New State/Local Data for October 2008
2007 American Community Survey data
The Census Bureau released the 2007 ACS data on social, economic, demographic and housing characteristics for areas with populations of 65,000 or more, and 2007 Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) single-year data for Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMA) with populations of 100,000 or more. These data include:
- educational attainment
- industry
- occupation
- class of worker
- journey to work
- employment status
- work status
- veteran status
- housing
- households and families
- marital status
- migration
Several notes about using the ACS data:
1) Although the Census Bureau generally encourages users to compare ACS data with data from Census 2000 and previous ACS releases, users should be cautious about such comparisons. The Census Bureau offers guidance since comparisons in some instances could be misleading due to differences in questions or methods. The Bureau has provided a summary table offering users data crosswalks between datasets, and lists the variables for which comparisons across years should not be made.
2) The 1996 through 2004 ACS data can no longer be accessed as data sets in American FactFinder nor from the ACS website. All of the ACS 2000-2004 data products are archived at the FTP site which can be accessed from an ACS downloads section.
3) If users are interested in examining poverty trends over time, be advised that different geographies (i.e., state versus county) will require comparisons of different data sets, and the Census Bureau has acknowledged that there are inconsistencies across data sets that involve examining the respective margins of error and the survey methodologies. The Bureau has advised the Colorado State Demographer’s Office on how to proceed with such comparisons.
Geographical Mobility: 2007
The US Census Bureau uses 4 data sources to develop information on migration: 1) the Current Population Survey; 2) the Survey of Income and Participation; 3) its population estimates and projections; and 4) the decennial census. The Bureau’ analysis shows that, between 2006 and 2007, 38.7 million people moved in the United States: 25.2 million stayed in the same county, 7.4 million moved to a different county within the same state, 4.9 million moved to a different state and 1.2 million moved to the U.S. from abroad. Findings include:
- The Northeast had the lowest moving rate (9 percent), followed by the Midwest (13 percent), the South (14 percent) and the West (15 percent).
- The moving rates for the South and the West were not significantly different.
- Housing-related issues – such as the desire to own a home or to live in a better neighborhood – were the most common reasons given for moving (42 percent), followed by family-related issues (30 percent), employment reasons (21 percent) and other (7 percent).
- For those moving to the U.S. from abroad, more people listed employment as their reason (52 percent) than any other.
- Of the 12.3 million people who moved to another county, the largest group moved less than 50 miles (42 percent); 22 percent moved more than 500 miles.
- The black population had the highest moving rate (17 percent) among race and ethnic groups, followed by Hispanics (16 percent), Asians (15 percent) and non-Hispanic whites (12 percent).
College Enrollment Up 17 Percent Since 2000
The Census Bureau reports that enrollment in two- and four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. reached 20.5 million in 2006, up 3 million since 2000. This included 17.1 million undergraduates and 3.4 million students in graduate or professional schools. This is the first school enrollment report from the Census Bureau to use data from both the Current Population Survey (on which previous reports have been based) and the American Community Survey. Incorporating these data result in new state-by-state comparisons of enrollment characteristics while preserving the historical comparisons of school enrollment. Maps in this document provide information on Colorado, relative to all other states. In 2006, there were more students in college and high school, but fewer in nursery school, kindergarten and elementary school, than in 2000. This change reflects the composition of school enrollment by age in the United States for that time period. Other findings include:
- More than half of undergraduates (56%) – as well as 59% of graduate students – were women.
- In 2006, 4.7 million children age 3 and over were enrolled in nursery school or preschool. Among 3-year-olds, 41% were enrolled in nursery school, compared with 60% of 4-year-olds. Children 5 and older made up 12% of nursery school students.
- The West reported the lowest percentage of native non-Hispanic white students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade (44%), while the Midwest reported the highest (72%). The highest percentage of native-born, single-race black elementary school students was in the South (23%), and the West reported the highest percentage of native-born, single-race Asian students (5.8%).
- In California, Texas and New Mexico, one-third or more of students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade spoke a language other than English at home. By contrast, about 3% of students in Mississippi spoke a language other than English at home.
Poverty Gap Widens Among States
Even as the economy pushes more people into poverty, revenue-strapped states can be expected to make further cutbacks in social welfare spending, particularly in poor states where people need it most, according to a new report by the Rockefeller Institute of Government, which tracked state and local spending on all forms of low-income assistance programs from 1977 to 2006. This report measures state fiscal capacity based on states’ real per capita personal income (PCPI), averaged across the years examined in this study (1977-2006). The study shows a steady decline in state spending on all welfare services over the last three decades with the steepest reductions in the poorest states.
For example, Connecticut, which had the highest per capita income between 2002 and 2006, increased spending on non-cash social welfare programs, such as child care and job training, by $785 per low-income individual, bringing the total to $3,527 for each welfare recipient in 2006. Mississippi, with the lowest per-capita income, went in the opposite direction, cutting non-cash assistance programs by $924 per person, reducing the total to $702 per person.
According to this report, Colorado falls in the quartile with the highest fiscal capacities. However, from 1996 to 2002 its spending per poor person decreased in terms of medical and cash assistance, but increased slightly in non-health social services. From 2002 to 2006, spending per poor person increased in medical assistance, but decreased in the other categories. Over both time periods, the amount of federal transfers for social welfare spending decreased, placing a larger amount of the funding burden with the state.
In total, states spend $25 billion of their own revenues annually on social welfare programs that serve about 20 percent of the population, according to the American Public Human Services Association, and averaging across all programs, about 60 percent of state and local social welfare money comes from the federal government.
Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor, has increased dramatically since 1977, rising from a national average of $2,000 per individual to more than $7,000 in 2006, while TANF cash assistance has declined from a national average of almost $1,700 per person in 1977 to less than $600 per person in 2006. At the same time, non-cash social welfare programs grew from a national average of about $1,200 per person in 1977 to $2,400 per person in 2002, but have declined since then to about $2,100 per person.
Health Professions Workforce Inventory
The Colorado Health Institute has released an inventory document profiling educational programs that provide training related to 20 health professions, as well as workforce initiatives that strive to increase awareness of health care opportunities. Funded by The Colorado Trust as part of its focus on increasing the number of health professionals, the inventory is designed to be a tool to increase statewide collaboration among health workforce coalitions, educational institutions and workforce development organizations.
Profiles of Colorado's health professions educational programs include information about target professions, program levels, number of students enrolled, waiting lists, barriers to program completion, faculty, clinical placements, funding and targeted counties. For the workforce initiatives, the inventory provides information on purpose, professions targeted, funding, accomplishments and barriers to expansion. The profiles are organized in multiple ways—by profession, county, sponsoring organization and name—to make it easy for readers to find what interests them.
Balancing Nutrition, Participation, and Cost in the National School Lunch Program
USDA ERS states that recent reports of high rates of obesity and overweight among children have focused attention on the nutritional quality of school lunches. But this attention has raised another fundamental question: can schools meet the program’s nutrition goals while covering costs, especially in times of rising food prices? The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides federally-subsidized meals to more than 30 million children each school day through school districts. School districts receive a per meal subsidy and free agricultural commodities from USDA to help operate school lunch programs. Schools also get revenues from NSLP meal sales to students who are not eligible for free meals. The costs of running the program can exceed these two revenue sources, and schools often turn to other funding or food sales to make up the difference. School foodservice managers say that to appeal to students and raise revenues, they need to offer less nutritious a la carte foods and vending snacks.
Economic Measures of Soil Conservation Benefits: Regional Values for Policy Assessment
This USDA report describes data and methodologies that the Economic Research Service has used to apply monetary values to changes in soil erosion. Values and methodology are clearly described so that analysts can apply the data to specific soil conservation projects. ERS has used the values to estimate soil conservation benefits of changes in farm programs and practices, but no analyses of farm programs or practices are provided here. The benefit values are regional dollar-per-ton measures of 14 different categories of soil conservation benefits. There are other soil conservation benefits categories beyond those reported here, so a full accounting of benefits is not possible. As a result, monetary values derived from applications of these data are likely to be lower-bound estimates of the benefits or costs of changes in soil erosion. The data are thought to be detailed enough for national and regional estimates, but lack precision for smaller scale estimates.
Creating Markets for Environmental Stewardship: Potential Benefits and Problems
According to this USDA Economic Research Service article, farmers and other landowners typically under-provide environmental services such as clean air and water, carbon sequestration, and improved wildlife habitat. Markets for environmental services could increase farmer investments in environmental stewardship, thereby expanding the supply of environmental services. Several markets (water quality trading, carbon trading, and wetland mitigation) have been created to reduce compliance costs associated with environmental regulations. Two other markets (eco-labeling and fee hunting) have developed on their own. Impediments to the formation of fully functioning markets for agricultural environmental services may be difficult or costly to overcome. If markets are to become important tools for generating resources for conservation on farms, government or other organizations may have to help emerging markets overcome uncertainty and transaction costs.
Updated Monday, August 29, 2011
