May 2005  

The EconData.Net Monthly Newsletter

SITE OF THE MONTH:  Location Quotient Calculator

A Handy New Tool from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
One of the most frequently used measures of industrial specialization or clustering is the location quotient.   Up until now, computing location quotients has been a tedious and time consuming task.  A new tool produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics--the Location Quotient calculator--makes exploring LQs easy.   The location quotient indicates whether a particular industry represents a larger (or smaller) proportion of a particular local economy than it does the national economy.  A location quotient of one means an industry makes up the same share of a regional economy as it does of the larger (usually national economy).  High location quotients (much greater than one) indicate that a region is relatively specialized in a particular industry.  

The tool lets you compute location quotients for states, counties or metropolitan areas (hint:  scroll to the bottom of the geographic area drop-down list for metro areas).  The tool lets you compute location quotients for selected industries, or all available industries at once.  You can specify up to three different areas for comparison, for example, to compare the location quotients for transportation equipment manufacturing in three different metropolitan areas.  The site includes data from 2001to 2003; you can theoretically compute location quotients down to the level of NAICS six-digit industries, but as a practical matter you'll encounter data suppressions for sub-state areas for anything less than 3-digit industry sub-sectors.  

We chose the Location Quotient Calculator as May's site of the month because it's a good illustration of how to use the web not just to allow access to data, but to expedite analysis and understanding.  But best of all, this little gem will save lots of hours of busy work for those who routinely use location quotients to track regional economies.  By the way, you can learn more about location quotients by visiting our on-line guide to data Understanding Your Regional Economy--you'll find an explanation of the logic behind location quotients and some hints on how to use them on page 8.  And the location quotient calculator is at the BLS website:
http://data.bls.gov/LOCATION_QUOTIENT/servlet/lqc.ControllerServlet

New State Population Projections

Census Bureau Releases Population Projections to 2030
Look 25 years into the future:  How will the effects of demographic changes like the aging of the baby boom generation, continued international immigration, and regional shifts in population play out at the state level?   The Census Bureau has looked into its crystal ball, and come up with a new set of state level population forecasts through 2030.  Nearly 90 percent of the nation's population growth is projected to be in the South and West; Texas, California and Florida will each add more than 12 million new residents in the next 25 years.  Their model uses a combination of cohort-survival techniques (to account for the aging of the population and to estimate future births) and regression analysis of international and domestic migration trends (Read more at:  http://www.census.gov/population/www/projections/InterimShortMethod.doc)  Of course, making predictions about the future is always fraught with uncertainty.  The projections are based on past trends, particularly in migration among states, and implicitly assume that those trends will continue to hold for the next 25 years or so.  As a result, the projections are best regarded as a baseline indicator of what is likely to happen if things continue much as they have in the past couple of decades.    
http://www.census.gov/population/www/projections/projectionsagesex.html

Ports and Maritime Commerce

American Association of Port Authorities Port Industry Statistics
Container ships, tankers, grain ships and car transporters move the bulk of international cargo to and from the United States.  To get a sense of the value and volume of trade among the nation's ports, and to see how they rank in comparison to ports around the world, pay a visit to the statistical website of the American Association of Port Authorities.  New York is the largest source of exports by volume with cargoes valued at $25 billion.  Los Angeles and Long Beach together are the leading landing place for imports, together accounting for more than $180 billion, some 30% of all imports by value.  This site provides rankings of world. North American and US ports; US ports are ranked by total volume, value of commerce and number of cargo containers handled.  
http://www.aapa-ports.org/industryinfo/statistics.htm

Newsletter of the Month:  Econ-Dev

The Economic Gardening News List
The City of Littleton, Colorado maintains a mail list on the Internet called Econ-Dev. The purpose of the mail list is to encourage discussion about an entrepreneurial approach to economic development (economic gardening) among industry professionals. The list is un-moderated, but look for frequent contributions from Chris Gibbons, who leads Littleton's economic gardening effort.  Like all mail-lists, you'll get a wide variety of opinion and debate, but also many original and interesting thoughts about using data to promote your local economy.
http://www.littletongov.org/bia/economicgardening/econdev.asp

NEW LINKS

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Resources
May's new links include a range of useful sites with GIS information and tools.

• ESRI
  Geography Network
  On-line portal to maps and GIS data from around the country and the world.
  http://www.geographynetwork.com/
  

• GeoLytics, Inc.
  GIS Products $$
  http://www.geolytics.com/
  

• MapDigger
  Directory of On-Line Maps; Links to free on-line maps, by topic.
  http://www.mapdigger.com/
  

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  Spatial Data on the Web
  Links to primary on-line sources of maps and GIS data.
  http://libraries.mit.edu/guides/subjects/gis/datausworld.html
  

• Missouri Census Data Center
  Geographic Correspondence Engine
  Counties, places, census tracts, ZCTAs, urban/rural, legislative districts, and school districts. Corresponds to Census 2000 geography.
  http://mcdc2.missouri.edu/websas/geocorr2k.html
  

• ThinkBurst Media, Inc.
  GIS Data Depot
  Access to very extensive set of GIS resources for U.S. and other nations. Low volume downloads available for free; high volume for fee.
  http://data.geocomm.com/
  

• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
  State GIS Data Sets
  Physical GIS data sets, from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies, organized by state.
  http://www.fws.gov/data/statdata/
  

• ZipInfo.com
  Geography Lookup
  County (with FIPS code), metro area FIPS code, time zone, area code, and longitude and latitude.
  http://www.zipinfo.com/search/zipcode.htmText