Data Points: New Resources and Other Noteworthy Developments

What are “green jobs?”  That is the key question under discussion by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as part of its effort to create new surveys to track employment related to environmental activities. At a November 17 meeting of BLS’s Data Users Advisory Committee, Dixie Sommers, assistant BLS commissioner for occupational statistics and employment projections, described the agency’s progress in defining “green jobs” for surveys funded in the BLS’ fiscal 2010 budget. Sommers and her colleagues are seeking input from other federal agencies and information from industry associations about environmental technologies and practices. Sommers said the 2007 Green Jobs Act called for development of a new data series, although no funds were appropriated. The final BLS appropriations measure for FY 2010 includes $8 million for the new surveys, which will allow the agency to begin to collect industry data within 12 months of receiving funding and occupational data the next year, she said.  There's more information generated by a federal-state working group convened to explore “green jobs” concepts.

If you want prompt notification when the Census Bureau releases geographic area data from its Economic Census of industries, you can subscribe to its “NotifyMe” for e-mails specific to the reports you want.  Census began publishing geographic area data series in November and will continue publishing the reports through August 2010. 

In the December issue of the its “Survey of Current Business,” the Bureau of Economic Analysis features articles on: GDP and the Economy: Second Estimates for the Third Quarter of 2009; and a report on Government Receipts and Expenditures of 2009 that describes how the estimates were affected by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.

When it releases the first labor market snapshot of 2010 on February 5, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will implement several changes in the employment report, reflecting in part improvements to the payroll survey that make it more comprehensive.  The agency will begin reporting hours and earnings for all employees, switching from the narrower definition of “production and nonsupervisory employees” that has long been the broadest category covered.

The agency also provided details on how it will change both the content and format of the employment report.  Data from both the household and payroll surveys will be shown in separate summary tables following the text analysis.

Since April of 2007, BLS has published results of an experimental hours and earnings series for all employees.

While the global economic outlook has improved in the last few months, risks remain as credit is still tight and most central banks have yet to unwind monetary stimulus, according to the latest forecast of the Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

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