Statistics and Indicators

Seasonally Adjusted Data

February 12, 2009 -- In the week ending Feb. 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 623,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 631,000. The 4-week moving average was 607,500, an increase of 24,000 from the previous week's revised average of 583,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent for the week ending Jan. 31, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.6 percent.    » read more »

February 9, 2009 -- The on-time performance of the nation’s largest airlines improved in 2008 compared to the previous year, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

According to information filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), the 19 carriers reporting on-time performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 76.0 percent for January through December 2008, up from 2007’s 73.4 percent rate. During December 2008, the carriers posted an on-time performance rate of 65.3 percent, up from December 2007’s 64.3 percent but down from November 2008’s 83.3 percent.    » read more »

Seasonally Adjusted Data

February 5, 2009 -- In the week ending Jan. 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 626,000, an increase of 35,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 591,000. The 4-week moving average was 582,250, an increase of 39,000 from the previous week's revised average of 543,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent for the week ending Jan. 24, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.6 percent.    » read more »

February 5, 2009 -- The first multi-dimensional effort to quantify the disparities faced by African-American and Latino boys and men in California across a broad spectrum of health and social factors provides a disquieting outlook for their lives.

Compiled by RAND Corporation researchers at the request of The California Endowment, the report compares how well men and boys of color have fared relative to their white peers across the realms of health, safety, socioeconomic characteristics and readiness to learn.    » read more »

February 4, 2009 -- The economic cost of methamphetamine use in the United States reached $23.4 billion in 2005, including the burden of addiction, premature death, drug treatment and many other aspects of the drug, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

The RAND study is the first effort to construct a comprehensive national assessment of the costs of the methamphetamine problem in the United States.

"Our findings show that the economic burden of methamphetamine abuse is substantial," said Nancy Nicosia, the study's lead author and an economist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.    » read more »

New Survey Shows Intention to Purchase Cars with Much Higher Fuel Economy

February 3, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. -- According to the latest Consumer Federation of America (CFA) energy survey, despite the decline of pump prices from $3.50 in April 2008 to $1.90 today, a large majority of Americans remain concerned, most greatly so, about gas prices (76%) and dependence on Middle-Eastern oil (76%). Moreover, in their next car purchase, they intend to buy a vehicle with fuel economy averaging five miles per gallon greater than the mileage of their current vehicle.    » read more »

Feb. 2, 2009 -- HARRISBURG – The value of Pennsylvania’s annual exports increased 20 percent last year, said Governor Edward G. Rendell today as he cited the latest federal figures showing the value of exports has doubled since the start of his administration.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Pennsylvania exports increased from $15.3 billion in 2002 to $32 billion in 2008. Pennsylvania is the 11th largest exporting state with the fastest growing export sectors, including petroleum products, coal, iron and steel alloys, vehicles, aircrafts, scrap metal and machinery.    » read more »

Seasonally Adjusted Data

January 29, 2009 -- In the week ending Jan. 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 588,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 585,000. The 4-week moving average was 542,500, an increase of 24,250 from the previous week's revised average of 518,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent for the week ending Jan. 17, an increase of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.4 percent.    » read more »

Top 100 Airports: Highest Fare in Cincinnati, Lowest Fare at Dallas Love

January 28, 2009 - Average domestic air fares in the third quarter of 2008 reached $362, the highest level of average fares for any quarter in the 13 years measured by available data , the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today.

BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that the average domestic itinerary fare in the third quarter was 2.8 percent higher than the $352 average domestic fare in the second quarter of 2008, the previous quarterly high . See http://www.bts.gov/xml/atpi/src/avgfareseries.xml for historic data.    » read more »

Jan. 28, 2009 -- A larger percentage of foreign-born than native-born residents had a master’s degree or higher in 2007, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau. Nationally, 11 percent of foreign-born — people from another country now living in the United States — and 10 percent of U.S.-born residents had an advanced degree.

These statistics come from Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007 [PDF], a report that describes the degree or level of school completed by adults 25 and older.    » read more »

January 28, 2009 -- AFL-CIO President John Sweeney: “Shows American workers are choosing to join unions in larger numbers”

Union membership in the United States increased by 428,000 to 16.1 million in 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The percentage of the workforce that has a union also increased from 12.1 percent to 12.4 percent last year, continuing a second year of growth.

“Today’s numbers confirm what many working people already know -- that if given the chance, American workers are choosing to join unions in larger numbers,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. “Workers in unions are much more likely to have health care benefits and a pension than those without a union; in today’s economy, that’s the difference between sinking and swimming.”    » read more »

The number of outpatient surgery visits in the United States increased from 20.8 million visits in 1996 to 34.7 million visits in 2006, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Outpatient surgery visits accounted for about half of all surgery visits in 1996 but nearly two thirds of all surgery visits in 2006, the report said.

The report, Ambulatory Surgery in the United States, 2006, contains the first data on outpatient surgery visits since 1996. The data were collected from 142 hospitals and 295 freestanding centers as part of the National Survey of Ambulatory Surgery (NSAS).    » read more »

Jan 22, 2009 -- U.S. businesses spent $1.36 trillion on new and used structures and equipment in 2007, of which $1.28 trillion, or 93.7 percent, was spent on new structures and equipment, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

These findings come from the 2007 Annual Capital Expenditures Survey, which measures spending on new and used structures and equipment for businesses with and without paid employees.

Expenditures for new and used structures totaled $529.3 billion, an increase of $40.1 billion from 2006. Of that total, 91.5 percent was spent on new structures. Expenditures for new and used equipment totaled $832.3 billion, 95.2 percent of which went to new equipment.    » read more »

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Jan. 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 589,000, an increase of 62,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 527,000. The 4-week moving average was 519,250, unchanged from the previous week's revised average of 519,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.4 percent for the week ending Jan. 10, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.4 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Jan. 10 was 4,607,000, an increase of 97,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,510,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,559,750, an increase of 58,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,501,000.    » read more »

Declines in U.S. Petroleum Consumption Expected to Continue

If you feel like you’ve been economizing by driving less and adjusting your thermostat more, you’re not alone. Total U.S. petroleum consumption reported in today’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR) is once again lower than the same week last year.

Average monthly total petroleum consumption has now declined for 12 consecutive months when compared with the same month the year before. Within the last 25 years, we’ve identified 6 other 12-month periods during which there was a sustained drop in total petroleum consumption from the previous year.    » read more »