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Dr. Mike McCurry, SD State Demographer & Director of
South Dakota's Rural Life Census Data Center
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Quick Link
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The Big Mac Index
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Probably the most intriguing index I've seen is the Big Mac Index. Sociologists have written about the "McDonaldization" of America, or of the world, but about 25 years ago, folks at the Economist developed the "Big Mac Index" as a way of measuring purchasing power. It's now available online at http://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index . 
The highest priced Big Macs were in Venezuela and Norway, while the lowest showed up in India. That makes me wonder if they're lower priced because of currency variations, or a dominant religion that isn't supportive of eating beef. As always, correlations are nice, but do not prove causality.
Mike McCurry, Ph.D.
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South Dakota Small
Business Profile Available
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The Small Business Administration has released South Dakota's small business profile (http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/sd12.pdf ). Among other notable facts are that 73.6 percent of South Dakota's small businesses have no employees. It shows that 750 SD businesses have over 500 employees, and that the largest areas are construction and retail. Profiles of other states are available at http://www.sba.gov/advocacy/848/468011 .
Mike McCurry, Ph.D.
 
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Firearms Background Check Data
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In February, the Department of Justice released "
Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2010 - Statistical Tables". (http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/bcft10st.pdf) It's basically 17 pages of data covering the people who were denied permission to purchase a firearm - and kind of fun to look at considering the amount of press we're seeing on the topic now. It was interesting to see that the largest group denied were illegal aliens, followed by mental health . . . but I'd much rather you checked the data for yourself than rely on anyone else.Mike McCurry, Ph.D.
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Employment Based
Health Insurance
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The Census released " Employment-Based Health Insurance: 2010" ( http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p70-134.pdf ) at the end of February. The report seems worth reviewing in light of the general disagreement on the affordable care act - I don't expect it to change any opinions, but it gives us a better picture of what has been happening relevant to health insurance since the beginning of the 21st Century. One of the topics that interested me was that the percentage of people covered through employment based health insurance seems to have been dropping since 2002, while the percentage of uninsured has been rising since 2002. The numbers aren't huge, but the trend is fairly clear. There was little racial difference in employment based health insurance participation, but we see a significant difference based on education - 78.9% of college graduates were offered employment based health insurance, but only 42.9% of the folks with less than high school education. It's 20 pages that tells us a lot about health insurance, without a political spin - and probably worth your time. Mike McCurry, Ph.D.
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Youth Incarceration
Down Nationally, Up in South Dakota
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Mike McCurry, Ph.D.
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South Dakota State Data Center Affiliates
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Black Hills Council of Local Governments
Central South Dakota Enhancement District
First District Association of Local Governments
Governor's Office of Economic Development
Karl E Mundt Library
Labor Market Information Center
Northeast Council of Governments
Northern State University
Planning & Development District III
Rural Life Census Data Center
Sioux Falls Planning Department
South Dakota Department of Health
South Dakota Kids Count
South Dakota State Data Center
South Dakota State Library
Southeast Council of Governments
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For a Look at Older Workers
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Sometimes other people make Census data easier to use. This time, it's the folks at AARP who have developed "Selected Characteristics of US Workers and Non-workers Age 40+ by Age Group". For South Dakota, the table is at: http://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/surveys_statistics/general/2013/workforceprofiles/AARP%20Workforce%20Profile%20-%20South%20Dakota.pdf
All the data has been extracted from the American Community Survey, and is state-level, reducing the margin of error to livable levels (we can't do it for most of the counties and towns). It shows 21,749 people who are 65 and over still in the work force. It's an easy table to use, and answers some of the questions we've been getting about older South Dakotans who stay working.
Mike McCurry, Ph.D.
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Currently this newsletter is going out to 995 recipients!
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Mike's Favorite Websites:
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You probably remember that part of my self-assigned task is to help South Dakotans become their own demographers. After about six months, I realized that, with so much data available online, this would be a lot easier if I shared some of the websites I find useful.
Mike's Favorite Websites:
ACS Profiles (Missouri)
http://mcdc1.missouri.edu/acsprofiles/acsprofilemenu.html
Agriculture
http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/
American FactFinder
http://factfinder2.census.gov/
Bureau of Economic Analysis
http://www.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/
Center for Disease Control
http://www.cdc.gov/
County Level Data
http://censtats.census.gov/usa/usa.shtml
County Business Patterns
http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/index.html
Crime
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr
Health Stats
http://www.statehealthfacts.org/
Historical Census Browser
http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/
Life Expectancy
http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/
Migration
http://interactive.taxfoundation.org/migration/
Missouri State Data Center
http://mcdc.missouri.edu/
Mortality (CDC)
http://wonder.cdc.gov/cmf-icd10-archive2005.html
Onthemap
http://onthemap.ces.census.gov/
SD Labor
http://dlr.sd.gov/lmic/default.aspx
Statistical Abstracts
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
US Life Tables (CDC)
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr59/nvsr59_09.pdf
Mike McCurry, Ph.D.
State Demographer/Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology & Rural Studies
South Dakota State University
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Hutterites Have Long
History in South Dakota
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Click link below for larger view
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Disability Characteristics
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The Census has released "Disability Characteristics of Income-Based Government Assistance Recipients in the United States: 2011." This short report provides figures that relate to the disabilities people receiving government assistance have in each state. I have a friend who will probably be extremely pleased when I point out that Kentucky shows the highest percentage of cognitively disabled, while New York has the lowest. On the other hand, Alabama had the highest percentage of the "ambulatory impaired" while Arizona had the lowest. The report is available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acsbr11-12.pdf
Mike McCurry, Ph.D.
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Geographic Concentration of Manufacturing - US and SD
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The Department of Commerce has released "The Geographic Concentration of Manufacturing Across the United States." This report shows the nation's top ten states for manufacturing employment. While it's no surprise that South Dakota isn't included, the map that shows where our manufacturing sector is strongest - along the I-29 corridor, and west to Yankton and Lake counties - shows an interesting regional development. From a demographic perspective, it's going to become more significant. Check the report out at
http://www.esa.doc.gov/sites/default/files/reports/documents/finalthegeographicconcentrationofmanufacturingacrosstheunitedstates.pdf
Mike McCurry, Ph.D.
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What is "Rural America"? 
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No further comment.
Mike McCurry, Ph.D.
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Debt and the Elderly 
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In a cross between demography and economics, the Employee Benefits Research Institute has published Debt of the Elderly and Near Elderly, 1992-2010 ( http://www.ebri.org/pdf/notespdf/EBRI_Notes_02_Feb-13_DebtEld-Contribs.pdf ) At 14 pages, there is a lot of information there, but it may be useful in planning enterprises that serve retirees. Taken along with the population projections, an increased debt load among the elderly probably has some significant social elements. Mike McCurry, Ph.D.
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