Increasing Diversity

The American Community Survey, conducted by the Census Bureau, provides yearly updates on the population characteristics of the U.S. In an earlier post I described the race-ethnic diversity of the U.S. population as of 2006. Now, 2007 estimates are available. Between 2006 and 2007 the overall population grew by 0.74%, but of course some groups grew faster than others. For example the non-Hispanic white population grew by only 0.17%, but the Hispanic population grew by 2.67 %

Living Longer

Back in April, I posted a graph of trends in life expectancy, which shows that white women have the longest life expectancy, but other groups are catching up. Yesterday the National Center for Health Statistics released mortality data for 2006. Death rates declined and life expectancy is at an all-time high, 78.1 years. Life expectancy increased the most for black men, from 69.5 in 2005 to 70.0 in 2006. Even so, African American men still have the lowest life expectancy at birth.

Smokin'

The National Center for Health Statistics periodically produces accounts of the nation’s health. In these reports there’s a lot of information on things ranging from joint pain to psychological distress. Here we can find trends in the percentage of people age 25 and over who are current smokers by education. The good (and not very surprising) news is that smoking has declined. Also, only 8 percent of people with a Bachelor’s degree smoke. Less promising is the fact that smoking is more prevalent among the less educated and the declines in smoking over the last 20 years have been less steep.

Graduation Rates

A report released last week by the National Center for Education Statistics describes graduation rates for the cohort that entered Title IV institutions in 2000. On average only 36 percent of those starting college in 2000 had received their Bachelor’s degree after 4 years. This increased to 53 after 5 years. Private not-for-profit schools have better graduation rates than public institutions or for-profit schools. Perhaps this is because private schools are more selective? It seems to me more likely that students get through more quickly because tuition is a lot higher and also because these schools typically provide better services to students.

Teens and Immigrants especially hard hit by weak economy

On Friday June 6th, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the May 2008 unemployment figures. Headlines noted the results as evidence of the weak economy, the stock market tanked (probably more on oil prices than unemployment figures), and many noted that the .5% increase in the unemployment rate was the greatest increase since 1986.

Of course, economic downturns are not felt equally across the economic (or demographic) spectrum. The BLS press release clearly indicates that those age 16-19 experienced the greatest increase in (seasonally adjusted) unemployment from April (15.4) to May (18.7). Yes, that’s right, teenagers experienced a whopping 3.3% point increase in unemployment in May.

Now, teens aren’t a large proportion of the labor force and adult men and women also experienced increases in unemployment, although these increases where much smaller (.3% and .5% respectively).

If you have a teen who is frustrated with their attempts to find a summer job, cut him/her a break! The graph below depicts the (seasonally adjusted) May unemployment rates from 1998 to the present. Clearly the last two years have NOT been good.