What's New - November 2004
STAT-SCAN: The EconData.Net Newsletter

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Site of the Month:  2002 Economic Census

Once every five years, the Census Bureau conducts its in-depth survey of the nation's businesses--in those years ending in "2" and "7".  At last, many of the key results of the 2002 Economic Census are now available.  Census has been working hard since August putting out dozens of new reports on its website.  Nearly complete at this point are the reports that compose the "Industry Series"--individual reports on each of the major industries listed in the North American Industry Classification System.  Individual reports provide a tantalizing peek into the geographic distribution of activity in each industry, with a table that shows data for the states with the largest concentrations of activity in a given industry.

The Economic Census is of tremendous value because it provides detailed information on sales, value-added, capital investment, and wages for all workers and production workers.  The 2002 series is also important because it is the second Economic Census to use the new North American Industry Classification system to categorize data.  Now users can look at changes over time in economic activity using NAICS categories--although any time series analysis is complicated by the 2001 recession.  If you follow a particular industry closely, you'll want to visit the Economic Census homepage and find the report for that industry.  Start with 
http://www.census.gov/econ/census02/guide/INDSUMM.HTM

Still to come--the much prized geographic area reports that give a complete picture of industrial composition for states and metropolitan areas.  These reports will begin to be released later this year; most will appear in 2005.  For a schedule of available reports, bookmark this page:
http://www.census.gov/econ/census02/guide/g02sched.htm

An EconData.Net Alert:  
American Community Survey: It’s Future Is In Serious Doubt. 
If You Want To Save It, Let Congress Know ASAP.

We at EconData.Net are into data, not politics.  But Congress is on the verge of making an important, and perhaps irreversible decision that could materially affect the quality of data available for a wide variety of uses.  It may also be turning its back on a key investment we've been making over the past several years to replace the infrequent decennial census with a more timely, current instrument.  Because this is such an important issue, we are taking the unusual step of sending out this alert.  Please read on to learn why we've raised this issue.

Historically, the richest, most detailed, most valuable demographic dataset available to data users has been generated from the “long form” of the Decennial Census. Data on income, employment, education, occupation, language, immigration, journey-to-work, and much, much more are accessible for areas at all levels, from the nation to the block group. Long form (SF3) data are used extensively by federal, state and local policy-makers and analysts, businesses small and large, journalists, advocacy groups, high school students, and anyone else who wants to understand detailed population characteristics by city, by community, by neighborhood. Enormous sums of public and private funds are allocated in light of these data. The data are so valuable, in fact, that users have felt an enormous frustration for quite some time—the data come out, as the title “Decennial Census” suggests, but once every ten years.

To better respond to user needs, over the last decade the Census Bureau has been designing, testing, demonstrating a continuously collected version of the long form known as the American Community Survey ( ACS ). With the ACS , the Census Bureau is planning to provide an annual picture of the populations in our states, cities, and communities, rather than the once-a-decade snapshot we now get. (For everything you want to know about the ACS , see http://www.census.gov/acs/www/.)

Since 2000, Census has been operating a demonstration version of the ACS , which has allowed it to publish annual “long form-type” tables for areas with more than 250,000 people. Full implementation of the ACS has been planned for 2005. However, with statistical nirvana seemingly a few months away . . .

Congressional funding for the ACS is now in jeopardy, and if Congress does not hear from data users in large numbers, it is likely that the ACS will be scrapped despite the $334 million expended to date. Here’s the situation and how you can respond:

The Bush administration's budget requested $165 million for the ACS for the current fiscal year. The House of Representatives provided $146 million, enough to launch the full survey without group quarters in the first year. The Senate, however, allocated only $65 million, the same level as fiscal year 2004 and not enough to go beyond the current test sites and demonstration.

In response, Census Director Louis Kincannon has told Congress that if the agency does not receive a minimum of $142 million, he will direct Census to abandon plans for the ACS and begin planning for a 2010 census that includes a long form. Kincannon believes that if Congress will not commit to fully funding the ACS, Census must take steps to ensure a long form census in 2010 and preparation must begin next year.
 
ACS supporters in Congress say that the ACS will not get the funding it needs unless they can show an outpouring of support from data users across the nation. And that support much be visible by next week, as a conference committee will be meeting to reconcile House-Senate differences for the funding of a number of programs. If you believe that the ACS is important and of value, to your work, to the work of your colleagues, to the work of business, to the work of your government, please write key Senate decision-makers asking them to agree to the House appropriations figure. It'd be useful if you say a bit about why you think the ACS is important. You can fax a letter to any, or all, of the Senators below. Numbers count, more is merrier.
 
Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK)
Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH)
Senator Ernest Hollings (D-SC)
 
For the address block, you can use the following: U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC   20510
 
Please fax your letters for delivery to these Senators in care of:
 
David McMillen
Professional Staff Member, House Committee on Government Reform
Fax: 202-225-2608

EconData.Net exists in order to bring data users closer to the vast
array of local data our nation's institutions make available.
Historically, data users have not had a strong voice on Capitol Hill.
The question of funding the ACS offers all of us a unique, important
opportunity to go against trend and demonstrate the size and strength of
this constituency.

New Links:  Elections Data

November 2 was election day.  In honor of our big quadrennial contest, we at EconData.Net offer you an assortment of links with election-related data.  We assume that you have probably spent a fair amount of time watching election returns on television and reading about them in the newspapers, but if you want to do some background research on voting across America, or check to see which polls were most accurate in picking the final results, try a visit to these sites.

Census Bureau Voting and Registration Data
Only the registered can vote, but not every eligible person registers.  To get some idea of how registration and voting compare with total population, you can visit this page on the Census website.  Here you'll find data on total and citizen voting-age population, by State, going back to the 1980 Presidential election, as well as related information.  
www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html

Dave Leip's Atlas of US Presidential Elections
Want to track state level results in US Presidential elections from this month, back through the 19th Century.  This site, run by one dedicated guy, on a part time basis, will give you just what you need.  
www.uselectionatlas.org/

Survey USA 
Pollster Survey USA offers a running summary of its current election polls at:
www.surveyusa.com/currentelectionpolls.html

Working At Home

Nearly 4.2 million people worked at home in 2000, according to Census 2000 tabulations, up from 3.4 million in 1990. This 23 percent increase in home-based workers age 16 and older was double the growth in the overall work force during the decade.  The Census 2000 estimates represent people who reported that they usually worked at home. “Usually” was defined to mean most days during the week. People who worked at home part of the week, but elsewhere more days than at home, were not counted as at-home workers. Thus, the census estimates may be lower than other estimates that count at-home workers differently.

Census provides historical information from 1960 onward on home-based work, and offers detailed data by state on the characteristics of home based workers.  State level data includes the estimated number of home-based workers by age, gender, race, industry, occupation, income and number of hours worked.  You can find these reports at:
http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t35.html

Business Adoption of the Internet

In which metropolitan areas did businesses move to adopt the Internet most quickly?  A research paper from Carnegie Mellon University, co-authored by Chris Forman, Avi Goldfarb and Shane Greenstein, explores the extent of commercial adoption of the Internet in the nation's 50 largest metropolitan areas.  The paper--"How did Location Affect Adoption of the Commercial Internet?-Global Village, Urban Density and Industry Composition"--explores the connection between industry composition and city size in explaining business use of the Internet.  Drawing on data from a private survey of businesses, they provide estimates of Internet adoption (basic Internet access for email and web-browsing) and enhancement (the deployment of e-business applications). 

The full paper is available in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format, with the pertinent data tables shown on pages 31 and 32 of the report.  Visit: 
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/cforman/research/digitaldispersion--July%2031.pdf