What's New — December 2001

Site of the Month: United Way's State of Caring Index

The rekindled awareness of our common bonds, triggered by the tragedy of September 11, make this month's Site of the Month particularly timely. United Way, one of the nation's leading charitable organizations, has developed its own "State of Caring" index to measure the extent to which each of the 50 states is addressing a wide range of community needs.

The Caring Index consists of 24 indicators divided into five major groups: economy/financial well-being, education, health, voluntarism/charity/civic engagement, safety and environment. Data for individual states is summarized in a very dense 3-page Adobe acrobat file. We especially like the fact that unlike a lot of indexes and comparisons, United Way does a terrific job of showing all the data they use. You'll find the caring index at: 
http://www.unitedway.org/stateofcaring/soc_state.cfm

New Links Added

December's new links are a year-end grab-bag of interesting economic indicators, mostly at the state level. BEA's gross state product data give you an idea of the overall output of state economies, the Center for Policy Alternatives and Economic Policy Institute look at an eclectic range of indicators and current economic conditions. Entrepreneur magazine looks closely at minority owned businesses. And finally, if you're casting about for a new place to pursue your career in this recession, you might want to look at what Forbes and Milken have to say.

Bureau of Economic Analysis Gross State Product Analysis
http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/newsrel/gsp0601.htm

Center for Policy Alternatives State of the States Index of indicators concerning voter turnout, welfare, women, Medicaid enrollment, and Hispanic population.
http://www.stateaction.org/states/index.cfm

Economic Policy Institute State Economic Analysis (2001) Annual review of recent economic conditions, in terms of employment, unemployment, and wages, by state. Published September 2001. http://www.epinet.org/briefingpapers/laborday2001.html

Entrepreneur State Business Profiles Minority-owned businesses, and business turnover, income, and finance. Particular focus on small businesses.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/stateguide

Forbes and Milken Institute Best Places for Business and Career Annual rankings of top 200 metro areas as places to start a new business or career. Rankings based on salary and job growth and high technology activity.
http://www.forbes.com/bestplaces

Minority and Women-Owned Businesses

As part of the 1997 Economic Census, the Census Bureau collects detailed data on women and minority-owned businesses. You will find this data tabulated by minority group (Black, Hispanic, Asian-Pacific Islander, Native American) and by gender, for the nation, states, metropolitan areas, counties and census- designated places. We think a particularly useful series is the state-level tabulation by 2-digit standard industrial classification. You'll find this data at:
http://www.census.gov/csd/mwb/

These data summarize, at the company level, the total number of minority-owned businesses, regardless of race/gender. Census reports that there are more than 3 million minority-owned businesses, about 15 percent of the nation's total. The data are based both on Census surveys and an analysis of administrative records and include all corporations for the first time. Another particularly helpful feature: Census includes a powerpoint presentation explaining their methodology for assembling this data and highlighting key findings. It's a great place to start if you want to use this data:
http://www.census.gov/csd/mwb/Company1/company1.ppt

The "Free Lunch" is Over

Look's like the grinch is here early, data users. Dismal Science, which for a long time has touted itself as "the best free lunch on the web" has announced it will begin charging for much of its data. Regular readers will remember that last month we reported that Dismal's state and metropolitan ranking tool--one of our top ten sites for free regional data--was going on vacation. Unfortunately, now, it looks like it's not coming back, at least not as a free site.

The official announcement tersely explains "On November 28, 2001, The Dismal Scientist was converted to a paid subscription site." For more information you can visit:
http://www.economy.com/register/letter.asp

A considerable portion of the site, particularly Economy.Com's current economic commentaries, national-level information and links to newly released data continue to be available on the free portion of the site, but the regional data appear to have moved to the subscription area. If you are interested, individual subscriptions start at $16.95 per month, with discounts for longer term arrangements.

Happy Holidays!

The happiest of holiday greetings from us at EconData.Net. Our wishes for peace and a joyous new year go out to all.

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