APDU Data Update

APDU Data Update

News

Census Bureau Seeks Participants for Usability Evaluation

The U.S. Census Bureau is seeking participants for a usability evaluation of the Census website.  By volunteering for this study participants can provide a valuable service to the government as well as to fellow citizens who use the website.  The Census Bureau is seeking people with the following qualifications:

Internet Experience

• Used the Internet for at least a year
• Uses the Internet at least twice a week

AND

Data Experience/Usage

• Use data and/or documentation from statistical websites
• Use American FactFinder to find, download, and/or manipulate/repackage Census data
• Use other databases to work with data
• Use other databases to interpret or analyze demographic or economic data

If you answered yes to any of the Data Experience questions you may qualify.  The session will last about 90 minutes.  The study is at the Census Bureau headquarters in Suitland, MD, right off the Green Line Metro. (Free visitor parking is also available.)  Each participant receives an honorarium of $40.00 as compensation for his/her time.

If interested, please call (301) 763-4979.  When calling, you must mention the word: STATS
 

Thomas E. Perez Confirmed to Head DOL

The U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of U.S. Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez to head the U.S. Department of Labor.  Mr. Perez has held a distinguished public service career and will be a strong leader for the Department of Labor.  During his tenure as secretary of Maryland’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulations, he instituted several reforms that strengthened Maryland’s workforce and business community. He took a creative and innovative approach to worker training, particularly in serving dislocated workers, veterans, low-wage, low-skilled, and non-English speaking populations.  Read more here.
 

Census Bureau Adds Inflation and Employment  Indicators to America’s Economy Mobile App

The U.S. Census Bureau in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) added three key economic indicators to America’s Economy, the Census Bureau’s widely downloaded mobile app that provides constantly updated statistics on the U.S. economy, including monthly economic indicators and trends, along with a schedule of upcoming releases.  These indicators join 16 others that were already available on America’s Economy and means that the top four BLS data sets are now included in the app.  The number of people accessing the Census Bureau’s economic indicators has quintupled since the app’s launch in August 2012.  Read more here.
 

The Story of the Census Bureau’s Newly Updated America’s Economy Mobile App

Each month, homebuilders, job creators and policy-makers watch economic indicators, such as employment and new residential construction, to see how the U.S. economy is doing.  When the America’s Economy app launched last summer, for the first time, you could get these key economic indicators and more on your mobile device as soon as they were released, allowing you to take the pulse of America’s economy straight from your phone.  Since then, use of the Census Bureau’s indicators has quintupled.  Read more here.
 

First Look at Next.Data.gov

The Obama administration is excited to share a sneak preview of a new design for Data.gov, called Next.Data.gov.  The upgrade builds on the President’s May 2013 Open Data Executive Order that aims to fuse open-data practices into the Federal Government’s DNA.  Next.Data.gov is far from complete (think of it as a very early beta), but they couldn’t wait to share their design approach and the technical details behind it – knowing that they need your help to make it even better.  Read more here.
 

Increasing our Understanding of Business Dynamics Through the First-Ever Census Bureau Business Management Survey

How much does management matter for the success of a business?  Some light can be shed on this much debated topic using results from the Census Bureau’s first-ever business management survey, the Management and Organizational Practices Survey (MOPS).  This supplement to the 2010 Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) collected data from more than 30,000 of the approximately 50,000 manufacturing plants surveyed in the ASM.  With the addition of the MOPS, the Census Bureau now provides information on manufacturing plants’ inputs, outputs, and management and organizational practices.  The MOPS will be an important tool in assessing plant performance, worker productivity, and the ability of plants to succeed in a highly competitive global economy.  Read more here.
 

FY 2014-2018 DOL Strategic Plan

Earlier this year, the Department of Labor (DOL) began work on the fiscal year (FY) 2014-2018 DOL Strategic Plan.  The DOL Strategic Plan reflects the vision and priorities of the Department and includes brief sections for each Departmental agency, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which explain how the agencies support the Department’s goals and vision of Good Jobs for Everyone.  The final FY 2014-2018 DOL Strategic Plan will be posted online in February 2014, along with the FY 2015 President’s Budget.  One component of the strategic planning process is stakeholder outreach.

The DOL would like to know whether you see their proposed strategies as appropriate, and if there are any changes they could make to them to better meet your needs.  For context, please refer to the current DOL Strategic Plan, which covers FY 2011-2016.  In addition, the current BLS Strategic Plan, which covers FY 2013-2018, contains more detailed information on their strategies and goals.

Please direct feedback on their proposed strategies to DOLstratplan@dol.gov.
 

Using Big Data to Design Policies to Improve Airline Customers’ Experiences

Many people find air travel frustrating.  Flight delays, missed connections, full flights, long security lines and add-on fees are just a few reasons why air travel can be so frustrating.  “It can be challenging for government agencies to design policies that best balance the needs of customers and airlines because policy makers have historically had little information about airline customers,” says Laurie Garrow, an associate professor in civil and environmental engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.  Garrow says the Internet is providing new opportunities to design policies that better protect customers.  Read more here.
 

Is Big Data Just for Big Cities?

Dubuque, Iowa, has a population of just under 60,000, but it’s doing something few other cities its size have ever tried.  It’s embedding technology in utility meters to collect and analyze water, gas and electricity use; it’s even using radio frequency identification tags to track how some people move about to gain a better understanding of the city’s traffic and transportation issues.  Dubuque’s experiment is part of a growing trend in government toward the collection of more data and better uses for it.  Read more here.
 

Federal Report Shows Drop in Proportion of Children in US Population

The number of children living in the United States declined slightly, as did the percentage of the U.S. population who are children, according to the federal government’s annual statistical report on the well-being of the nation’s children and youth.  The percentage of children living in the United States who are Asian, non-Hispanic increased, as did the percentage of children who are of two or more races, and the percentage of children who are Hispanic.  The percentages of children who are white, non-Hispanic, and black, non-Hispanic declined.  Read more here.
 

Debate on How to Define Obesity Intensifies

For decades, defining obesity as a measure of body mass index, or BMI, has served as the rule of thumb in evaluating populations’ body fatness.  But as the issue gains prominence, both doctors and public officials are keenly aware of the limitations inherent in this methodology.  In determining whether an adult is overweight or obese, doctors calculate BMI based on height and weight.  Read more here.
 

Notable Data Publications

Each week, the APDU Data Update identifies recent statistical data releases of interest to APDU members.

• Brookings – Vital Statistics on Congress
• Bureau of Justice Statistics – Capital Punishment, 2011 – Statistical Tables
• Bureau of Transportation Statistics – National Transportation Atlas Databases 2013
• Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service – USDA Database for the Flavonoid Content of Selected Foods, Release 3.1
• Department of Agriculture – Economic Research Service – Fertilizer Use and Price, 1960-2012
• Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics – America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2013
• National Center for Education Statistics – Forum Guide to the Teacher-Student Data Link: A Technical Implementation Resource
• National Center for Education Statistics – National & State Revenues & Expenditures for Public Elementary & Secondary Education for School Year 2010-11 (FY 11)
• National Public Radio – Planet Money – Where The Jobs Are (And Where They Aren’t), In 1 Graph
• Princeton University – Center for Information Technology Policy – Big Data: Pitfalls, Methods and Concepts for an Emergent Field
• Small Business Administration – Small Business Lending in the United States 2012
• World Health Organization – WHO Report On the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2013

Did you work on a great report that you want your colleagues to know about?  Just email us and we’ll include it here.