Monday, August 31, 2009

Social Explorer Debuts 2006 Census Tract-level Estimates   by Sydney Beveridge

Earlier this month, Social Explorer unveiled new estimates that let subscribers work with Census tract-level data for the year 2006.  The new resource enables deeper research for more recent years of data.
Social Explorer constructed this dataset using data from both the published and public use micro-sample of the 2005-2007 American Community Survey (ACS), and geographic boundaries from the 2000 Census.  Social Explorer allocated six-year changes at the so-called PUMA level (areas of at least 100,000 people) to the tracts based upon their characteristics in 2000.  In this way, Social Explorer estimates are consistent with those produced by the ACS.

This additional resource brings usability and local-area specificity to the most currently available data.  Subscribers can access the 2006 Census estimates through the maps and the reports tabs.

Click here to find out more about subscribing for access to the new estimates and all of Social Explorer’s tools and resources.


Saturday, August 15, 2009

Social Explorer’s Andrew Beveridge Provided Expert Testimony for Landmark Housing Segregation Case   by Sydney Beveridge

A federal district court ruling will compel Westchester County to address housing segregation.  Social Explorer’s Andrew Beveridge provided expert testimony for reports and depositions.

As stated in the New York Times article covering the case, Beveridge found that, “racial isolation is increasing for blacks, falling slightly for whites” and that “income level has very little impact on the degree of residential racial segregation experienced by African-Americans.”

Sam Roberts wrote that, “Judge Cote concluded that Westchester had made little or no effort to find out where low-income housing was being placed, or to finance homes and apartments in communities that opposed affordable housing.”

According to the settlement, Westchester County will have to create 750 units of affordable housing in the next seven years, at least 630 of which will have to be in the most segregated neighborhoods of the county.

For more information on the case and Beveridge’s testimony, please visit the Anti-Discrimination Center.


Friday, August 14, 2009

The First Census: The Dawn of American Data   by Sydney Beveridge

Shortly after founding the United States, the framers wanted to count up who was in it. At the second session of the first congress, representatives created the Census, and five months later, the counting began. Specifically, the government sought population data to decide how to allocate political power and money.

The Constitution states “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct (Article 1, Section 2).”

This first Census offered a snapshot of the 3.9 million inhabitants of the new nation and even their surnames. The six components of the first Census were:

1) The names of the heads families

2) Free White males of 16 years and upward

3) Free White males under 16 years

4) Free White females

5) All other free persons (by sex and color, but “Indians not taxed” were not included in the counts)

6) Slaves

In August of 1790, marshals and their assistants set out on the nine-month task of surveying their parts of the country. Marshals earned up to $500 for their work, and their assistants were paid one dollar for every 150 people surveyed.

The data revealed information about the different states, such as the fact that in 1790, Vermont and Massachusetts were the only two states without any slaves.

Social Explorer has taken the raw data from this and every census and added it to our database, allowing premium users to explore and compare data from 1790 to the present all in one easy-to-use system.


Tuesday, August 4, 2009

The Decline of the Financial Sector: Andrew Beveridge’s Latest Gotham Gazette Article   by Sydney Beveridge

In his new Gotham Gazette Demographics article “New York’s Now Beleaguered Financial Workforce,” Andrew Beveridge examines the decline of the financial sector in New York City.

“As finance led the city and region into a boom, it is now leading them into the most serious economic downturn since the Great Depression,” Beveridge writes.

Data from the American Community Survey and the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal the changes in the financial sector.  Read the story for the full details of the sector and those professions, businesses and individuals who depend on it.




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