Number of Americans With a Disability Reaches 54.4 Million. (Released December 18, 2008)

Profile of Older Workers: 2004 - West Virginia. (Released December 17, 2008)

Health Care Costs, Biofuel Use Among Subjects in Census Bureau's 2009 Statistical Abstract. (Released December 17, 2008)

Privately-Owned Housing Starts in November 2008 Were at a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate of 625,000. This Is 18.9 Percent Below the Revised October 2008 Estimate of 771,000. (Released December 16, 2008)

Facts for Features: Valentine's Day 2009: February 14. (Released December 16, 2008)

Global Births Increasing Even as Fertility Rates Decline. (Released December 15, 2008)

U.S. Retail and Food Service Sales for November Reached $355.7 Billion, a Decrease of 1.8 Percent from the Previous Month. (Released December 12, 2008)

U.S. Total Business Sales for October Were $1,118.7 Billion, Down 3.5 Percent From Last Month. Month-End Inventories Were $1,497.0 Billion, Down 0.6 Percent From Last Month. (Released December 12, 2008)

The West was the fastest-growing region (1.4 percent) between 2007 and 2008, but the South added the highest number of people over the period (1.4 million). The 2008 state estimates are available online.

OnTheMap Version 3 application allows users to:

• Perform Area Profile and Shed Analyses for work and home areas in both local and regional geographies;
• Define custom areas for detailed analyses
• Illustrate flows of workers across state borders
• Produce and export reports and maps
• View time-series animation over the five available years of data; and
• Perform highly specialized analyses using OnTheMap microdata available by download from the Cornell Virtual Research Data Center.

Version 3.2 adds New York as the 46th State to the mapping tool for the first time, with additional geographic rollups for Shed Analyses. OnTheMap is supported by the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor and the state partners in the Local Employment Dynamics partnership with the Census Bureau. You can access OnTheMap by selecting "Local Employment Dynamics" at http://www.census.gov and then OnTheMap under Quick Links, or directly at http://lehd.did.census.gov. Comments should be sent to CES.Local.Employment.Dynamics@census.gov.

Americans with Disabilities: 2005 (PDF; 638 KB). Online publication and detailed tables containing National-level data on the socioeconomic characteristics of people with disabilities, such as poverty, program participation, employment status, and earnings. Includes estimates of people with a wide range of specific disabilities, e.g., difficulty seeing or hearing, the need for personal assistance with preparing meals, the use of a wheelchair, and Alzheimer's.

American Community Survey 2005-2007 Data Release. On December 9, 2008 the Census Bureau released the first set of three-year American Community Survey data for all geographies with populations greater than 20,000. The release provides the first look at detailed socioeconomic and housing characteristics for geographies between 20,000 and 64,999 since Census 2000.

International Data Base. The world population is undergoing constant changes in fertility, infant mortality, life expectancy, and other factors. Which countries have fertility rates at or above replacement levels? Will the annual number of births peak anytime soon? Answers to these and other questions about the population of the world's 225 countries can be found in this 2008 update.

Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE): 2006 and 2007. These tables provide estimates of income and poverty for states and counties, as well as estimates of poverty and population for school districts, median household income, and poverty rates of various age groups. SAIPE provides annual updates for the administration of federal programs and the allocation of federal funds to local jurisdictions.

State Population Estimates: July 1, 2008. Internet tables showing July 1, 2008, population estimates and components of change for the nation, states, and Puerto Rico.

Economic Indicators

Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services: November 2008. Press release presenting advance monthly estimates of retail store sales by kind-of-business groups. Report includes seasonally adjusted estimates and percentage changes for major kind-of-business groups.

Manufacturing and Trade: Inventories and Sales: October 2008. Press release showing sales, inventories, and inventories-to-sales ratios for the combined domestic activities of retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers.

Housing Starts and Building Permits: November 2008. Press release showing data for housing starts, completions, and building permits.

New Residential Sales: November 2008. Press release reporting new one-family houses sold and for sale. Includes sales prices, months on the market, and stage of construction.

Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufactures' Shipments and Orders: November 2008. Press release showing advance information on key business indicators.

Economic Census and Surveys

Business Dynamics Statistics. New data tool provides a unique way to track annual changes in employment at the establishment level by business size and age.

2007 Commodity Flow Survey. Tracking value, tonnage, mileage, and mode of transportation, this survey provides new data on the movement of goods in the United States. It covers mining, manufacturing, wholesale, and selected retail trade and service industries.

Older Worker Profiles. Reports (will be released for each of over 30 states) providing a detailed picture of workers 55 and older at the county and metropolitan area levels for 2004. Based on data from the Local Employment Dynamics program, the reports highlight the age of the states' work force, job gains, and losses, industries in which older workers are concentrated, job stability, and earnings. The following states are available as of the publish date of this newsletter:

• Iowa (PDF - 1.31 MB)


• Maine (PDF - 1.45 MB)


• Vermont (PDF - 762 KB)


• Indiana (PDF - 1.53 MB)


• Arkansas (PDF - 1.81 MB)


• Hawaii (PDF - 558 KB)


• Delaware (PDF - 464 KB)


• Colorado (PDF - 779 KB)


• Wisconsin (PDF - 766 KB)


• New Jersey (PDF - 800 KB)


• Maryland (PDF - 1.03 MB)


• Kentucky (PDF - 1.58 MB)


• Oklahoma (PDF - 696 KB)


• South Carolina (PDF - 1.34 MB)


• Montana (PDF - 1.03 MB)


• Oregon (PDF - 756 KB)


• New Mexico (PDF - 486 KB)


• Tennessee (PDF - 1.13 MB)


• Washington (PDF - 1.03 MB)


• Pennsylvania (PDF - 1.03 MB)


• Minnesota (PDF - 736 KB)


• Virginia (PDF - 2.37 MB)


• Missouri (PDF - 849 KB)


• North Dakota (PDF - 704 KB)


• Idaho (PDF - 932 KB)

Governments

2007 State Government Finances. Complete information on the financial ctivity of all 50 state governments. Data cover revenues by type (taxes and federal aid), expenditures by character (current operations, capital outlay, payments to other governments), expenditures by function (welfare, health, education, natural resources), indebtedness, and cash and security holdings. Complete statistics on local government finances will be released in the summer of 2009 from the 2007 Census of Governments.

Reference and Compendia

Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009. "Uncle Sam's Almanac" presents its usual dazzling array of statistics on topics from "A" (aerobics) to "Z" (zinc production). Published since 1878, the upcoming 128th edition includes several dozen new tables and more than 1,400 overall, describing life in our nation and the world.

Facts for Features: Valentine's Day

The 2008 Holiday Season

The American Community Survey: What the Media Needs to Know. A new handbook that describes how the ACS is designed, key concepts and how to get the most out of the survey data. It explains the various ways to find and access ACS data and the best ways for novice and experienced journalists to use the estimates. Step-by-step articles are included on how journalists have used the ACS to find and improve their published work.

Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007. Internet tables detail education levels by age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, nativity, occupation and other demographic characteristics at the national level.

Foreign-Born Characteristics: 2007. There were an estimated 38 million people in 2007 living in the United States who were born outside of the country. New data profiles show educational attainment, income, year of entry, occupations, and more based on a group's country of birth. For example, Chinese-born residents in one part of the country are much more likely to graduate high school than others.

New Year's Day Population. The Census Bureau rings in the year with its annual projection of the nation's population for January 1, 2009. The release will include birth, death, and net international migration rates.

Economic Census and Surveys

2007 State and Local Government Public Employee-Retirement Systems. Annual data on revenues, expenditures, financial assets and membership for public employee-retirement systems. Data are shown for individual retirement systems as well as aggregately at the national, state and local levels.

2007 Service Annual Survey: Health Care and Social Assistance. From kidney dialysis to community food services, from chiropractors to optometrists, this sector focuses on care providers for individuals, whether medical care or social assistance. Users can track revenue by dollar figures or percent change.

Economic Indicators

Construction Spending (Put-in-Place): November 2009. Press release showing estimates of the value of total new construction put-in-place by type of construction (residential and non-residential), annual value, and by type of owner (private and public). Scheduled for release January 5, 2009.

Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders: November 2009. Press release showing information on key business indicators. Shows revised durable goods totals, in addition to nondurable goods manufacturers' shipments, inventories, and orders. Scheduled for release January 6, 2009.

Quarterly Financial Report for Retail Trade: Third Quarter, 2008. Press release shows third quarter sales of large retail trade corporations. Includes large U.S. retailers' after-tax profits. Scheduled for release January 7, 2009.

Monthly Wholesale Trade: November 2009. Press release showing estimates for sales, inventories on a non-LIFO ("last in-first out") basis, and stock-sales ratios for merchant wholesalers by three-digit major kind-of-business groups. Scheduled for release January 9, 2009.

Governments

2007 State and Local Government Public Employee-Retirement Systems. Annual data on revenues, expenditures, financial assets and membership for public employee-retirement systems. Data are shown for individual retirement systems and aggregated at the national, state, and local levels.

Reference and Compendia

Facts for Features:

African-American History Month (February). To commemorate and celebrate the contributions to our nation made by people of African descent, the Census Bureau presents a collection of demographic and economic statistics about the black community.

St. Patrick's Day and Irish-American Heritage Month (March). May the "luck o' the Irish" be with you as you peruse this edition of the Facts for Features. It is filled with statistical information from the Census Bureau's demographic and economic subject areas on the nation's Irish-American population and other facets of this celebration of all things Irish.

Women's History Month (March). In commemoration of this annual observance highlighting and celebrating the varied and historic accomplishments of women, this edition provides statistical information on topics such as earnings, education, business ownership, voting, occupations, military service and marriage.