APDU Weekly

Feature

Census Wants Your Success Stories!

The U.S. Census Bureau is interested in collecting examples across the country of businesses/governments/non-profits who use American Community Survey data. They are looking for specifics that demonstrate, for example, how a company decided to open a store or factory in one location because of what ACS data show, or how a community decides the need for housing for certain income groups.

The Census Bureau is requesting a blog-length narrative (4-6 paragraphs) that lays out the specifics of the example. For example, if a factory opened in one area, how many jobs were created, what was the increase in tax revenues? Please include your contact/website and let us know if you would allow us to quote you.

Where will these posts end up? First and foremost, they will be used on a new census.gov content hub that will launch shortly. They might also be used by Census Bureau promotions and/or the government relations branch.

Please send your stories to Haya El Nasser at haya.a.el.nasser@census.gov.

News

Job Board March 2017
APDU?s March Job Board can now be found on the APDU website. Thank you to all who submitted job postings for this month!

You can submit your job postings to: bbuff@crec.net.

President?s Budget Overview for Public Data
On Thursday, March 16th, the Trump Administration released its long awaited first budget proposal. What will this mean for researchers, businesses, and local, state, and federal agencies? APDU Executive Director CEO Ken Poole provides an overview of President Trump?s proposed budget changes related to economic development and federal statistical programs.

Secretary Ross?s First Task Should Be Saving 2020 Census

In his confirmation hearing, Wilbur Ross noted he may be the first secretary of commerce nominee who was once a U.S. census taker. Those skills could come in handy right about now: A recent report indicates the 2020 Census is in trouble.

Budget Director: Obama Was ‘Manipulating’ Jobs Data

Mick Mulvaney told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he has long thought the previous administration framed data to make the unemployment rate “look smaller than it actually was.” President Trump repeatedly railed on the unemployment rate during Obama’s time in office as a “hoax.”

Irretrievable Aid Data

Recently the data retrieval tool (DRT) maintained by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the federal financial aid system became unavailable. This tool is used by students and families to transfer tax information that has already been submitted to the IRS into the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Although entering information manually is still possible, the unavailability of the DRT will make the process more difficult for students. The Education Department and IRS have stated that the tool will be unavailable for several more weeks.

New & Updated Data Sources

The Magnitude of the Deteriorating Bridge Problem

You can now identify concentrations of deficient and obsolete bridges by Congressional District and state on PolicyMap. Use the new data layers that show deteriorating bridges as a percent of all bridges.

Visualization of the Week

High School Student Substance Abuse: US and Europe
The use of alcohol and illicit drugs by teenagers and youth is a serious issue. With a problem this widespread, ProjectKnow wanted to find out where youth drinking and drug use is most prominent. So, they compared data from the United States and European nations to find out just how many high school students are engaging in binge drinking and marijuana use. Read on to learn more about patterns of youth drinking and drug use around the globe.

Notable Data Publications

GOVERNMENT

• Bureau of Labor Statistics – Economic Productivity in the Air Transportation Industry: Multifactor and Labor Productivity Trends, 1990?2014
• Census Bureau – 2014 Survey of Income and Program Participation Statistics
• National Center for Education Statistics – The National Indian Education Study: 2015
• National Center for Health Statistics – Prevalence of Low High-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Among Adults, by Physical Activity: United States, 2011?2014

PRIVATE SECTOR

• Springer – Handbook of Big Data Technologies

NONPROFITS & FOUNDATIONS

• National Bureau of Economic Research – Worker Overconfidence: Field Evidence and Implications for Employee Turnover and Returns from Training
• New America Foundation – Predictive Analytics in Higher Education

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

Federal Rulemaking and 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):

• Revision of the BJS Confidentiality Pledge (May 12, 2017)

• 2017 Economic Census (April 7, 2017)
• 2017 Economic Census of Island Areas (April 7, 2017)
• Notice of Correction to Federal Register Notice for 2018 End-to-End Census Test- Post-Enumeration Survey Independent Listing Operation (April 1, 2017)

• Current Agricultural Industrial Reports (May 12, 2017)

March 16, 2017

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