacts and broader economic trends. From a fiscal perspective, state-sponsored gambling now resembles a blue-chip stock — reliably generating large amounts of cash, but no longer promising dramatic growth in revenue."

The report shows that states vary widely in their reliance on gambling revenues. Nevada, West Virginia, and Rhode Island lead the states in the proportion of their total revenues obtained from gambling, while New York, Illinois, Florida, and New Jersey are at the top in total dollars collected.

The Rockefeller Institute of Government is the public-policy research arm of the State University of New York.

Latino Census Network

In a recent e-mail, I discovered that there is A National Informational Network on Latino Census Issues organized by the National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP), 101 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013.

The story reads: The challenges facing an accurate Latino count by the 2010 Census in light of the negative environment created by anti-immigrant and anti-Latino sentiment in this country and other factors will be enormous. It is, therefore, critical that Census Bureau staff who will be doing the outreach have adequate numbers of Latinos in their ranks at all levels. It goes on to say that Census has done an inadequate job of hiring Latinos, below the civilian work force and even below the federal government workforce. Without being an apologist for the Bureau, I know the folks covering the regions that include New York State are anxious to have a well-trained d, diverse workforce.

The Census Bureau is now in the process of hiring people in preparation for the 2010 Census to staff their Early Regional Census Centers in management and office positions in

Atlanta

Boston (includes Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands)

Charlotte

Chicago

Dallas

Denver

Detroit

Kansas City

Los Angeles

New York

Philadelphia

Seattle

For more information about employment openings at the Census Bureau, contact US Census Bureau Regional Offices or the Census Bureau.

Bill proposes name for Census Bureau HQ:

The House of Representatives passed legislation (H.R. 5599) to name the new Census Bureau headquarters building in Suitland, MD, after President Thomas Jefferson, who as Secretary of State oversaw the first census in 1790. Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) sponsored the bill. The measure’s bipartisan original cosponsors include Rep. Tom Davis, senior Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which oversees the census and federal statistical policy generally.

Rep. Maloney called Jefferson “the father of the modern census” who “knew an accurate census was the key to fulfilling the Founding Father’s vision of a government with fair representation.” The House Committee on Transportation approved H.R. 5599 earlier this month; the House approved the bill by voice vote on June 4. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

3 Minute Ad Age

If you know people who care about marketing trends, they might consider spending 180 seconds checking out video news from AdAge every weekday. The June 13 post, for example, noted that as the "green" market tries to promote itself, the notion of "sacrifice" is not loved, that "environmentalism" is polarizing, and "conservationalism" is frumpy. However, the term "sustainability" is embraced better as an idea suggesting responsible consumption.

Open Door New York

"New Yorkers should know where their tax dollars are going. Open Book New York is part of State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s effort to promote more openness in government and give taxpayers better access to the financial workings of government."

"Easy-to-use online search tools identify spending for 113 State agencies and public authorities and display more than 60,000 State contracts. These tools will help you find out how much state government spends on everything from travel and employees’ salaries to telephones and consultants. You can also search State contracts in real time to see who is doing business with the State."

Why Boomers Are Forgoing Retirement

BNET.

The demographics are in our favor because a worker shortage is forecast over the next few decades...companies are now figuring out how to entice their older workers to stay rather than ushering them out the door with a gold watch and pat on the fanny.

2008 Horizon Report - Emerging Tech

From JJ Hill.

Every business is in the business of education. Telling potential customers about your product or service and showing them the benefit to buying it are essential business activities.

So when the 2008 Horizon Report profiles the top learning technologies set to dive into the mainstream over the next one, three, and five years, the implications for the business community are at least implicit. These technologies are the ones your business could be using to teach customers about you.

In the next year, look to grassroots video and online collaboration; in the next two to three years, think mobile and mashup ; and by the dawning of the five-year horizon, chances are that successful teaching businesses will be using collective intelligence and social operating systems to tell their stories. Will yours?

Press Release Grader

From jjhill.org:

Even with social media, virtual world marketing, mobile outreach, and all the other newfangled marketing niches, the press release remains a standard in effective public relations. But are you doing press releases correctly?

The Press Release Grader analyzes your press release, gives you an overall score, and offers suggestions for optimizing your release for length, readability, online links, and more. Just paste your text from Word or the Web into the site and enter your email address. The tool creates an instant report card and sends you a perma-link so you can share the findings.

Use the Grader to improve your next press release - for both general readability and SEO should you decide to get all "newfangled marketing niche" and post your releases online.

Trapped in Gasoline Ghettos/How Many Use Public Transportation?

June 10, 2008
American Consumers Newsletter
from Cheryl Russell, Editorial Director, New Strategist Publications
If you have questions or comments about these editorial, e-mail New Strategist at demographics@newstrategist.com.

Trapped in Gasoline Ghettos

OK, this is bad. The rapid rise in the price of gas is turning the nation's far-flung rural and suburban areas into gasoline ghettos, locking millions of Americans into houses they cannot sell, far from their jobs, with little hope of escape.

Even before prices soared, gasoline consumed a large portion of the household budget. In 2006--the most recent year for which there is household spending data--gasoline ranked sixth among items on which the average household spends the most. Back then, the average price of a gallon of gas was less than $3.00. Those were the good old days. With gasoline now above $4.00 a gallon, it is likely the fourth most costly item in the household budget, behind only Social Security deductions, mortgage interest (or rent), and car payments.

This is worse than ouch. Gasoline is the blood supply of the sprawling American lifestyle. Here are the facts: most of us drive to work, and three out of four workers drive to work alone. The average commuter spends 25 minutes getting to his job. Many are in the car much longer. Twenty-one percent of workers live 20 or more miles from their place of work. Among the unlucky workers who live in newer homes (built in the past four years), an even larger 29 percent live at least 20 miles from their work, according to the American Housing Survey.

Those newer homes are the epicenter of the housing crisis because of their distance from jobs. According to an analysis (pdf download) by David Stiff, chief economist for Fiserv Lending Solutions, single-family home prices are falling the most in areas farthest from employment centers. "Because of sharp increases in gasoline prices, living closer to work has become an even more important consideration in the location decisions of homebuyers," says Stiff. He maps housing price changes from the price peak through the first half of 2007 in two metropolitan areas, showing how prices in Los Angeles and Boston have fallen the most in the outer rings. The future doesn't look bright either. "When combined with large inventories of unsold housing on the edges of urban areas, this shift in preferences will mean that prices for homes in outlying neighborhoods will continue their more rapid decline and will be slower to rebound when housing markets finally start to recover."

On top of this bad news, most of the millions living in gasoline ghettos have no alternative but to drive. Only 54 percent of households in the United States have access to public transportation, according to the American Housing Survey. Among homeowners, the figure is a smaller 47 percent. Among homeowners in newer houses--the houses in exurban rings--just 27 percent have public transportation in their area.

If we are lucky, the spike in gasoline prices is only a bubble, which will deflate once speculators withdraw from the market, or the summer driving season ends, or a new administration is in the White House. The bursting of an oil price bubble will give us time to prepare for the permanent era of expensive gasoline. We will have time to build more efficient vehicles, encourage people to live closer to job centers, and invest in public transportation. If we are not lucky, then we have run out of time, and we are about to feel the fury of all those trapped many miles from stores, schools, and jobs.

BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW

Percentage of Americans who favor requiring car makers
to manufacture cars that use less gasoline: 92.
Source: American Attitudes: Who Thinks What About the Issues That Shape Our Lives

2. Q & A

How Many Use Public Transportation?

Billions and billions. Public transit ridership reached an all-time high of 10.3 billion trips in 2007, according to the American Public Transportation Association. This is the highest level in 50 years, brags the APTA. Not to rain on their parade, but the U.S. population is also larger than ever, so it is only natural that the use of public transportation should be up. A more promising APTA statistic is this: the use of public transportation has grown 32 percent since 1995, more than double the 15 percent gain in population.

Still, the percentage of Americans who use public transportation is pitifully small. Overall, only 5 percent of the nation's workers use public transit to get to work, according to the 2006 American Community Survey. There is a good reason for this lack of use. Only 54 percent of households in the United States have public transportation available in their area, according to the American Community Survey. Narrow the focus to homeowners, and the numbers are even smaller. Only 47 percent of homeowners have access to public transportation. The figure is a higher 69 percent for renters, who are more likely to live in urban areas.

These numbers were collected a few years ago and are undoubtedly higher today. But not much higher. It takes years to get public transportation systems up and running. And we have another problem. The United States is the third largest country in the world. To make public transportation work here will require an enormous financial commitment at a time when the economy is already severely stressed. The way gasoline prices are rising, however, we may have no other choice.

By Cheryl Russell, editorial director, New Strategist Publications
If you have any questions or comments about the above Q & A, e-mail New Strategist at demographics@newstrategist.com.

BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW

Hours per day Americans spend traveling
from one location to another: 1.24.

Source: American Generations: Who They Are and How They Live

Sorry not to have posted recently

I've been laid up in a semi-comfortable chair. I'll be at work for the first time in a week. If you find post-worthy items, e-mail them to me, and I will endeavor to post.

What Americans Think

There is an interesting book from New Strategist Publications called American Attitudes: What Americans Think about the Issues That Shape Their Lives, 5th ed. Price: $89.95. New Strategist also puts out the American Consumers newsletter. Here are some things Americans believe, based on the General Social Survey; the most recent results are from the 2006 survey.

1. We are tough. Among the world's nations, the United States ranks number one in prisoners per capita, yet
68 percent of Americans still think the courts are not harsh enough on criminals.
72 percent agree that it is sometimes necessary to discipline a child with a "good, hard spanking."


2. We want it both ways. Fully 63 percent of the public wants to cut the government's purse strings. Only 13 percent oppose spending cuts. But when asked what we should cut, our enthusiasm wanes. These are the percentages of Americans who want to cut spending by specific program area:
education: 4
health care: 6
retirement benefits: 7
law enforcement: 8
environment: 13
natural disasters: 14
military: 26
arts: 30


3. We are careless. Americans are forever thumping their chests with pride, and the one thing we boast about the most is our freedom. Yet the majority of Americans are willing to give up that freedom without much of a fight:
56 percent think the government probably or definitely should have the right to jail people without a trial.

4. We are religious. Among the world's developed countries, the United States stands alone in its religiosity.
59 percent pray at least once a day.
Only 50 percent believe in evolution.

5. We are hard working. In fact, we are workaholics. This may explain why American workers have so little vacation time compared to their European counterparts and why we do not demand more time off:
70 percent would continue to work even if rich.

6. We are diverse. The Census Bureau continually tells us how diverse we are, but does it matter much anymore?
74 percent of blacks have trusted white friends.
52 percent of whites have trusted black friends.
54 percent of blacks have white family members.
20 percent of whites have black family members.

7. We are alienated. Americans do not have warm and fuzzy feelings toward public officials or their fellow citizens:
Only 35 percent say politicians are interested in the problems of the average person.
Only 32 percent believe most people can be trusted.
80 percent believe others will take advantage of you if you are not careful.

8. We are uptight. Americans have a well-deserved reputation for being prudish about sex:
Only 46 percent believe premarital sex is not wrong at all.
Only 32 percent believe homosexuality is not wrong at all.
But we are also practical:
89 percent support sex education in the public schools.
54 percent think teens should have access to birth control.

9. We like to stay put. Americans live in the third largest country in the world, but they restrict themselves to a very small portion of it.
38 percent still live in the same city they lived in at age 16.
62 percent live in the same state they lived in at age 16.

10. We still dream. Perhaps the single defining characteristic of Americans in both good times and bad is our steadfast belief in the American Dream:
69 percent say hard work, rather than luck or connections, determines success.
70 percent say the United States gives people like them the opportunity to improve their standard of living.

Recovering from the 2005 hurricanes

The recovery process in communities damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 has begun accelerating while local officials who once talked optimistically of rapid rebuilding now talk of 10-year timeframes for recovery, according to the latest GulfGov report issued by the Rockefeller Institute of Government in New York and the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana. This latest report, the sixth, will be followed by a book that will examine overall lessons learned in the wake of the catastrophes. The joint effort was aided by a grant from the Ford Foundation.

US consumer time with media

This was a question posed on the BUSLIB listserv: How much time do americans spr=end on leisue=re? Here are some of the amswers.

This document provides a webliography and bibliography of a sampling of sources dealing with a wide range of aspects of the use of free time and covers various age groupings in the sources cited.

US Dept of Labor (Bureau of Labor Statistics) publishes the American Time Use Survey (which is where New Strategist's American Time Use gets most of their data. I love New Strategist's books since they sort through all the massive amounts of data


MPAA study, esp. page 24. (That was my suggestion.)

The Statistical Abstract has this data, extrapolated from the VSresearch.

Commission of Investigation of the State of New York

With a broad mandate to investigate "any matter concerning the public peace, public safety and public justice," the State Commission of Investigation undertakes investigations of corruption, fraud and mismanagement in New York State and local government. The Commission is also charged with conducting investigations into organized crime and labor racketeering and their relation to the enforcement of State law.

Established by statute in 1958, the Commission recently issued its 50th Anniversary 2007 Annual Report. The report highlights investigations conducted during 2007.

Annual Reports and other reports of the Commission are available online from the Commission.

American Institute for Economic Research

The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) conducts independent, scientific, economic research to educate individuals, thereby advancing their personal interests and those of the Nation. It offers commentaries regularly. The May 28 post, A Billion Americans? by 2100, based on Census projections, was particularly interesting.

Program on Applied Demographics

The Program on Applied Demographics (PAD) at Cornell University applies demographics methods and techniques to the latest economic and population trends to provide data and recommendations to institutions and agencies in the public and private sector. Check out ther publications in particular which feature workshop presentations offered at the most recent State Data Center Affiliates meeting.

Current Trends in State Finances

Rockefeller Institute of Government researchers analyzed current state fiscal conditions in recent presentations to the National Tax Association, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston/Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and the National Education Writers Association. View the presentations on the State and Local Government Finance section.

Databases & Directories

The Times Union has a list of Databases & Directories. Some of them contain data that can be found elsewhere (FBI Uniform Crime Report, Baby Names from Social Security), or are of local interest (Artists & Artisans, Camp Guide). The piece that caught my attention was the Top Pensions paid to New Yorkers.

The GAO on the 2010 Census

Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released: 2010 Census: Bureau Needs to Specify How It Will Access Coverage Follow-up Techniques and When It Will Produce Coverage Measurement Results. GAO-08-414, April 15.

Highlights.

The public comments on the web about ACS

An Indiana data detective has been been browsing the web to see what news and information is out there about the American Community Survey, noting that "Google yields about 2 million items when searching for American Community Survey and the top links are to the Census Bureau. However, on the first results page there are a number of blogs referenced that purport to be reactions from recipients of the survey..."

Here is just one of the many links found.

It appears that there is a great deal of concern about the "intrusiveness" of the ACS and about privacy, "difficult to assuage in the face of modern technology and general mistrust of 'the government'."

I believe that the Census Bureau, which has little money to publicize the ACS program at all, nevertheless needs to find a way to address these issues. I remember a conversation I had four or five years ago with a data detective. I posited the theory that the USA “PATRIOT” Act and other activities would undermine Census' capacity to gather information in the future. That understandably suspicious future is now.

The data gathered in the ACS, and before that in the long form of the Census, is vitally important to government and industry. Of course, the "short form" questions are required for reapportionment of Congress and state legistures, as well as a myriad of other uses.

Census considers rewards for data

From USATODAY.com

It's not the first time the idea has come up. The Census Bureau explored launching sweepstakes in the 1990s. It rejected the plan partly because of concern that it would cheapen the national population count mandated by the Constitution every 10 years. It's not clear if using budget money to fund prizes is even legal.

Feh. What ever happened to civil duty?

Community-College Utilization and Tuition Vary Widely

Another Rockefeller Institute Study:
Every state offers community colleges as the first rung on the ladder of higher education. They prepare students for four-year colleges, educate key professions like nursing and firefighting, offer job training and basic skills, and bolster economic development. But a new report from the Rockefeller Institute finds that the 50 states differ widely in the extent to which they use their community college systems. Read the press release.

Layered Local Governments in New York

From the Rockefeller Institute of Government:
New York's local governments are among the most heavily "layered" in the nation, Rockefeller Institute Senior Fellow Donald J. Boyd writes in a new paper. Unlike most states, New York is characterized by at least two general-purpose local governments in every region except New York City. Boyd was a consultant to the New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness, chaired by former Lieutenant Governor Stan Lundine. The Commission has just issued a report with recommendations to make local government more streamlined and cost-effective. Robert Ward, the Institute's deputy director, analyzed the Lundine Commission's report in a May 1 commentary for WAMC/Northeast Public Radio.

New York State Statistical Yearbook

The Rockefeller Institute of Government has published the 32nd edition of its popular New York State Statistical Yearbook, providing updated information on a vast array of state data and state agency contacts for news media, citizens, government officials, and others. The 714-page Yearbook contains information ranging from population and health statistics to information on education in the state. Information is freely available online as a series of Excel pages here.

For more information or to obtain a copy, click here. Read the news release.

A New Twist on Spring Cleaning

Economy Has Consumers Feeling the Urge to Purge, which does have its upsides.

Inside the American Community Survey - A Non-Planner's View

The apartment where Ishmael Sanchez lives was randomly selected to participate in the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey. He's not a planner or a demographer, and doesn't use or particularly care about Census data. But, because he was required by law to do so, he responded to the survey.
An interesting view of the ACS from one who was surveyed.

Local Area Personal Income

From the Hill Library:

When the BEA says "personal income" they mean wages, health insurance benefits, investments and a bunch of other stuff. Looking at a flat-out personal income figure for a location, comparing locations, or tracking income over time can offer much insight into a place's economy and consumers.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis recently released new estimates on personal income in counties and metro areas across the U.S., with data from 1969 to 2006. This site walks you through the steps of accessing that data. Follow these steps by first selecting a table - or topic - and then selecting a geography and date range.

When the BEA says "personal income," you might say "holy cow this site is overwhelming." If so, check out BEA Regional Facts, where this data is simplified and presented in paragraph form.

Personally, I prefer the tabular form of LAPI to the narrative form of the BEAR Facts.

Caveats for users of ACS tabulations

Sample Size Matters by By Lynn Wombold, ESRI Chief Demographer

Someone who knows a lot more about these things than I noted that "these are issues known to most folks heavily involved with the ACS." Demographic groups have been "encouraging the Census Bureau to find ways to increase the ACS sample from 3 million addresses to the originally (back in the early '90s) 3 percent sample. Given the current federal budget situation, the need for the Census Bureau to convert 2010 Census NRFU to paper, etc. we are not likely to see any increase in the ACS data collection budget until sometime after the 2010 Census."

New postage rates

The Post Office is raising the postal rates starting Monday, May 12 to 42 cents for the first ounce, 17 cents each for the next few ounces, and 27 cents for a postcard. Lots of people I've talked to seem unaware of the rate change. I wonder if the Post Office still has those "forever" stamps?

2010 Census Web site

What You Need to Know about the 2010 Census

PDF Fact Sheets for:
Businesses
Community and Social Service Organizations
Educators
Elected Officials
Faith-Based Organizations
Media
Everyone

Small Business Economic Trends

Monthly Small Business Economic Trends Analysis from the National Federation of Independent Business.

Sales Tax Collections in Most States Declined in First Quarter

State sales tax revenues delivered the weakest performance in six years during the first quarter of 2008, while growth in overall state tax revenues continued to deteriorate, according to preliminary data issued May 1, 2008 by the Rockefeller Institute of Government. With 36 of the 45 states that collect sales tax reporting, revenue from sales taxes declined both nationwide and in 21 states during January to March 2008, compared to the same period a year earlier. Southeastern states were hit the hardest: nine of the 21 states reporting sales tax declines were in that region. When adjusted for inflation, sales tax revenues declined in at least 27 states. For the states reporting so far, the overall level of sales tax collections fell slightly — the first time such revenues have not grown in six years.

Online Advertising Expenditures

Check out Digital Marketing and Media from AdAge.

2010 Census Miscount Fears Raised

Thursday, Apr. 24, 2008; By AP/GARANCE BURKE from CNN and TIME magazine.

Smart

There's a recent Business Review story indicating that Albany is 11th smartest metro in the nation, topping all New York cities. The full chart is here.

Ethanol

From the Hill Library:

Ethanol Industry Outlook 2008, a 28-page PDF from the ethanol industry.

Spending on Health Care and Long-Term Care

From the Hill Library:

Outlook for Spending on Health Care and Long-Term Care

Older Americans

From the Hill Library:

Each is a 2-page PDF.
Statistical Profile of Older Americans Aged 65+
Statistical Profile of Black Older Americans Aged 65+

Internet Advertising Revenue

From the Hill Library:

IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report. 19 pages, PDF.

Travel Trends Among Baby Boomers

From the Hill Library:

The Sky's the Limit: Travel Trends Among the Baby Boom Generation from AARP (2-page PDF).

US Disposable Personal Income in the future

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

2010 Census at Critical Juncture

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the following testimony:

2010 Census: Census at Critical Juncture for Implementing Risk Reduction Strategies. GAO-08-685T, April 15.

Highlights.

These and other GAO products are available from the "Reports and Testimonies" section of GAO's Internet site, http://www.gao.gov

The new OECD Stats site

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has a new site here. I found using the new software choice worked much better.

Browse Themes for options or download all country measures via General Statistics - Country Profiles.

County and City Data Book: 2007

From Hill Library:

This unassuming little page from the Census Bureau is actually a gateway to a staggering amount of information on U.S. states, counties, and cities.

The 2007 County and City Data Book provides the most current Census data on every U.S. place. Find state government expenditure and population characteristics; statistics on county building permits and labor force; and details on city retail trade and crime - among a slew of other topics.

Download the entire 1,000+ page publication in PDF or maneuver through the table of contents by scrolling down on the main page linked above.

Acronym Finder

Acronym Finder, the "world's largest and most comprehensive dictionary of abbreviations and acronyms", just addded its 600,000th definition.

Congress can save the census

New York Times editorial, April 10, 2008: Another Heck of a Job. (Free registration may be required.)

Last paragraph:
In the next few weeks, President Bush will request an emergency appropriation for Iraq. Lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican, must fight to attach the census money to that bill; the amount comes to less than one day’s spending for the war. The census is central to American democracy, used to determine the number of each state’s congressional representatives and electoral votes, the boundaries of electoral districts and the allocation of federal tax dollars. The Bush administration won’t save the census. But Congress can.

Weather Conversion Calculators

Extremely useful! Put in one number and the others show up as well.

The database is a:
Distance Conversion Calculator (Meters, Inches, Feet, Yards, Miles, Nautical Miles)
Speed Conversion Calculator (Meters per Second, Kilometer per Hour, Miles per Hour, Knots per Hour)
Weight Conversion Calculator (Grams, Kilograms, Ounces, Pounds, Troy Pounds)
and several more.

95 Percent Of People Are Sheep

Following Flock In Disaster Scenarios: Have you ever arrived somewhere and wondered how you got there?

Occupational wage data

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has occupational wage data for sector, 3-, 4- and 5-digit NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) industries.

Data is for the nation, region, state, and MSA levels.

The Census Taker

I was an enumerator in 1990; seems about right. From Saturday Night Live.

Census Returns to Paper Count

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Technology problems will force the Census Bureau to return to using paper and pencil to count the nation's 300 million residents in the 2010 census.

Stories by the New York Times and NextGov.

"...the government will scrap plans to use handheld computers to collect information from the millions of Americans who don't return census forms mailed out by the government." Of course, if people DO return census forms mailed out by Census, it would save the government (i.e., taxpayers) a whole lot of money.
***
Prepared Statement of Steve H. Murdock, Director of U.S. Census Bureau re: the Fiscal Year 2009 Budget, before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives, 3 April 2008.
***
Serious 2010 Census Challenges to Be Swiftly Addressed. Clear Internal and External Agreement That 2010 Census Can Succeed With Major Operational and Budgetary Changes.

States' Tax Revenues Weaken

States across the country are experiencing "a classic nutcracker effect," as revenues weaken and costs rise sharply, the Rockefeller Institute's latest State Revenue Report finds. After adjusting for inflation and legislated tax changes, states' tax revenues dropped by 4.3 percent in the most recent quarter. Read the press release.

Changes in Family Health Insurance Coverage for Small and Large Firm Workers and Dependents

This study examines the 1996-2006 Annual Demographic Survey of the Current Population Survey (CPS) to determine if the decline in health insurance coverage at large firms has increased financial pressure on plans sponsored by small firms. The study tests whether spouses working for large firms and children previously covered through large firms have shifted to dependent coverage in group plans sponsored by small businesses.

A full copy of this report is available here and the research summary can be found here. Should you need further information, please feel free to contact Victoria Williams at (202) 205-6533 or advocacy@sba.gov.

My favorite source of news

Seriously.. Especially check the videos.

Megaregions

Top 10 Megaregions. "The core of the U.S. economy is made up of roughly a dozen megaregions that stretch into Canada and, in some cases, Mexico."

What is a Megaregion?

Who's Your City?

NEW YORK STATE’S JOB COUNT SHOWS SMALL DECLINE IN FEBRUARY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 27, 2008

New York State’s private sector job count decreased over the month by 6,800, or 0.1 percent, to 7,268,700 (seasonally adjusted) in February 2008, the State Labor Department reported today. Since the beginning of New York’s current economic expansion in July 2003, the state has added 361,400 private sector jobs.

New York State’s unemployment rate, after seasonal adjustment, was 4.5 percent in February 2008, down from 5.0 percent in January. New York City’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in February 2008, down from 5.7 percent in January 2008. The rate in the balance of the state outside New York City was 4.7 percent in February 2008, up from 4.5 percent in January 2008.

“In February 2008, New York State’s private sector job count experienced a small decline, like the nation as a whole. In addition, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased in February, and was below the comparable national rate,” said Peter Neenan, director of the Division of Research and Statistics.
Note: When comparing different months, seasonally adjusted data provide the most valid comparison, for example, January 2008 versus February 2008. Non-seasonally adjusted data are valuable in year-to-year comparisons of the same month, for example, February 2007 versus February 2008.

1.) Unemployment rates (seasonally adjusted):

New York State’s unemployment rate, after seasonal adjustment, was 4.5 percent in February 2008, down from 5.0 percent in January. In February 2007, the state’s rate was 4.4 percent. The nation’s rate was 4.8 percent in February 2008, down from 4.9 percent in January. In February 2007, the nation’s rate was 4.5 percent. In New York City, the unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in February 2008, down from 5.7 percent in January. In February 2007, the city’s rate was 4.8 percent. The sharp drop in the city’s rate in February 2008 departed significantly from recent monthly trends. Since these model estimates are based, in part, on sample-based surveys conducted by the federal government, there is a risk of sampling error. This suggests that at least a portion of the change from the city’s January 2008 rate was a statistical anomaly.

Unemployment Rates (seasonally adjusted)
Feb08 Jan08 Feb07
New York State 4.5 5.0 4.4
United States 4.8 4.9 4.5
New York City 4.1 5.7 4.8
NYS, exc. NYC 4.7 4.5 4.2

2.) Job data (seasonally adjusted):

New York State and the nation, January 2008 - February 2008:

The number of private sector jobs in New York State decreased by 6,800, or 0.1 percent, to 7,268,700 in February 2008, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Nationally, the number of private sector jobs decreased by 0.1 percent over the same period. After seasonal adjustment, the number of nonfarm jobs in the state decreased over the month by 6,200, or 0.1 percent, to 8,779,400 in February 2008. Nationally, the number of seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs decreased over the month by less than 0.1 percent.

3.) Nonfarm jobs since February 2007 (not seasonally adjusted):

Total nonfarm jobs +80,000
Private sector jobs +67,700

Since February 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs in New York State increased by 80,000, or 0.9 percent, and the number of private sector jobs increased by 67,700, or 1.0 percent. Nationally, the number of nonfarm jobs increased by 0.6 percent and the number of private sector jobs increased by 0.5 percent between February 2007 and February 2008.

Educational and health services added the largest number of jobs (+39,900) over the February 2007-February 2008 period, with most of the increase in health care and social assistance (+31,900). Employment also increased in leisure and hospitality; government; trade, transportation and utilities; construction; other services; information; professional and business services; and financial activities.

Manufacturing (-15,800) registered the largest over-the-year drop among declining industries. Manufacturing job losses were mostly in non-durable goods. The over-the-year decline in non-durable goods employment (-9,800) was centered in chemical manufacturing (-3,800) and apparel manufacturing (-3,300). Employment losses in durable goods (-6,000) were centered in computer and electronic product manufacturing (-1,700) and transportation equipment manufacturing (-1,700). Employment also decreased over the year in natural resources and mining.

Industries With Job Gains:
Educational & Health Services +39,900
Leisure & Hospitality +14,600
Government +12,300
Trade, Transportation & Utilities +9,700
Construction +6,500
Other Services +5,000
Information +3,500
Professional & Business Services +3,300
Financial Activities +1,100

Industries With Job Losses:
Manufacturing -15,800
Natural Resources & Mining -100


4.) Nonfarm jobs since January 2008 (not seasonally adjusted):

Total nonfarm jobs +33,300
Private sector jobs +12,800

In February 2008, New York State had 8,651,500 total nonfarm jobs, including 7,130,200 private sector jobs. From January 2008 to February 2008, the number of nonfarm jobs increased by 33,300 and the number of private sector jobs increased by 12,800. On average, in the previous ten years, the number of nonfarm jobs in New York increased by 48,100 from January to February, and the number of private sector jobs increased by 25,400.

The not seasonally adjusted job count increased over the month in educational and health services (+33,900), government (+20,500), leisure and hospitality (+8,700), other services (+1,200), information (+1,000), and financial activities (+100). The job count decreased over the month in trade, transportation and utilities (-22,900), construction (-8,400), manufacturing (-600), and professional and business services (-200). Natural resources and mining employment was unchanged over the month.

5.) New York State nonfarm job highlights since January 2008 (not seasonally adjusted):

Educational and health services
Over-the-month employment increases were mostly due to seasonal gains at colleges, universities and professional schools.

Government
The increase in public sector employment reflected the return of local elementary and secondary schools, as well as public colleges and universities, from winter break.

Leisure and hospitality
Leisure and hospitality employment increased, with hiring focused in accommodation and food services, particularly food services and drinking places.

Other services
This sector’s over-the-month employment gain was centered in religious, grantmaking, civic, professional and similar organizations.

Information
Motion picture and sound recording accounted for February’s gain in sector employment.

Financial activities
Results in this sector were mixed as job gains in finance and insurance just outpaced losses in real estate and rental leasing.

Natural resources and mining
Natural resources and mining employment was unchanged in February.

Professional and business services
Job losses in administrative support services and in management of companies and enterprises outpaced seasonal gains in professional, scientific and technical services.

Manufacturing
Manufacturing’s job count dropped over the month due to losses in non-durable goods, particularly in printing and related support activities.

Construction
Construction sector employment decreased seasonally, especially in specialty trade contractors.

Trade, transportation and utilities
Most of this month's employment decrease reflected seasonal losses in retail trade, particularly in clothing and clothing accessories stores and general merchandise stores.


6.) Metropolitan Areas:

Job Growth and Unemployment Rates (not seasonally adjusted):

Albany-Schenectady-Troy: Since February 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs has increased by 500, or 0.1 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has decreased by 500, or 0.2 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in February 2008, compared with 5.0 in January and 4.4 in February 2007.

Binghamton: Since February 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs has increased by 800, or 0.7 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has increased by 800, or 0.9 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in February 2008, compared with 5.6 in January and 5.3 in February 2007.

Buffalo-Niagara Falls: Since February 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs has increased by 2,200, or 0.4 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has increased by 300, or 0.1 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 6.3 percent in February 2008, compared with 6.1 in January and 5.4 in February 2007.

Glens Falls: Since February 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs has increased by 800, or 1.5 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has increased by 700, or 1.7 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 6.5 percent in February 2008, compared with 6.1 in January and 5.6 in February 2007.

Ithaca: Since February 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs has increased by 500, or 0.8 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has increased by 500, or 0.9 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 3.5 percent in February 2008, compared with 3.9 in January and 3.3 in February 2007.

Kingston: Since February 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs has increased by 300, or 0.5 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has increased by 400, or 0.8 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 5.4 percent in February 2008, compared with 5.4 in January and 4.5 in February 2007.

Nassau-Suffolk: Since February 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs has increased by 13,800, or 1.1 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has increased by 12,000, or 1.2 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in February 2008, compared with 4.5 in January and 4.1 in February 2007.


New York City (five boroughs): Since February 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs has increased by 46,900, or 1.3 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has increased by 44,900, or 1.4 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in February 2008, compared with 6.1 in January and 5.0 in February 2007.

Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown: Since February 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs has increased by 700, or 0.3 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has increased by 100, or 0.1 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in February 2008, compared with 4.9 in January and 4.4 in February 2007.

Putnam-Rockland-Westchester: Since February 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs has increased by 6,300, or 1.1 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has increased by 5,000, or 1.1 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 4.5 percent in February 2008, compared with 4.4 in January and 3.9 in February 2007.

Rochester: Since February 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs has decreased by 200, or less than 0.1 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has decreased by 1,500, or 0.4 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in February 2008, compared with 5.5 in January and 4.9 in February 2007.

Syracuse: Since February 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs has increased by 3,200, or 1.0 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has increased by 2,900, or 1.1 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in February 2008, compared with 5.5 in January and 5.1 in February 2007.

Utica-Rome: Since February 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs has increased by 900, or 0.7 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has increased by 600, or 0.6 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 6.1 percent in February 2008, compared with 5.9 in January and 5.4 in February 2007.

Note: Labor force statistics, including the unemployment rate, for New York and every other state are based on statistical regression models specified by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Jobs data for New York are obtained from a survey of 18,000 business establishments. Jobs data exclude agricultural workers, the self-employed, unpaid family workers and domestic workers in private households.

Hi -Tech Census Costs, Accuracy in Doubt

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Big worries for the nation's first high-tech census should have been obvious when the door-to-door headcounters couldn't figure out their fancy new handheld computers.

MORE.

I've seen these handheld machines up close for only a brief time; they SEEMED easy enough...

Depository Libraries-GIO: Ask a Librarian

by Barbara Quint

A formal agreement between the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO; www.gpo.gov) and a network of 20 depository libraries has relaunched and expanded the scope of a virtual reference service called Government Information Online: Ask a Librarian (GIO; http://govtinfo.org). Be careful about using the dot-org. Typing "govtinfo.gov" will switch you to the USA.gov site. That may not be too much of a mistake in time. One of the primary strategies of the GIO service is to promote its existence through links from other leading dot-gov sites, such as USA.gov and Thomas. The engineering of such linkages falls mainly to GPO. The depository library participants, led by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and managed by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC; www.cic.net), will handle providing the free chat- and email-based virtual reference service.

Reference librarians from 20 academic, state, and public depository libraries will be available to direct users to information from government agencies, in particular federal, but state, regional, and local agencies as well. The federal government coverage should be consistently strong, as all the libraries involved are federal depositories. Coverage of state and local collections will vary, along with other expertise. John Shuler, project manager and bibliographer for urban planning and government information at UIC, describes the expertise of participant library collections and staff as stretching outside the GPO collection. "We draw on multiple sources and all levels, including specific local expertise. While all have generalized expertise for the federal

[ MORE]

Spring 2008 Local Government Workshop – May 9, 2008

For Brochure and Information Visit here.

In most cases the Local Government Workshop fulfills NYS law requiring training for local planning officials. Some sessions include Continuing Legal Education and Code Enforcement credit.

Voluntourism

A growing trend is taking hold in the travel industry: "voluntourism." In a combination of vacationing and volunteering, some Americans are foregoing time-shares and are instead sharing their time with people in need. In fact, surveys conducted by Travelocity, Orbitz, and the Travel Industry Association show that the number of groups offering these volunteer vacations has doubled over the past three years. The demographics of "voluntourists" vary widely: young, old, singles, families, and even honeymooners are taking advantage of this win-win situation.

Read more here.
Learn more here.

Population Estimates

I came across one of those depressing Population losses continue across WNY, according to Census estimates stories in the Buffalo News
"Erie County lost 5,001 residents last year, continuing a decade-long trend of annual population losses seen here and across upstate New York, according to new population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau."
What was interesting in the story, though, was a link to Population Change in all U.S. Counties: A searchable database. The details of the population growth or decline shows births and deaths for the past seven years. Of course, it's a variation of The Population Estimates from the Census Bureau, released on March 20, 2008, but it's still rather nifty.

The Impact of a New Recession on State and Local Governments

Rockefeller Institute Senior Fellow Donald J. Boyd examines the impact a new recession is likely to have on state and local governments. Boyd warns that, unless the economy rebounds, volatility in most state revenue systems may force midyear spending reductions this year and other unpopular policy actions in 2009. Boyd’s new research on both states and localities, in a March 14 presentation to analysts at Fidelity Investments, expands upon his recent paper that analyzed how state finances would be affected by a recession. Both reports are available here.

Agricultural Stats

A librarian friend of mine, who used to work at the NYS Small Business Development Center, e-mailed me Starting an Agriculture Business. I mention it here because the early pages discuss the great import of agriculture in the Empire State, a fact I suspect people from other parts of the country would be surprised by.

Cheap gas prices

OK, not really. But getting the CHEAPEST gas prices can be found here at Gas Buddy.com. My wife's already susssed out the cheapest gas in Albany, alas. Some ZIP Codes don't work, but check by state, then county, then place.

Even easier to use Gas Prices at Mapquest, where one sees a map of the area to discover that there is, at this writing, even cheaper gas in Troy.

UN Data

The Hill Library Business Web Site of the Week:

A restaurant in the Twin Cities has a billboard campaign claiming that their international kitchen is like the UN, but productive. Zing. Clearly, however, this restaurant has not seen data.un.org.

This tool, hosted by the United Nations, collects in-depth statistics on countries, commodities, products, and people. Using the site, one can get historical, current, and - often - projected statistics on such varying topics as the amount of chewing gum imported to the Philippines, the literacy rate in Saudi Arabia, population growth in Panama, or the number of divorces in Croatia.

Search the site by country name, demographic keyword, or product type - or browse the individual databases to get a feel for the breadth of information available. At least statistic-gathering-wise, the UN is totally productive.

Project Sunlight

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Want to find out what your state and local elected officials are up to?

New York State has a new Web site that makes that task much easier. It's called Project Sunlight, a Web site created by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo under a law passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Spitzer. It puts better government accountability a click away.

The new Web site strips away the bureaucracy that surrounds much of how public policy is influenced in state government.

There's information on each piece of legislation, which lawmakers are sponsoring it and which lobbyists are supporting or opposing the measure. You can also check on campaign contributions and how much pork-barrel spending lawmakers are getting for their home districts.

The Web site's address is www.sunlightny.com.

Economic stimulus payment update

If you or someone you know that generally does not have to file a 2007 return but must do so for the economic stimulus payment:

Last week, IRS announced that the IRS Free File program is now available for nonfilers who must file a 2007 return to receive an economic stimulus payment.

IR-2008-34 has more information.

Income is not income

Money: A song written by Berry Gordy, first recorded by Barrett Strong, then a bit later by a British band called the Beatles.

But income is not income. If you check the results of the Census/ACS and BEA for similar time frames, you'll see two different definitions of income. The Census/ACS definition is MONEY income. BEA measures PERSONAL income.

Data Detective Lenny explains:
Money income is essentially gross cash received on a regular basis (inheritence, etc. are not included). So wages and salaries are measured before taxes are removed.

According to the BEA web site:
Personal Income is the income that is received by all persons from all sources. It is calculated as the sum of wage and salary disbursements, supplements to wages and salaries, proprietors' income with inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments, rental income of persons with capital consumption adjustment, personal dividend income, personal interest income, and personal current transfer receipts, less contributions for government social insurance.

The personal income of an area is the income that is received by, or on behalf of, all the individuals who live in the area; therefore, the estimates of personal income are presented by the place of residence of the income recipients.

This includes such income as housing subsidies, Medicare/Medicaid payments to hospitals on behalf of individuals, etc. even though the individual does not personally see it. The idea is that this is money supporting individuals. So the BEA figures will be significantly different ($10k higher) then the Census Bureau's.

Wal-Mart Takes a Chance on Bloggers

Bloggers with Attitude...Inside Wal-Mart? By David Weir (March 3rd, 2008 @ 3:14 pm).

Is BOCES A Model for Municipal Reform?

While critics, including Governor Spitzer, say New York State has too many local governments, a promising cost-saving reform may be creation of still more local entities — regional cooperative entities similar to the BOCES organizations that serve school districts — the Rockefeller Institute’s deputy director, Robert B. Ward, suggests. His article, BOCES: A Model for Municipal Reform?, appears in the Winter 2007 edition of the New York State Bar Association’s Government, Law and Policy Journal.

Rebuilding the Government Statistics Infrastructure

The Committee on National Statistics of the National Academies issued a report in January 2006 on the first-ever review of the work of the Governments Division of the U.S. Census Bureau. Panel member Yolanda Kodrzycki of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston prepared a policy brief on the work of the panel and its findings.

As the full report ($55) reads: "Since the early days of the nation, the federal government has collected information on the revenues, expenditures, and other features of state and local jurisdictions and their operations. Today, these data are collected primarily by the Governments Division of the U.S. Census Bureau, which has conducted a census of governments every 5 years since 1957. The division also manages a program of related annual and quarterly surveys, as well as a comprehensive directory of state and local governments. All of this work is now taking place in an environment of constrained resources, and there have been cutbacks in the availability and dissemination of the data."

Department of Correctional Services reports

A variety of Research Studies and Legislative Reports is now available online from the Department of Correctional Services. Titles include the Annual Shock Legislative Report, Profile of Inmate Population Under Custody, Inmate Escape Incidents, and Female Homicide Commitments.

1 in 100 Adults Now in Prison

2,319,258 Americans Behind Bars in 2008, Most of Any Nation.

Postage going up

Starting May 12; those "forever stamps" are still available...

Foreclosures increase 8% in January 2008

RealtyTrac®, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, released its January 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ this week, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sales notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 233,001 properties during the month, an increase of 8 percent from the previous month and an increase of nearly 57 percent from January 2007.