What's New - October 2004
STAT-SCAN: The EconData.Net Newsletter
As a registered user of EconData.Net, you've indicated you are interested in receiving periodic updates about socioeconomic data issues. If you'd like to be removed from our mailing list, please send a message to info@econdata.net, subject UNSUBSCRIBE.
We continue our parade of back to school festivities with October's site of the month, the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data. This site provides an enhanced tool for searching through NCES extensive set of databases on school districts and individual schools around the nation. You can quickly find almost any public school in the US, and get data on its enrollment by grade level, race and ethnicity and on the number of children eligible for reduced price lunches. The chart also shows the student teacher ratio for the school.
This site contains a number of useful features. The
Peer Search Tool lets you compare, side-by-side, key financial and performance
measures for different school districts. A customized table builder
enables users to generate multi-year tables of data at the school district,
county, metropolitan area and state level. The common core of data is a
massive database, and these search tools make it easy to find just what you
need. You'll find a single page with all the search tools at:
http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/search.asp
Women are playing an increasingly active economic role as entrepreneurs. The Center for Women's Business Research has produced estimates of the number of women-owned businesses for each of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, as well as the 50 states. Their estimates are that the nation has more than 10 million women-owned businesses and that the number of privately-held, 50% or more women-owned employer firms grew by 28.1% from 1997 to 2004. The Center separately estimates the number of establishments, employment and sales for businesses that are majority-owned by women, equally-owned by women and men and majority male-owned businesses.
Estimates are available separately for metropolitan areas and states.
The estimates are
based on data gathered as part of the 1992 and 1997 Censuses, and then projected
forward to 2004, and augmented with information on business ownership from Dun
and Bradstreet. The methodology behind these estimates is spelled out
at:
http://www.nfwbo.org/pressreleases/nationalstatetrends/total.htm#notes
In a new report
focusing on several of the nation's leading high tech centers, WashTech, the
Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, charts the job losses in information
technology over the past several years. Its new report, "America's High Tech Bust"
shows that U.S. high-technology workers are still facing chronic unemployment and a serious jobs deficit. The report found that the U.S. high-tech economy continued to lose a whopping 200,000 jobs after the recession was declared over in November 2001 by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The report offers detailed data for Boston, Chicago, Dallas, San Jose, San
Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC.
http://www.washtech.org/reports/
Oil at $50 a barrel? This month's new links offer a diverse selection of links with price data on everything from a gallon of gas, to commercial and office real estate, to more generalized indices of variations in local living costs.
American
Automobile Association
Daily Fuel Gauge Report
Daily update of price of gasoline (regular, mid-grade, premium, diesel), per
gallon, for states and metro areas.
http://198.6.95.31/sbsavg.asp
Cushman
& Wakefield
MarketBeat
Quarterly analysis of commercial and office real estate conditions for 47
markets.
http://www.cushwake.com/US/RESEARCH/Worldwide/index.cfm
Fast
Forward, Inc.
Sperling's BestPlaces
Tools for comparing metro areas regarding cost of living, schools, crime,
climate, housing, health, and other topics.
http://www.bestplaces.net/
Missouri
Economic Research and
Cost of Living Index
State cost of living index, with composite and six categories of goods and
services. Quarterly, 4Q1999-latest quarter. Derived for each state by
averaging the city and metro area
http://www.ded.mo.gov/business/researchandplanning/indicators/cost_of_living/index.shtml
RealEstateJournal,
Wall Street Journal
Regional Overviews
Quarterly market reports for 50 metro areas, for four types of real estate
(apartment, office, retail, industrial). Data include vacancy rate, asking rent,
and supply/demand trends. Reports provided by Reis.com.
http://realestatejournal.com/partners/regionaloverviews/index.html