Alternate Data Sources during Shutdown

With the federal government shutdown limiting access to data for in-class use, we have gathered a list of alternate sources of government data accessible through themostsearched.org.

• Minnesota Population Center offers Census microdata and data from other sources.
• Social Explorer offers Census data in multiple formats geared for data visualization. 
• ICPSR offers data from the Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and others agencies that are archived here. 
• FRED offers economic data through the Federal Reserve Board but the site indicates that data from government are not up to date. FRED also offers interactive tools for their data. 

Some government sites that are open but whose data in not being updated are HUD.gov and FDA.gov .


Read more:
http://themostsearched.org/resource/3915
http://themostsearched.org/resource/3914
http://themostsearched.org/resource/2904
http://themostsearched.org/resource/3916
http://themostsearched.org/resource/3917
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD
http://www.fda.gov/

Government Shutdown Effect on Data Availability

A recent Pew Research Center FacTank report by Drew DeSilver on the effect of the federal government shutdown on the flow of data have found that many of principle sources of data from the government are not available on-line. Among the agencies that are closed are the Census Bureau - home of data on the American people, Bureau of Labor Statistics - home of business and economic data, the Bureau of Economic Analysis - home of commerce data, the Department of Agriculture - home of data related to food and farm production, National Institute for Health Statistics and National Insitute of Mental Health - homes of data related to health and mental health, National Center on Education Statistics - home of data on education, and the central hub for governmental data, Data.Gov. Agencies that generate data and are open during the government shutdown are the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, and the Energy Information Agency. For more information on agency status during the shutdown, visit http://www.usa.gov/ .

Read more:
http://www.pewresearch.org/
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/
http://www.pewresearch.org/author/ddesilver/

Government data sources:
http://www.census.gov/
http://www.bls.gov/
http://www.bea.gov/
http://www.usda.gov/
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/index.shtml
http://nces.ed.gov/
http://www.data.gov 
http://www.bjs.gov/
http://www.nij.gov/
http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/node/11792
http://www.eia.gov/

Young Americans Oppose Internet Sales Tax

In a recent Gallup poll, the majority of Americans (57%) say they would vote against a law that would allow each state to collect sales taxes on purchases its residents make online over the Internet. Young adults (73%) voice the most widespread opposition to such a law.

The Senate passed an Internet sales tax bill, the Marketplace Fairness Act, last month on a bipartisan basis, but it has yet to pass the House. This legislation would allow states to require online sellers to collect sales taxes, which would go to state and local governments. The legislation would apply to online retailers earning at least $1 million in sales outside of states where they have brick-and-mortar locations. Currently, online retailers do not have to collect sales taxes on Internet purchases unless they have a physical presence in the state.

This legislation faces more opposition in the House than it did in the Senate, with numerous members, including House Speaker John Boehner, criticizing it. The White House has announced that the president supports the legislation.

Age largely shapes Americans' views on taxing Internet sales. Younger Americans are much more likely than older Americans to oppose such a law. If Republicans in the House oppose the Internet sales tax bill, that may help the GOP's appeal to younger Americans, a key demographic in the party's plans to build support before the 2014 and 2016 elections.

U.S. Investors' Worries

According to a recent Gallup poll, from which the Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index is based, the top worries of investors in the US are a politically divided government and the budget deficit.  Fifty-four percent of investors say now is a good time to invest in the financial markets, up from 51% in March and 39% in November 2012. Still, in a separate question, 62% of investors anticipated a market correction that would take back significant market gains later this year. Despite that expectation, only 16% of those who expected a correction say they shifted into safer investments, while 80% made no changes to their portfolio's composition.

From  a list of 10 specific issues, investors are most likely to say the greatest challenge they are facing is "a politically divided federal government," with 73% saying it is hurting the current investment climate "a lot." This item has been near or at the top of investors' concerns since September 2011. The federal budget deficit is investors' second-greatest concern, with 67% saying it is hurting the investment climate a lot; this has been near the top of investors' worries over the past 2 1/2 years. 

Investors' concerns about a politically divided federal government are also consistent with Gallup's recent polling concerning the problems facing the country. 

The Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index, conducted quarterly, is a broad measure of investor perceptions that tends to be a precursor of economic activity. The current survey, conducted May 16-27, included a random sample of 1,426 investors.

The index peaked at 178 in January 2000, just before the dot-com bubble burst, and hit a low of -64 in February 2009, just before the equity markets bottomed out in March 2009.

South Sudan Makes Strides in Education

A report recently released by the World Bank shows positive trends in the educational system of South Sudan. Between 2005 and 2009, roughly 700,000 more children were registered for school. The chances of a child going to school are also up by 20% compared to 10 years ago. Although there is reason to be optimistic about South Sudan’s educational system, it is evident that South Sudan is still struggling to catch up to other African countries. The country still faces the challenge of reaching children in poor rural areas and increasing the quality of the educational system since each salaried teacher, on average, has 80 children in their classroom. Additionally, the state also faces the challenge of evenly allocating the teachers to the states. Only about 32% of the teachers in Jonglei, the largest and most populous state in South Sudan, are government funded and 84% are government funded in Eastern Equatoria.

Assets of State and Local Pensions Recover to Pre-Recession Levels

The Census Bureau's report on the status of state and local government pensions shows that pension assets have recovered to levels seen in 2007.  In 2011, the holdings and investments of these pensions totaled $2.5 trillion.  These pension systems maintain large investments in financial markets; consequently, the funds' successes and failures are largely dependent on market performance.  Thus, just as the stock market suffered a substantial setback from 2008 to 2009, state and local pension funds experienced a similar loss and bounceback.  In 2011, earnings on investments were $410.6 billion, 2.3% higher than in 2007, and much improved on the $71.7 billion and $511.5 billion losses in 2008 and 2009 respectively.  California's pension system is the largest of any state with over $433 billion in assets, over 8 times the holdings and investments of the average state's pension system.

Southern States Participate Most in Social Welfare Programs

A previous Data in the News postfocused on the rising participation rate in means-tested assistance programs, and an interactive map on The New York Times website this week displayed the geographic distribution of government benefits.  Welfare programs accounted for 17.6% of personal income in 2009, the highest in history.  In 1929, total entitlements accounted for just 1% of Americans’ incomes, but with the expansion of Social Security, the initiation of Medicare and many other government programs, and the overall growth in entitlement spending, the share of income via welfare programs has risen substantially.  

And while all regions have experienced a greater flow of government benefits to their residents, states in the South and in the western portion of the Sun Belt have seen their dependence on government welfare programs rise the most.  States such as Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Arizona, New Mexico and Tennessee possess many counties with a high level of dependence on government benefits; some counties have a level of transfer income per capita of over $10,000.

Private Sector Workers Faring Better than Government Employees

According to Gallup’s recently released Job Creation Index for April, job growth appears to be up in the private sector with more workers reporting that their employers are hiring rather than firing, bringing the private sector index to +25. In contrast, more government employees report higher levels of firing than hiring, bringing its index down to -7. Regionally, the South is experiencing the best market conditions, with 38% of those surveyed reporting that their employers are hiring and only 15% reporting that their employers are laying off workers. The East is faring the worst. It has the lowest Job Creation Index in the U.S. with +16. In the East, only 34% report that their employers are hiring whereas 18% report that their employers are letting go of workers. Nationwide, the Job Creation Index is up from +18 in March to +20 as of April, with 36% reporting that their employers are hiring, the highest figure since August 2008.

Union Membership in 2011

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released a report on union membership in 2011, and how the membership rate compares across regions and industries. The Editor's Desk summarized some of the findings and provided visuals. Some findings of note:

 -"The union membership rate for public-sector workers (37.0 percent) was substantially higher than the rate for private-sector workers (6.9 percent)."

 -"Within the public sector, local government workers had the highest union membership rate, 43.2 percent."




-"In 2011, 29 states and the District of Columbia had union membership rates below that of the U.S. average, 11.8 percent, while 21 states had higher rates. All states in the Middle Atlantic and Pacific divisions reported union membership rates above the national average, while all states in the East South Central and West South Central divisions had rates below it."

With Revenues Down, Lawmakers Look to Alcohol

The New York Times recognized a new strategy among state and city governments trying to raise revenues during the economic recession: target alcohol. They write: "Since the recession started in earnest in 2008, dozens of states and cities have tinkered with laws that regulate alcohol sales as a way to build up their budgets."

Changes to existing laws have ranged from raising taxes on alcohol to trying to make it available on days it has traditionally not been sold, with a lot of tactics falling in between. According to the Times: "Twelve states have raised taxes on alcohol or changed alcohol laws to increase revenue, including Maryland, which in July pushed the sales tax on alcohol to 9 percent, from 6 percent — the first such increase in 38 years and one that is expected to bring in $85 million a year." And "in November, voters in Atlanta and elsewhere in Georgia will decide whether to repeal colonial-era laws that ban alcohol sales on Sunday."

Some of the changes to laws appear relatively small, yet governments still hope to bring in new revenue. Take Tennessee for example: "People touring the Jack Daniel’s distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn., may finally be able to have a sip now that the state has loosened laws to allow tastings as part of a package of changes intended to attract more alcohol-related business to the state."

And it is not just government hoping to bring in more revenue from changes to alcohol law. In Louisiana, universities are joining the crowd: "Fans of the Louisiana State University Tigers will soon be drinking Bandit Blonde...The university will get royalties of between 6 and 8 percent, said Charles D’Agostino, executive director of the university’s Louisiana Business and Technology Center."

Until the recession, alcohol revenue had been a growing industry; today, "the nation’s states and local governments take in $17 billion year from alcohol taxes."

What does the Times have to say about new developments in alcohol law?
"Drink up, America. The government needs the money."

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Low Gains in Nonfarm Payroll Employment in May, Following 3 Months of Solid Improvement

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its report last Friday on the employment situation in May, 2011, and the news was not as encouraging as in previous months. Only 54,000 jobs were added in May, following an average gain per month of 220,000 over the previous three months. Improvement continued in professional and business services, health care, and mining; were relatively unchanged in major private-sector industries; and employment figures in local government continued their downward slide. Also relatively unchanged were the number of unemployed persons, at 13.9 million, and the unemployment rate, which sat at 9.1 percent. The number of long-term unemployed--those who have been jobless for 27 weeks or more--increased by 361,000 to 6.2 million. The BLS Editor's Desk summarized some of the report's findings here.

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, stocks dropped following negative economic reports for the month of May, and economists were disappointed by figures much lower than they had anticipated.

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