What's New — November 2001

Site of the Month: Bureau Labor Statistics Site

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has long been one of the most prolific producers of local and regional economic data, but frankly, they have not always had the easiest data access. Finally, however, we now think BLS has the data access tools to match the copious amount of available data they are producing.

You used to have to wade through several different screens to find the data you wanted: Now, on most major data series you click on "Get Detailed Statistics" and then on "Create Customized Tables", make all your selections on a single screen, and immediately view and/or download your selected data series. What's more, the site now uses a consistent interface, so whether your looking for current employment statistics on employment by industry or drilling down for local unemployment rates for a particular county, you'll be using basically the same set of tools. Navigating the overall BLS site is now clearer as well. 

Kudos to the BLS staff for sticking with it and giving us a much improved way of quickly getting to their data. Pay it a visit at:
http://www.bls.gov. 

Your favorite data series each have their own pages:
-Current Employment Statistics http://www.bls.gov/sae/home.htm
-Local Area Unemployment Statistics http://www.bls.gov/lau/home.htm
-Covered Employment http://www.bls.gov/cew/home.htm
-Mass Layoffs http://www.bls.gov/mls/home.htm

New Links Added

November's new links focus on energy. Now that last spring's electricity shortage concerns have abated and the price of gasoline and oil have started to ease, you might want to have a look at some of the various sets of data you can use to track the energy sector. All of this month's links come from the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, which runs an excellent, and recently revamped, clearinghouse of data. As usual, we've assembled links to all of their important sources of sate and substate data by topic.

Energy Information Administration

State Electricity Profiles
Extensive data set on generating capability, electricity generation, fuel use, retail sales, nuclear power, capacity factor, and pollutant emissions. 
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/toc.html

Energy Prices
Monthly, quarterly, and annual price data for petroleum, natural gas, electricity, and coal, by state.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/price.html

Energy Topics
Links to variety of energy tables, many for states, listed by topic.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/fueloverview.html

Petroleum State Data
Monthly and annual data on petroleum supply, transportation, refining, and consumption.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/states/_states_pet.html

Natural Gas State Data
Monthly and annual data on natural gas reserves, production, delivery, and prices.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/states/_states_ng.html

Coal Employment
Number of coal miners by type of mine, by state, annual data.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/data/coalemploy.html

State Coal Profiles
Annual data on coal reserves, production, prices, and use, with focus on 16 major coal-producing states.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/statepro/imagemap/usaimagemap.htm

Alternative Fueled Vehicles
Estimated number of alternative-fueled vehicles in use, by state.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/alternate/page/datatables/table3.html

Renewable Electricity
Renewable electric generation and net summer capability by state.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/rea_data/appendixc

Dismal's Regional Data on Vacation

Long one of our top ten sites for regional data, Dismal.com's handy interactive list of state and metropolitan data rankings is currently offline. Dismal.com, one of several web-based economic information services operated by economy.com, is in the midst of a major face-lift and the page is currently unavailable. 

Representatives of Dismal.com assure us that the page us only temporarily on hiatus and will again be operational. We'll post a new, updated link on our website as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, you might want to amuse yourself by looking at Dismal's clever "layoff calculator" that estimates the likelihood that you'll be laid off based on your location, industry and occupation:
http://www.dismal.com/dismal/dsp/tools/calculator/layoff.asp

Regional Information Clearinghouse

Ever need to get a quick statistical snapshot of a metropolitan area or multi-county area? The National Association of Regional Council's Regional Information Clearinghouse lets you quickly drill down through national and state level maps to identify sub-state regions. You'll then find a variety of regional data on population, employment, income, transportation, voter turnout and other characteristics. This is an especially useful tool for making quick comparisons of different geographic areas. You'll find it at:
http://www.narc.org/cogs/RICportal.html