Disparities in STEM Employment by Demographics and Education

From Disparities in STEM Employment by Sex, Race, & Hispanic Origin

Industry, government, and academic leaders cite increasing the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce as a top concern. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine describe STEM as “high-quality, knowledge-intensive jobs . . . that lead to discovery and new technology,” improving the U.S. economy and standard of living.

In 2007, Congress passed the America COMPETES Act, reauthorized in 2010, to increase funding for STEM education and research. One focus area for increasing the STEM workforce has been to reduce disparities in STEM employment by sex, race, and Hispanic origin. Historically, women, Blacks, and Hispanics have been underrepresented in STEM
employment.


From The Relationship Between Science & Engineering Education and Employment in STEM Occupations

A question one might ask is whether increased training in science and engineering yields more STEM workers. This report explores the links between educational attainment, science and engineering training in college, and employment in a STEM occupation. Several pathways may increase the STEM workforce. Science and engineering training in college could result in subsequent STEM employment. Alternatively, or in addition, the number of STEM workers without a bachelor’s degree in a science and engineering field could grow.

World Statistics Pocketbook, 2013 edition

The World Statistics Pocketbook, 2013 edition is an annual compilation of key statistical indicators prepared by the United Nations Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Over 50 indicators have been collected from more than 20 international statistical sources and are presented in one-page profiles for 216 countries or areas of the world. This issue covers various years from 2005 to 2012. For the economic indicators, in general, three years - 2005, 2010 and 2011 - are shown; for the indicators in the social and environmental categories, data for one year are presented.

The topics covered include: agriculture, balance of payments, education, energy, environment, food, gender, health, industrial production, information and communication, international finance, international tourism, international trade, labour, migration, national accounts, population and prices. The technical notes contain brief descriptions of the concepts and methodologies used in the compilation of the indicators as well as information on the statistical sources for the indicators. Reference to primary sources of the data is provided for readers interested in longer time-series data or more detailed descriptions of the concepts or methodologies.

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/pocketbook/World_Statistics_Pocketbook_2013_edition.pdf Direct link to United Nations Statistics Division PDF document

BLS Releases Consumer Expenditures: 2012

Average expenditures per consumer unit in 2012 were $51,442, an increase of 3.5 percent from 2011 levels, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This surpassed the spending peak recorded in 2008, after which the effects of the recession led to a low of $48,109 in 2010. The 2012 calendar year increase in spending outpaced the 2.1-percent increase in prices for goods and services during the same period, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). This contrasts with 2010-2011, when the increase in average expenditures mirrored the increase in prices. Read more here.

European Social Statistics: 2013 edition

The pocketbook European Social Statistics provides a comparative overview of the social statistics available in Europe. The most recent data are presented here showing the situation in the 27 Member States and at the European and Euro area levels (EU-27 and EA-17 aggregates) where relevant as well as in EFTA (including Iceland, which is also a candidate country) and candidate countries when available (Montenegro, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey). This pocketbook, intended for both generalists and specialists, is divided into seven parts.

Each of the seven chapters focuses on an area of social conditions. Within each chapter, a range of policy-relevant indicators, as well as more descriptive data, are presented in tables and graphs and accompanied by a short commentary.

Direct link to PDF document from Eurostat.

Hispanic college enrollment rate surpasses that of whites

A new U.S. Census Bureau report shows that after several years of gains, college enrollments in the U.S. fell between 2011 and 2012. But for one group—Hispanics—college enrollments were up, reflecting Hispanic population growth along with a growing share of young Latinos prepared for college. The new Census Bureau data also shows Hispanic students reached other milestones in 2012, continuing recent upward trends in educational attainment and college attendance.

For the first time, a greater share of Hispanic recent high school graduates are enrolled in college than whites. College enrollment rates among 18- to 24-year old Hispanics who had completed high school continued their upward march in 2012. According to the Census Bureau, 49% of young Hispanic high school graduates were enrolled in college. By comparison, 47% of white non-Hispanic high school graduates were enrolled in college. These findings reflect those of a May Pew Research Center report that showed the share of Hispanic high school graduates enrolled in college immediately after high school surpassed whites in 2012.

While the share of recent Hispanic high school graduates enrolled in college has surpassed that of whites, the same is not true among all young people ages 18 to 24. Because Hispanics have a higher high school dropout rate than whites, the share of all Hispanics ages 18 to 24 in college lags than of whites – 37.5% among Hispanics compared with 42.1% among whites.

N.S.A. Foils Much Internet Encryption

The National Security Agency is winning its long-running secret war on encryption, using supercomputers, technical trickery, court orders and behind-the-scenes persuasion to undermine the major tools protecting the privacy of everyday communications in the Internet age, according to newly disclosed documents.

The agency has circumvented or cracked much of the encryption, or digital scrambling, that guards global commerce and banking systems, protects sensitive data like trade secrets and medical records, and automatically secures the e-mails, Web searches, Internet chats and phone calls of Americans and others around the world, the documents show.

Many users assume — or have been assured by Internet companies — that their data is safe from prying eyes, including those of the government, and the N.S.A. wants to keep it that way. The agency treats its recent successes in deciphering protected information as among its most closely guarded secrets, restricted to those cleared for a highly classified program code-named Bullrun, according to the documents, provided by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor.

READ MORE from the New York Times

21 Percent of Married-Couple Households Have at Least One Foreign-Born Spouse

The U.S. Census Bureau reported today that 11.4 million married-couple households, or 21 percent of all married-couple households in America in 2011, had at least one spouse born in another country. About 13 percent (7.3 million) of households had two foreign-born spouses, and 7 percent (4.1 million) had one native-born and one foreign-born spouse.

These statistics come from Married-Couple Households by Nativity Status: 2011, a brief that analyzes data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

“The number of mixed-nativity married-couple households corresponds with the increase in immigration to the United States over the last several decades,” said Elizabeth Grieco, chief of the Census Bureau’s Foreign-Born Population Branch. “As the immigrant population has grown, so has the chance that a native-born person will meet and marry a foreign-born spouse.”

There were approximately 56 million married-couple households in the United States in 2011.

Of the households where husband and wife were both foreign-born residents, about 61 percent included at least one naturalized citizen spouse, including 41 percent where both were naturalized U.S. citizens and 20 percent where only one spouse was naturalized.

Other highlights from the brief:

--Among the mixed-nativity married-couple households — households with one native-born and one foreign-born spouse — the foreign-born spouse was more likely to be the wife (55 percent) than the husband (45 percent).

--Foreign-born spouses in mixed-nativity married-couple households were more likely to be naturalized U.S. citizens (61 percent) than noncitizens (39 percent).

--Foreign-born spouses in mixed-nativity married-couple households were most likely to have been born in Latin America and the Caribbean (40 percent), followed by Europe (26 percent) and Asia (23 percent).

--Foreign-born husbands in mixed-nativity married-couple households were more likely than foreign-born wives to have been born in Latin America and the Caribbean. In contrast, foreign-born wives were more likely than foreign-born husbands to have been born in Asia.

--Among all states, Hawaii (16 percent) had the highest percentage of married-couple households that were of mixed nativity, while Mississippi, South Dakota and West Virginia (2 percent in each state) had the lowest percentages.

This nativity status brief, based on data collected from the American Community Survey, focuses on married-couple households, defined as households including a householder with a spouse present. Households consisting of a married householder with an absent spouse or an unmarried householder with an unmarried partner present were not included in this analysis. In addition, married couples in which neither spouse is a householder were not included.

The American Community Survey is an ongoing statistical survey sent to about 3 million households across the country each year. The survey provides a wide range of important statistics about people and housing for every community across the nation. The results are used by everyone from town and city planners to retailers and homebuilders. The survey is the only source of local statistics for most of the 40 topics it covers, such as education, occupation, language, ancestry and housing costs for even the smallest communities. Ever since Thomas Jefferson directed the first census in 1790, the census has collected detailed characteristics about our nation’s people. Questions about jobs and the economy were added 20 years later under James Madison, who said such information would allow Congress to “adapt the public measures to the particular circumstances of the community,” and over the decades allow America “an opportunity of marking the progress of the society.”

1 in 5 Households Experience Hardships in Meeting Basic Needs

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that in 2011, 22 percent of households experienced one or more possible “hardships” in fulfilling their basic needs in the previous 12 months. These hardships included difficulty meeting essential expenses, not paying rent or mortgage, getting evicted, not paying utilities, having utilities or phone service cut off, not seeing a doctor or dentist when needed or not always having enough food. Among all households, 9 percent experienced exactly one of them, 7 percent experienced two of the hardships and 6 percent endured three or more.

These statistics come from Extended Measures of Well-Being: Living Conditions in the United States: 2011, a report based on the Survey of Income and Program Participation. The report measures well-being based on housing conditions, neighborhood conditions, community services, possession of specific types of appliances and electronic goods, the ability to meet basic needs and the expectation of help in meeting these needs ─ if necessary ─ from friends, family and the community. These measures are compared both across demographic groups and over time.

This Census Bureau report covers the period from 2005, before the recent recession, to 2011, or about two years after the recession ended. During this period, several measures of financial difficulty showed signs of worsening. The number of households with unmet essential expenses increased from 16.4 million to 20.0 million (from 14 percent to 16 percent of all households), and the number of households experiencing food shortages rose from 2.7 million to 3.4 million (2 percent to 3 percent). The number of households with unpaid rent or mortgage payments increased 2.7 million to 9.6 million (6 percent to 8 percent).

Most households (86 percent) expected to obtain help from friends, family or community agencies if they were to have trouble fulfilling any of their basic needs. However, when such needs did arise, few actually received such help. For instance, when a householder had trouble making rent or mortgage payments, only 5 percent received assistance from friends, 17 percent from family members and 10 percent from other sources.

One measure of well-being is the possession of electronic goods. For example, the report shows that in 2011, 28 percent of households had only a cellular phone (no landline), up from less than 1 percent in 1998, when these data were first collected. Among householders younger than 30, the rate was 65 percent. In contrast, one in 10 of all households had a landline phone only, down from six in 10 in 1998. Overall, cell phone ownership grew sharply, with only 36 percent of households owning one in 1998, but 89 percent doing so in 2011.

Other highlights:

The number of American households that could not meet basic expenses increased by 16 percent (from 16.4 million to 19.1 million) from 2005 to 2011. During that same period, the number unable to pay their rent or mortgage increased by 39 percent.

Among all householders in 2011, only 64 percent had all six of the following appliances and electronic goods: clothes washer, clothes dryer, refrigerator, stove, dishwasher and a landline or cell phone.

While 71 percent of non-Hispanic white households had this full set of six appliances and electronic goods, only 44 percent of Hispanic householders did so.

Southern householders were more likely to have a full set of appliances and electronic goods (69 percent) as well as uniformly positive neighborhood conditions (77 percent) than those in the rest of the nation.

The percentage of households with a microwave climbed from 82 percent in 1992 to 97 percent in 2011. Similarly, the percentage with a computer jumped from 21 percent to 78 percent over the period. Landline phones followed the opposite trend; the share of households with landlines fell from 96 percent in 1998 to 71 percent in 2011.

After a Recent Upswing, College Enrollment Declines

According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released today, college enrollment in fall 2012 plunged by half a million (467,000) from one year earlier. This decline, which includes both graduate and undergraduate enrollment, follows a period of substantial growth ─ 3.2 million ─ between 2006 and 2011.

These statistics come from School Enrollment: 2012. As the nation’s students begin a new school year, the Census Bureau releases its annual set of tables on the characteristics of children and adults enrolled in school at all levels ─ from nursery to graduate school. Among the characteristics examined are age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, nativity and foreign-born parentage.

This decline in college enrollment was driven by older students ─ that is, those 25 and older. Their enrollment fell by 419,000, while the enrollment of younger students declined by 48,000.

Hispanics didn’t follow the trend, as the number enrolled in college grew by 447,000 from 2011 to 2012. Meanwhile, non-Hispanic white enrollment declined by 1.1 million and black enrollment by 108,000. From 2006 to 2012, the percentage of all college students who were Hispanic rose from 11 percent to 17 percent. The percentage who were black also rose (from 14 percent to 15 percent), but the percent of non-Hispanic white students declined from 67 percent to 58 percent.

“This increase in the number of Hispanics enrolled in college can be attributed to the combination of an increase in the adult Hispanic population and their climbing likelihood of being enrolled,” said Julie Siebens, a statistician in the Census Bureau’s Education and Social Stratification Branch.

The tables released today cover specific topics such as enrollment by grade, the attendance status of nursery school students and characteristics of their mothers, the type of school college students attend (two-year, four-year, etc.) and whether they attend full or part time, students taking vocational courses and the enrollment status of recent high school graduates. The information was collected in the October 2012 Current Population Survey.

Also released today was School Enrollment in the United States: 2011, a report that examines the characteristics of people enrolled in school at all levels using statistics from the Current Population Survey, American Community Survey and federal sources outside the Census Bureau. It covers some topics not typically covered in Census Bureau reports, such as Head Start, charter schools, home schooling and receipt of financial aid.

Although most of the statistics are national-level, some state-level data from the American Community Survey are presented. Updated 2012 American Community Survey statistics on school enrollment covering states and all geographic areas with populations of 65,000 or more will be published in September.

Other national highlights from the 2012 Current Population Survey tables:

--In 2012, 78 million people, or 26.4 percent of the population 3 or older, were enrolled in school.

--In 2012, there were 19.9 million college students, including 5.8 million enrolled in two-year colleges, 10.3 million in four-year colleges and 3.8 million in graduate school.

--In 2012, there were 4.2 million students enrolled in private elementary and high schools (first through 12th grade), down from 4.8 million in 2005.

--Non-Hispanic white children in 2012 comprised 53 percent of elementary school students, down from 58 percent in 2005. Hispanic children made up 24 percent of elementary students in 2012, up from 20 percent in 2005. Black children comprised 15 percent of elementary students in 2012, down from 16 percent in 2005.

--Students who were born in another country or whose parents were foreign-born comprised 32 percent of all those enrolled in school at all levels in 2012.

--While most students are under 25, there were 804,000 students age 50 and older enrolled in schools at all levels in 2012.

Haters Are Gonna Hate, Study Confirms

From Slate:

Haters really are going to hate. A new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology corroborates the hip-hop and Internet truism that you just can’t win with some people.

In their paper “Attitudes Without Objects,” psychologists Justin Hepler and Dolores Albarracin show that those who already hold a lot of negative views are more likely to react negatively to new stimuli.

Program on Applied Demographics' subcounty profiles for NYS

In addition to the County profiles previously announced, Cornell's Program on Applied Demographics has recently produced booklets with data on towns, cities and villages in NYS. They contain data from the Decennial census, the population estimates program and the ACS. The data is organized by county.

Profiles for the Indian reservations within New York are in a separate booklet together with data on the American Indian population in New York.

All profiles can be downloaded here.

Special issue on financial activities of purported terrorists

Here is the release of Volume VII, Issue 4 (August 2013) of Perspectives on Terrorism at www.terrorismanalysts.com. This is a special "single theme" issue, offering insights and analyses about the financial activities of terrorists, with a particular emphasis on one of the world's most powerful and well-financed groups-the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah. In the first piece, Michael Freeman and Moyara Reuhsen offer a brief tour through the complex world of terrorist strategies for raising and moving funds. Then Matthew Levitt offers a case study of Hezbollah's European criminal enterprises. Joel Hernandez follows him with a detailed case study of the intersections between Hezbollah and global trafficking networks, including the infamous Mexican cartel Los Zetas.

Contents

Terrorism Financing Methods: An Overview by Michael Freeman and Moyara Reuhsen

Hezbollah's Organized Criminal Enterprises in Europe by Matthew Levitt

Terrorism, Drug Trafficking and the Globalization of Supply by Joel Hernández

Draining the Ocean to Catch one Type of Fish: Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Global Counter-Terrorism Financing Regime by Aimen Dean, Edwina Thompson, & Tom Keatinge

The Art of Searching: How to Find Terrorism Literature in the Digital Age by Judith Tinnes

Literature and Online Resources on the Financing of Terrorism, Compiled and selected by Eric Price

The true true size of Africa

LAST month Kai Krause, a computer-graphics guru, caused a stir with a map entitled "The True Size of Africa", which showed the outlines of other countries crammed into the outline of the African continent. His aim was to make "a small contribution in the fight against rampant Immappancy"—in particular, the fact that most people do not realise how much the ubiquitous Mercator projection distorts the relative sizes of countries.

A sphere cannot be represented on a flat plane without distortion, which means all map projections distort in one way or another. Some projections show areas accurately but distort distances or scales, for example; others preserve the shapes of countries but misrepresent their areas.

More from The Economist.

Why Are Cities Growing Again?

Why are the nation's urban centers growing again? The reasons are complex and not easily explained, often resulting in circular arguments such as "Millennials apparently drive less because they prefer walkable places and they prefer walkable places because they drive less," says Robert Steuteville, editor and publisher of Better! Cities and Towns.

Steuteville unravels the mystery of why cities are growing in one of the most insightful pieces on the topic to date, Why Are Young Adults Returning to the City?. He thinks four factors are behind the growing preference for urban life.

1. Millennials "looked around their home towns and saw something missing," says Steuteville. Take a drive and you soon see what he means. In the decades since the baby-boom generation populated small town and suburban America, those areas have lost their soul.

More from Cheryl Russell's Demo Memo blog.

6.5 Percent of All Humans Ever Born are Still Alive Today

It is estimated that the number of humans who have been born in the last fifty thousand years (when modern humans appeared) is near 107 billion. But the percentage of humans ever born who are alive today is 6.5 percent. Not only is this astonishing, but there are 22 other astonishing facts revealed HERE.

Few Plan for College Expenses

Description from the New Strategist:

Only 43 percent of American families know how they will pay for college before their child enrolls in school, according to the latest Sallie Mae report, How America Pays for College 2013. The college cost "surprise" that greets many families as their child heads out the door is one factor behind the rise in student debt.

The typical family with an 18-to-24-year-old enrolled in an undergraduate program paid $21,178 for college in the 2012-13 school year. The funds came from a combination of parent income and savings ($5,727), loans ($5,760), grants and scholarships ($6,355), student income ($2,284), and gifts from relatives and friends ($1,053).

And in a similar vein, The One Comic That Explains Just How Screwed America Is.

Do Americans Believe Capitalism and Government Are Working?

Description by American Consumers: August 2013

A survey of religious beliefs combined with economic and social attitudes finds Americans falling into four philosophical camps:

38% religious moderates
28% religious conservatives
19% religious progressives
15% nonreligious

Not surprisingly, these four groups differ in size by political party, according to the timely report, Do Americans Believe Capitalism and Government Are Working? by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution.

Tax Department Launches Statewide STAR Registration

The New York State Tax Department unveiled an easy, fast and secure online STAR Registration platform for homeowners currently receiving the Basic STAR property tax exemption. The system will facilitate Governor Cuomo's 2013-14 Budget initiative to save New York taxpayers millions by eliminating inappropriate STAR property tax exemptions.

Homeowners will not have to register in order to receive their 2013 STAR exemptions.
Homeowners will not have to re-register every year. Based on the information provided in the registration process, the Tax Department will monitor homeowners' eligibility in future years.

You can register for the STAR exemption online. You'll need to:
provide a STAR code (we're mailing codes to all Basic STAR recipients; or you can use the STAR code lookup)
provide the names and social security numbers for all owners of the property and spouses
confirm that the property is the primary residence of one of its owners (married couples with multiple residences may only claim one STAR exemption)
confirm that the combined income of the owners and their spouses who reside at the property does not exceed $500,000
confirm that no resident owner received a residency-based tax benefit from another state

You can also register by calling (518) 457-2036

Registration started on August 19, 2013 and will continue through December 31, 2013.

Senior citizens

Senior citizens receiving the Enhanced STAR exemption are not affected by the new registration requirement. Seniors must, however, continue to:

apply annually, or
participate in the Income Verification Program


More information HERE.

Addendum: as of 8/21/2013, residences in the following localities were not currently available via the lookup, and may have to wait for the letter, or come back.
Dutchess County
City of Geneva
Nassau County
Putnam County
Rockland County
Sullivan County
Suffolk County
Westchester County

On being ‘right’ in science

From PLOS:

The other day I was standing around with a few friends arguing about ergonomics (these are the things you do when you’re a graduate scientist). At one point, my friend referenced a presentation that was chock full of the worst kinds of sensationalist science writing (it said that the act of sitting was literally killing you).

As a scientist and writer myself, I jumped all over the presentation, calling it sham science, and pointing out the many ways in which it was confusing or obscuring the truth. Expecting to be met with nodding approval, I instead faced several annoyed looks and the strong feeling that I was being wished out of the room. I didn’t understand what was wrong – they had presented a piece of evidence, and I had summarily shot it down. Isn’t that what arguing is all about? Instead of feeling right, I felt like a jerk.

And then I realized something: it didn’t matter whether I was right; nobody was listening to me anymore.

Many scientists run into this situation on a daily basis, but understanding this problem digs into one of the biggest crises facing scientific research today: there’s a difference between being right and being persuasive. The first entails having the facts straight, and the second means convincing someone else to believe them.

...

Consider the fact that scientific theory and uninformed hand waving are often presented as equal and opposing sides to an argument in the media. Clearly, we are not getting the message across to the public that science is not opinion, it is an argument grounded in facts. It’s incredibly important to think about how we phrase our understanding of the world, as well as how we can make our ideas more relevant, interesting, and clear to the public. Don’t believe me? Just ask the climate scientists.

MAPS: What Your State Is Good At, And What It's Lame At

From Upworthy:

Just when you thought you knew everything about a red state or a blue state, these cool maps show that each state is No. 1 in some kind of environmental or public health initiative.