Alienating Hispanic Voters

"Comments on Immigration Alienate Some Hispanics," was the headline of a recent New York Times article. The story examined whether Republican presidential candidates were hurting their chances with Hispanic voters by talking tough about illegal immigration. Ya think?

"Some party officials see a yellow light signaling danger in battleground states with large Hispanic populations," the article noted. More like a red light, and one that has been flashing for a long time. The 56 percent majority of Hispanics identify themselves as Democrats. Only 17 percent are Republican, according to the General Social Survey. The best Republican presidential candidates can hope for is that Hispanics won't vote at all--and they might get their wish. In 2008, only 49.9 percent of Hispanic citizens voted.

Football Fans

Percentage of Americans who watch NFL football...

All: 64%
Male: 73%
Female: 55%

Source: Harris Interactive, America's Sport--A Majority of Americans Watch NFL Football

RIP Statistical Abstract

You probably heard that the Statistical Abstract was threatened by budget cuts. Now those threats have become reality. An announcement has appeared (in bold, red typeface) on the Statistical Abstract's web page reporting its demise--the termination of data collection for the Statistical Compendia Program, which includes the Statistical Abstract (published since 1878), the State and Metropolitan Area Data Book, and the County and City Data Book. The announcement reads, in part...

"The U.S. Census Bureau is terminating the collection of data for the Statistical Compendia program effective October 1, 2011...The decision to propose the elimination of this program was not made lightly." 

For those who want access to the most current data presented in the Statistical Abstract's more than 1,400 tables, the Census Bureau refers users to the organizations cited in the source notes for each table.

Earnings Slip

In the third quarter of 2011, median weekly earnings of the nation's full-time wage and salary workers climbed to $753, up 1.8 percent from a year earlier. But the Consumer Price Index rose by a larger 3.8 percent during the same time period. Full-time workers are losing ground to inflation.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Usual Weekly Earnings Summary, Third Quarter 2011

A Generational Rant

Hilarious, and too true: Generation X Doesn't Want To Hear It.

Public Assistance Paradox

Most of the states in which households are least likely to receive public assistance are also the states that rank among the poorest in the nation, including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina. In these states, the percentage of households receiving public assistance ranges from 1.6 to 1.9 percent--well below the 2.9 percent for the nation as a whole.

Note: Public assistance is defined as cash payments to the poor and does not include Food Stamps, Medicaid, subsidized housing, or other in-kind benefits.
Source: Census Bureau, Public Assistance Receipt in the Past 12 Months for Households: 2009 and 2010

One in Ten On Antidepressants

More than one in ten Americans aged 12 or older (10.8 percent) take an antidepressant medication, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. In the 2005-08 time period, antidepressants were the third most commonly prescribed drug. The middle-aged are most likely to be on antidepressants, with 16 percent of people aged 40 to 59 prescribed the drugs. The figure peaks at 23 percent among women in the age group.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Antidepressant Use in Persons Aged 12 and Over: United States, 2005-2008

What Does It Take to Be Middle Class?

A lot more than poverty-level income, which the Census Bureau defines as an annual income of $11,344 for one person and $22,113 for a family of four with two children.

For one worker who lives alone, a middle-class lifestyle requires an annual income of at least $30,012 (or earnings of $14.21 per hour), according to the Basic Economic Security Tables (BEST) Index--and that's only if your job provides employment-based health insurance and a retirement plan. If you are a family of four with two workers and two children, you need to earn at least $67,920 ($16.08/hour per worker), assuming employment-based benefits. These estimates are bare bones and do not include eating out, vacations, or other discretionary spending. They do include modest savings toward a rainy day fund and retirement, but no savings for homeownership or college. Among full-time workers in 2010, one-fourth of men and one-third of women earned less than $30,000 per year.

The BEST estimates of what it takes to be middle class were produced in a joint effort by Wider Opportunities for Women and the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis. They were created to help policymakers and workers evaluate economic security in the United States. The BEST estimates show how much is needed for economic security for 400 family types, from single to double earners with up to six children. The estimates are calculated for workers with or without employer-provided health insurance and retirement benefits.

 Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the BEST estimates is the requirement that savings are necessary for economic stability. Emergency and retirement saving, notes the report, "promotes lifelong and intergenerational economic security." A single worker needs to save $75 per month for emergencies. A family of four with two workers and two children needs to save $170 per month to help them weather hard times. To download the study, visit The Basic Economic Security Tables Initiative on the Wider Opportunities for Women web site.

Few Workers Are Healthy

Percentage of American workers who are of normal weight and have no chronic conditions: 14%.

Source: Gallup, Unhealthy U.S. Workers' Absenteeism Costs $153 Billion

Demographic Trends: A History

Are you yearning for beautiful and insightful graphic representations of long-term demographic trends in the United States? If so, then DemographicChartbook.com is the site for you. Demographic Chartbook was created by Campbell Gibson, who has a resume packed with three decades of work for the Census Bureau--and it shows. His visualizations of census data from 1790 through 2000 give you an instant feel for trends in demographic topics ranging  from age distributions to metropolitan populations, households, homeownership, fertility rates, educational attainment, language, and more. An Appendix provides data by state. Examine the Chartbook online or, after registering, download individual chapters or the entire labor of love onto your computer. This is a great resource for historians and educators.

Adults Crowding Out Teens in Labor Force

What explains the sharp drop in employment rates among high school students over the past quarter century--a drop of nearly 20 percentage points? In a comprehensive analysis of the causes, Federal Reserve Board researcher Christopher L. Smith finds that some teens are too busy with extracurricular and college prep activities to have jobs. But the more important reason, according to his research, is that potential teen workers are being crowded out by adults competing for the same jobs:

"Much of the crowd-out from adults is likely due to polarization of the adult labor market, driven by the declining costs of computerization and automation which have displaced some less-educated adult workers into service sector jobs that teens tend to do."

Source: Federal Reserve Board Finance and Economics Discussion Series, Christopher L. Smith, "Polarization, immigration, education: What's behind the dramatic decline in youth employment?"

Only One Bathroom?

There is not much residential construction going on out there, and what is being built fails to address the new forces shaping the housing market. Example: Among the 125,000 new multifamily rental units completed in 2010, the 54 percent majority had only one bathroom. These units are hitting the market at a time when fewer people are living alone and more young couples who could afford to buy a house are choosing to rent. One bathroom isn't enough.

Source: Census Bureau, Characteristics of New Housing

How Much Do Bank Robbers Get?

Average property loss caused by selected crimes...

Bank robbery: $4,410
Convenience store robbery: $782
Residential burglary: $2,137
Pocket picking: $526
Purse snatching: $400
Shoplifting: $174

Source: Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics

Social Security: Growing Importance

When pre-retirees (full-time workers aged 56 to 65) are asked which one financial product or service is more important to them now than it was five years ago, the 45 percent plurality says Social Security. This is up from 33 percent of the age group who said Social Security was growing in importance when asked the same question in 2008.

Source: MetLife Mature Market Institute, The 2011 MetLife Retirement Income IQ

Baby Bust? Don't Panic

The ongoing decline in births has made headlines in the past few days, following the release of a Pew Research Center analysis. I reported on the trend months ago (see this post).

Here are the facts: The number of births in the United States fell to 4,007,000 in 2010, 7 percent below the all-time high of 4,316,233 births in 2007. Not to worry, however. This is the smallest number of births only since...1999. Yes, that's right. In the overall scheme of things, we're still pretty much in the normal see-saw range. Compare this decline with the one that occurred from the peak of the baby boom (4.3 million births in 1957) to the trough of the baby bust (3.1 million births in 1973), a 27 percent drop.

Thanks to the Great Recession, we are likely in the first years of baby bust. But we have a long way to go before this bust is as deep as the one that produced Generation X.

More than 2 Million in Prison

The nation's prisons house almost as many Americans as its college dorms. The prison population numbered 2.3 million in 2010, only slightly below the 2.5 million who live in college housing.

Source: Census Bureau, 2010 American Community Survey

Surprisingly Few Save for Retirement

An analysis of retirement savings behavior by the Employee Benefit Research Institute finds surprisingly few workers participating in 401(k)s or IRAs. Only 33 percent of workers aged 21 to 64 participate in a 401(k)-type retirement plan. An even smaller 21 percent own an IRA.

Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute, Ownership of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and 401(k)-Type Plans, 1996-2009

Apple Fans

Forty-two percent of the public owns an Apple device such as an iPhone, iPad, or iPod, according to Pew Research Center. Among them, 21 percent said they followed the news of Steve Jobs death more closely than any other news story during the week of October 6-9. Only 9 percent of those who do not own an Apple device followed the news of Jobs death most closely.

Americans Struggling More than Chinese

Percentage responding "yes" to the question, "Have there been times in the past 12 months when you did not have enough money to provide food that you or your family needed?"...

Chinese: 6%
Americans: 19%

Source: Gallup, Chinese Struggling Less than Americans to Afford Basics

Teenagers Less Likely to Have Sex

The percentage of never-married teenage boys aged 15 to 19 who have ever had sexual intercourse fell sharply--from 60 to 42 percent between 1988 and the 2006-10 time period. Among girls, the figure fell from 51 to 43 percent. 

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Teenagers in the United States: Sexual Activity, Contraceptive Use, and Childbearing, 2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth