The U.S. Employment and Training Administration has issued a guide to the relevant sources on labor or skill shortages, skill mismatches, and skill deficiencies. Skimming for Skills provides links to surveys, reports and customized data tools, and includes more than three dozen sources. For the user’s convenience, the numerous skill-related sources are classified by those pertaining to adults, postsecondary students, secondary students, and longitudinal surveys that span ages from student to adult. Learn more here.
Welcome to the BLS Data Finder 0.4
BLS is redesigning several parts of its Website. They are working on a new tool to help users find data and they would like feedback. Please take a look at the new tool and let them know what you think. Learn more here.
Public Employment and Public Pensions: A 20-Year Comparison
According to the 2011 Annual Survey of Public Employment and Payroll, there were 19.3 million state and local government employees, with 11.1 million, or 57.3 percent, working in education. To understand the magnitude of employment in education, consider these two categories of public employment: police protection and corrections with 1.7 million employees and hospitals with 1.1 million employees (9.0 and 5.4 percent respectively, of all state and local government employment). Read more here.
Latest Records Management Self Assessments Show Minimal Change
The latest summary of agencies’ records management self-assessments by National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) shows that despite some improvement in agencies’ practices and policies since the self-assessments were first instituted in 2010, most federal agencies are still at moderate-to-high risk of losing records. On a positive note, the percentage of agencies that scored well enough on the assessments to be classified as having a “low risk” of losing records has climbed — from only 5% in 2010 to 20% in 2012. Read more here.
The Vanishing Married Household?
Did you know that in 1970 married couples with children made up 40 percent of American households? Today, they comprise just 20 percent. What looks like a dramatic drop in married households may be more of a change in when, and in what order, adults experience certain life events. In other words, a family postponed is not necessarily a family forgone. Read more here.
Notable Data Publications
Each week, the APDU Data Update identifies recent statistical data releases of interest to APDU members.
Did you work on a great report that you want your colleagues to know about? Just email us and we’ll include it here.
Calls for Comment
APDU maintains a list of open calls for comment on proposed federal data collections. 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):
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (September 23, 2013)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Determining Causes of Sudden, Unexpected Infant Death: A National Survey of U.S. Medical Examiners and Coroners (September 23, 2013)
Energy Information Administration
Coal Markets Reporting System (October 28, 2013)
Institute of Museum and Library Services
State Library Administrative Agencies Survey, FY 2014–2016 (September 23, 2013)
National Center for Health Statistics
The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: National Electronic Health Record Survey (October 26, 2013)
National Institutes of Health
The National Children’s Study, Vanguard (Pilot) Study (October 23, 2013)
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