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APDU Data Update

 

APDU Data Update

 December 16, 2010

 

News Items 
 
ACS Primer

 
Just in time for the 5-year ACS data release, CQ Press has created a website containing selected articles from the upcoming “Encyclopedia of the U.S. Census, 2nd Edition: From the Constitution to the ACS,” edited by APDU members Constance Citro and Joseph Salvo. 

Census Oversight Efficiency and Management Reform Act Does Not Pass

On December 14, the U.S. House of Representatives failed to pass the Census Oversight Efficiency and Management Reform Act of 2010 (S. 3167), a bill to create a fixed five-year term for the Census Bureau director and increase Census Bureau director independence. The bill failed by a vote of 201 to 167, with a two-thirds vote required. The roll call is available here.

FY2011 Omnibus Appropriations Act

On December 14, the Senate Appropriations Committee released details of the FY2011 Consolidated Appropriations Act. The legislation is $29 billion below the cost of the budget proposed by the President. The Senate will soon take up the committee’s bill. Previously, the House passed a year-long resolution to continue agency funding at FY2010 levels, usually below those in the Senate bill. The Senate bill appropriates the following amounts to statistical agencies:

  • Census Bureau — $1.235 billion, below the $1.267 billion requested by the Administration. All initiatives, including ACS sample expansion, are funded, but at a reduced level. Explanatory text available here. 
  • Bureau of Labor Statistics — $632.5 million. The fiscal year 2010 amount is $611.5 million. The President’s budget request was $645.4 million.
  • Economic and Statistical Analysis (including the Bureau of Economic Analysis) — $110 million, below the Administration request of $113.2 million, up from $97.3 million in FY10
  • National Center for Health Statistics — $161.9 million, up from $138.7 million in FY2010
  • National Agricultural Statistics Service — $161.4 million
  • Energy Information Administration — $111 million, substantially below the President’s request of $129 million
  • Economic Research Service — $83.7 million

Additional Census Bureau News

  • The Census Bureau released the first 5-year estimates from the American Community Survey (2005-2009). The Census 2000/ACS Table Comparison Tool identifies and describes approximate matches between ACS Detailed Tables and tables in Census 2000 SF3. The new and notable page provides information about the 5-year data release.
  • The Census Bureau will release the first official numbers from the 2010 Census — the state population totals used for congressional apportionment, and the resulting apportionment — on Tuesday, December 21 at 11:00am EST. You will be able to see the numbers here. These totals will be population only; we will not see any characteristics data (e.g. age; race; gender; etc.) until the Bureau publishes block-level redistricting data (P.L. 94-171) on a flow basis between February and March 2011.

BLS Releases Strategic Plan

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released a detailed strategic plan. The plan is organized around seven goal areas (products, product improvement, customers, respondents, web site, employees, and continuous evaluation and improvement). Specific steps to improve important data series, including Current Employment Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, and the Consumer Price Index, are discussed. Contingent on passage of an adequate FY2011 budget, BLS plans to modify the Consumer Expenditure (CE) Survey to support the Census Bureau in its development of a supplemental poverty measure using CE data.

COPAFS Meeting Report
 
The latest COPAFS meeting was convened on December 3, 2010. The full meeting report can be found here. Prior meeting reports can be found here.
 

 
Notable Data Publications  
Each week, the APDU Data Update identifies recent statistical agency data releases and discussions of interest to APDU members. 

 

Calls for Comment
 

APDU maintains a list of open calls for comment on proposed federal data collections (http://www.apdu.org/advocacy.asp). We periodically alert APDU members to newly added calls for comment. Over the last several weeks, calls for comment on the following proposed data collections were published in the Federal Register (with due date): 

 
Census Bureau
  • Information and Communication Technology Survey     (January 14, 2011)
  • 2012 Economic Census Classification Report for the Construction, Manufacturing, and Mining Sectors and Selected Wholesale Industries     (February 14, 2011)
  • Questionnaire for Building Permit Official     (February 14, 2011)
Bureau of Labor Statistics
  • Telephone Point of Purchase Survey     (January 14, 2011)
Environmental Protection Agency
  • 2011 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment     (January 10, 2011)
National Science Foundation
  • Survey of Earned Doctorates     (February 8, 2011)

APDU encourages its members to take advantage of these opportunities to make their voices heard. All comments, whether a simple affirmation or detailed suggestions on instrument design, are helpful in seeing that data users have access to the statistics we need.     
 

APDU Data Update Winter Break
 
The next APDU Data Update will arrive on Thursday, January 6, 2011. We will be taking a break over the holidays. We would like to take a moment to wish everyone happy holidays and a joyful new year.  
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