Adolescent Health

A report on adolescent health published by the National Center for Health Statistics presents interesting facts about adolescent risk-taking. One positive trend has been a decline in the proportion of teens that ride in a car as a passenger without using a seatbelt. Only 10 % say that rarely or never wore a seatbelt. Somewhat more disappointing is the proportion that says that they rode with a driver who had been drinking (28.5%).

That’s probably because drinking is fairly common among teens old enough to drive a car. Over 30 percent of 16-17 year old teens have had a drink in the last 30 days and this percentage goes up to 50 percent among those age 18-19. My guess is that these kids aren't drinking at home.

Primary Reivew

In reference to the 2008 presidential elections, the word "historic" has been thrown around a lot in the last couple of days, for good reason. This primary season has been a remarkable show of democracy at its most difficult and at its best. One of the most positive aspects has been the unusually large turn out at the primary elections. The table below depicts the total number of votes cast in the primary elections, the proportion of those votes that were cast for a democratic candidates, the numer of people in each state according to the 2006 American Community Survey and the proportion of the population that voted. Of course, not everyone in a state is eligible to vote. So, voting rates are in a sense artificially deflated.

If anyone has a good solution for posting tables, I'd be more than happy to hear it.

Social Security

One potentially worrisome consequence of our population aging is the viability of our social security system. Generally speaking the majority of the United States population is concerned that we are spending too little on social security. This percentage has been growing from about 50 percent in the early 1990s to 64 percent in 2006, the time of the last General Social Survey. At the end of the Clinton administration, when we were running a budget surplus, social security was actually in pretty good shape and only minor adjustments were necessary to weather the years supporting the baby boom generation. With the heavy spending of the Bush administration, our options for maintaining solvency for this important social program are now more limited.

Yet I don’t think the proportion of the population that’s concerned about social security has so much to do with whether the program is in trouble as the proportion of the population that’s nearing retirement.



Question wording: We are faced with many problems in this country, none of which can be solved easily or inexpensively. I'm going to name some of these problems, and for each one I'd like you to tell me whether you think we're spending too much money on it, too little money, or about the right amount.

Internet Advantage

Those of us who spend endless hours on the intenet might find it hard to imagine that some people spend little-to-no time online. In 2006 there was a distinct educational gradient with the mean number of hours spent online per week for those with a college degree more than double than the number of hours spent online for those with less than a high school degree. In fact, nearly 3 out of 4 people with less than a high school degree spent zero hours on the internet.

Maybe the disparity arises because educated folks are more likely to have jobs with internet access or maybe it's because college life encourages internet use. It seems likely that there are also differences in internet access at home, but according to the Pew Internet & American Life project the so-called digital divide is closing somewhat in recent years.

Unemployment

In a previous post, I reported that the large metropolitan areas with the lowest levels of unemployment in March were New Orleans, Washington D.C., Oklahoma City, Austin, Birmingham, and Phoenix. In April, the order of these 6 cities changed, but they are still the top six. Oklahoma City was the city with the lowest unemployment rate (2.9). Overall, however, the unemployment situation is less than ideal. Of 369 metropolitan areas in the United States, the unemployment rate was higher than a year ago in 261. These unemployment figures, combined with high gas prices, and dropping housing values, may help to explain why consumer confidence is at a 16 year low.

Perhaps nowhere (in the metropolitan United States) has experienced a worse year than Detroit. Detroit had the highest unemployment rate in April, but things look a little bit better than March when the unemployment rate was 7.7. In April Detroit’s unemployment rate dropped to 6.9 percent. Even so, it’s tough times for auto workers.

Maybe Detroit will be consoled tomorrow if the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup.