2014 Annual Capital Expenditures Survey

In 2014, U.S. businesses (nonfarm) invested $1.6 trillion in new and used buildings, structures, machinery and equipment (including computer software), up $110.8 billion (7.4 percent) from 2013. Investment spending in the mining sector totaled $228.7 billion in 2014, up $26.5 billion (13.1 percent) from 2013, with the oil and gas extraction industry accounting for $196.0 billion of the total spending, up $29.1 billion (17.5 percent) from 2013.

The Census Bureau’s Annual Capital Expenditures Survey provides estimates of all business expenditures during the year for new and used structures and equipment chargeable to asset accounts for which depreciation or amortization accounts are ordinarily maintained. Expenditures also include capitalized leasehold improvements and capitalized interest charges on loans used to finance capital projects.

Study Finds Caregiving Takes Physical, Emotional & Financial Toll

Family members of older adults with disabilities provide help with many tasks, including making doctor's appointments, keeping track of medicines and providing transportation.

A new report has found that these unpaid caregivers experience emotional, physical and financial difficulties, as well as lower work productivity. Researchers estimate that 14.7 million caregivers assisted 7.7 million older adults in 2011. Caregivers who provided "substantial" help were more likely to report emotional, physical or financial difficulties.

More from the NIH

Demographic and Economic Profiles of States Holding March 1 Primaries and Caucuses

In advance of the March 1 primaries and caucuses, the U.S. Census Bureau presents a variety of statistics that give an overall profile of each participating state’s voting-age population and industries. Statistics include:

·        Voting-age population and estimate of eligible voters (i.e., citizens age 18 and older).

·        Breakdown of voting-age population by race and Hispanic origin

·        Selected economic characteristics, including median household income and poverty.

·        Selected social characteristics, including educational attainment.

·        County Business Patterns (providing information on employment by specific industries).

·        Statistics on voting and registration.

CDC Report: Lifetime Risk of HIV Diagnosis in the United States

A CDC study released in February 2016 provides the first-ever comprehensive national estimates of the lifetime risk of
an HIV diagnosis for several key populations at risk and in every state. Overall, the likelihood that an American will be
diagnosed with HIV at any point during his or her life is now 1 in 99, an improvement from a previous study using 2004-
2005 data that reported lifetime risk at 1 in 78. Despite overall progress, this study reveals stark disparities by race, risk
group and geography.

Lifetime Risk of an HIV Diagnosis Varies by Mode of Transmission


More from the CDC.

Five Ways to Ease the Burden of Your Passing

Nobody likes to plan for when bad things happen. But not doing so can put more stress on your nearest and dearest at a time of grief or worry.

Taking a few simple steps now to plan ahead, while you’re of sound mind and body, can ease the burden on your loved ones – and failure to do so usually compounds their pain. This month, the latest edition of If Something Should Happen: How to Organize Your Financial and Legal Affairs was published by the American Institute for Economic Research.

These tips will help individuals pull all their information together into one easy-to-understand workbook. Here are a few of the more important steps to take, sooner rather than later.

See more at AIER.

2013 NYS HIV/AIDS County Surveillance Report

The County HIV/AIDS Surveillance Reports for 2013, including and excluding State Prison Inmates, are now available on the DOH public web site..

Please note that if you use Internet Explorer to open the documents, you need to right click on the document to access the navigation buttons, which will allow you to open the bookmarks to navigate the documents.

This Year, More Than Half of Americans Will Use Facebook

This year, for the first time, more than half of the US population will use Facebook, according to eMarketer’s latest social network usage forecast. In 2016, 50.3% of Americans of all ages will be on Facebook at least once a month, up from 49.3% in 2015.

Facebook will remain the dominant social network by a wide margin through at least 2020, the end of eMarketer’s forecast period.

This year, 162.9 million US internet users will log on to the site at least once a month. Facebook-owned Instagram, the second-most-used social network, will have 89.4 million US users this year, or 27.6% of the population. Twitter is a distant third, with 56.8 million users this year, representing 17.5% of the US population.

- See more at: eMarketer.com

February 2016 Author Earnings Report: Amazon’s Ebook, Print, and Audio Sales

Two years ago, the first Author Earnings report revealed the growing market share of self-published ebooks. With data on hundreds of thousands of titles, it was suddenly possible to measure the relative sales and earnings power of ebooks according to publishing path. By sharing this data, we hoped to help authors understand the changing market in order to make sound decisions with their manuscripts. In the two years since, our quarterly snapshots have revealed emerging trends in the digital publishing world.

In two short years, the market share of paid unit sales between indie and Big 5 ebooks has more than inverted. The Big 5 now account for less than a quarter of ebook purchases on Amazon, while indies are closing in on 45%.

More from Author Earnings.com

"When does my passport expire?"

This is a question we ask ourselves before any big trip. If you haven't checked your passport's expiration date in a while and are planning a trip overseas, you could be in for an unpleasant surprise. Passports expiring in 2016 must be renewed as soon as possible.

Some countries are also now requiring that you have a passport that has been valid for at least 6 months. As spring and summer travel plans come up, passport agencies become even busier.

So don't put it off and renew your passport today! For more information on overseas travel, visit USA.gov. 

Earned Income Tax Credit available for Noncustodial Parent

Earned income tax credits can add up to $8,427 for a family with three children. As many as 430,000 eligible New Yorkers may be missing out on this benefit. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and the New York State Office of Temporary Disability Assistance (OTDA) remind New York taxpayers to check their eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The EITC can reduce the amount of taxes owed or provide a substantial tax refund. However, based on IRS estimates, each year more than 430,000 eligible New Yorkers—including nearly 250,000 in New York City alone—may fail to claim the credit. (See chart below for county-by-county estimates.) EITCs are refundable federal, New York State, and New York City credits for working taxpayers earning up to the $53,267 maximum.

What New York State looks like, when you're not from New York State

Internet Publishing Industry Revenue Reached $110 Billion in 2014

Service Annual Survey Provides Comprehensive Statistics on Service Industries in U.S. Economy Jan. 28, 2016 — Revenue for Internet publishing and broadcasting and Web search portal (NAICS 519130) employer firms increased 13.1 percent to $109.6 billion between 2013 and 2014. These information sector firms are primarily engaged in publishing and/or broadcasting content on the Internet exclusively or in operating websites that use a search engine to generate and maintain extensive databases of Internet addresses and content in an easily searchable format. Revenue among wireless telecommunications carriers (NAICS 517210) – another industry in the information sector – grew 8.0 percent between 2013 and 2014 to $251.8 billion. All in all, information sector (NAICS 51) revenue increased 5.3 percent to $1.4 trillion for employer and nonemployer firms. This sector is primarily comprised of publishing industries, including software and Internet publishing, motion picture and sound recording, broadcasting and telecommunications.   These revenue data come from the Service Annual Survey, which provides the most comprehensive national statistics available each year on service industry activity in the United States.

Census Bureau Releases First 2012 Economic Census Product Lines Reports

The Census Bureau today released the first product lines reports from its 2012 Economic Census Subject Series. These reports present national and state-level data at the two through six- or seven-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) level. They provide statistics on number of establishments and sales/receipts/revenue by products and contributing industry. Reports were released for the following four sectors:

·        Retail Trade — This is the first report in the subject series for this sector. Presents data down to the six-digit NAICS level. The retail trade subject and summary series reports will be released on a flow basis through March 2016 on topics ranging from product lines to class of customer.

·        Utilities — This is the first report in the subject series for this sector. Presents data down to the six-digit NAICS level. The utilities sector subject and summary series reports will be released on a flow basis through June 2016 on topics ranging from product lines to construction activity.

·        Transportation and Warehousing — This is the first report in the subject series for this sector. Presents data down to the seven-digit NAICS level. The transportation and warehousing subject and summary series reports will be released on a flow basis through June 2016 on topics ranging from product lines to end of year inventories.

·        Accommodations and Food Services — Presents data down to the seven-digit NAICS level. The accommodations and food services subject and summary series reports will be released on a flow basis through June 2016 on topics ranging from product lines to average cost per meal.

Reasons people give for not being in the labor force, 2004 and 2014

People who are neither working nor looking for work are counted as “not in the labor force.” The proportion of the civilian working-age population who were in this group increased from 31.3 percent in 2004 to 35.0 percent in 2014. Over that 10-year period, the proportion of people who reported retirement as the main reason they were not working increased from 13.9 percent to 15.4 percent.

The proportion of the working-age population reporting school attendance as the main reason for being out of the labor force rose from 5.0 percent in 2004 to 6.4 percent in 2014. The percentage who cited illness or disability as the main reason increased from 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent over that same period. The proportion citing home responsibilities declined from 6.0 percent in 2004 to 5.4 percent in 2014.

More from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Travel Warning: Protect Yourself from Zika Virus

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a health travel alert for people traveling to or from countries and regions where Zika virus is spreading. The list includes:

Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Suriname, and Venezuela. 

There have been no reports of locally-transmitted cases within the United States, but infected travelers have returned to the U.S. from these regions.

Zika virus is primarily transmitted by mosquitoes. The resulting disease is usually mild and does not require hospitalization, but may cause birth defects in babies whose mothers were infected while pregnant. There is no vaccine to prevent or drugs to treat it, but if you have to travel to the affected regions, you can follow these recommendations to avoid mosquito bites that transmit Zika virus and other diseases.

Find more information on the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of Zika virus.

Old music is outselling new music for the first time in history

Despite the massive success of Adele's album 25, which sold a whopping 7.4 million copies in only six weeks, 2015 marked the first time in U.S. history that new releases were outsold by catalogue albums. Seems like everyone's been feeling extra nostalgic lately.

The term "catalogue" refers to albums released more than 18 months ago. According to Nielsen's annual year end music report, catalogue albums outsold current releases by 4.3 million copies, something never before seen in the industry. Just 10 years ago, current music sales outpaced catalogue music by over 150 million albums. Keep in mind that these stats don't include album streams, but regardless, it's a significant turning point.

More from Chart Attack

The sky is falling on print newspapers faster than you think

Last October, a McKinsey report declared, “We believe that many of the people likely to abandon print newspapers and print consumer magazines have already done so…. We believe most of this core audience — households that have retained their print subscriptions despite having access to broadband — will continue to do so for now, effectively putting a floor on the print markets.”

Is the only medium-term threat to print the fact that most of its current audience will gradually die over the next 30 years? That would be great news, especially because nearly all newspapers still get most of their revenue from print advertising.

But it doesn’t feel right in a world in which even mature adults’ media consumption habits seem to be quickly evolving.

More from Medium.com

2015 Was Hottest Year in Recorded History

From the New York Times:

Scientists reported Wednesday that 2015 was the hottest year in recorded history by far, breaking a record set only the year before — a burst of heat that has continued into the new year and is roiling weather patterns all over the world.

In the continental United States, the year was the second-warmest on record, punctuated by a December that was both the hottest and the wettest since record-keeping began. One result has been a wave of unusual winter floods coursing down the Mississippi River watershed.

Scientists started predicting a global temperature record months ago, in part because an El Niño weather pattern, one of the largest in a century, is dumping an immense amount of heat from the Pacific Ocean into the atmosphere. But the bulk of the record-setting heat, they say, is a consequence of the long-term planetary warming caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases.

For Better Relationships, Know Your Deal Breakers

What’s your relationship deal breaker? Bad manners? Selfishness? Someone who refers to herself using the “royal we”?

Most folks will admit to having a list of specific negative qualities that make them reconsider a relationship with a potential mate. But now new research shows that people give more weight to these deal breakers than they do to the deal makers, or positive qualities, they hope to find in a person.

Think of it as the relationship version of the economic loss-aversion theory, which holds that people prioritize avoiding risk over acquiring gains. In mating, people pay more attention to what’s wrong with a would-be partner than what is right.

In a series of six studies published together online in October in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, researchers... discovered that women have more deal breakers than men.

More from the Wall Street Journal.

Auckland, New Zealand is more diverse than London and New York

From the New Zealand Herald:

Auckland is one of the world's most culturally diverse cities with the fourth most foreign-born population, an international study has found.

With 39 per cent of its population born overseas, the city is revealed to be more diverse than Sydney, Los Angeles, London and even New York.

The 2015 World Migration Report from the International Organisation for Migration looks at how international migrants and migration were shaping cities.

Only Dubai, Brussels, where foreign born residents outnumber local born, and Toronto are ranked as cities with more overseas-born people than Auckland.