Census Bureau Statistics Explore Voting Patterns of Young Adults

Voting rates among young adults fell to 38.0 percent in 2012 from 44.3 percent in 2008 following increases in two consecutive presidential elections (2008 and 2004), according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report on age and voting patterns released today. These statistics come from Young Adult Voting: An Analysis of Presidential Elections, 1964-2012, which uses data collected by the Current Population Survey. The report provides a detailed 50-year historical portrait of voters with a specific focus on young adults. In every U.S. presidential election from 1964 on, 18- to 24-year-olds voted at lower rates than all other age groups. In contrast, Americans 65 and older have voted at higher rates than all other age groups since the 1996 election. “The young-adult voting gap closed somewhat from 2000 to 2008 but opened up a bit again in 2012,” said Thom File, a sociologist in the Census Bureau’s Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division. “Age-based voting patterns are not set in stone. For example as recently as 1992, the nation’s oldest voters did not vote at a level higher than all other age groups.” State Level Voting  Voting rates also varied by state according to the report. Although 18- to 29-year-olds voted at lower levels than other age groups nationally in 2012, this result was not geographically uniform. “Although young adults have been historically less inclined to vote than older individuals, in 2012 young voters were more engaged in states where older populations were highly engaged as well,” File said. “At the very least, this suggests that low voting rates among young adults can vary according to geography and other factors.” Gender and Age Differences  Voting rates have also varied according to age and gender. Women tend to vote at higher rates than men across most age groups. In every election since 1996, women age 18 through 29 voted at higher rates than men of the same age, with a difference of about 8.0 percentage points in 2008. For older Americans, a gender voting gap has operated in reverse, with men 65 and older voting at higher rates than women of that age in every election since 1996. At about 6.5 percentage points, this differential was larger in 1996 than in the two most recent elections, with older men voting at a higher rate than older women by about 3.7 percentage points, an indication that the gender divide among older voters may soon be a thing of the past. Online Data Tools: Voting Report In addition to the report, the Census Bureau released an interactive Voting Report that provides comparisons of voting and registration patterns by demographic, social and geographic characteristics for the U.S. and states. About the Current Population Survey The Current Population Survey has collected data on voting and voter registration in November of even-numbered election years since 1964 and provides voting estimates alongside other population characteristics, including age, sex, race and educational attainment. As in all surveys, these statistics are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. The strength of Census Bureau voting statistics is that they look at voters’ social and demographic characteristics, which are not available from an official vote tally. The estimates of total voters presented in this report may differ from those based on administrative data or exit polls for a variety of methodological reasons. For more information, see the sections of the report on Source and Accuracy of the Data.

What's New from OECD April 15th

Only 16 heads of state are women and only one of five lawmakers are women, says Women, Government and Policy Making in OECD Countries: Fostering Diversity for Inclusive Growth:

Greater competition is essential to promote the labour and product market mobility, says OECD Economic Surveys: European Union 2014


Geographic Imbalances in Doctor Supply and Policy Responses: 

Making Innovation Policy Work: Learning from Experimentation: 

2014 GIS Contest Winners!

 

Elissa Knight's 1st Prize undergraduate winning poster

It is with great pleasure that the Boston College Libraries announce the winners of the Fifth Annual Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Mapping Contest at Boston College.  The response this year was impressive in the relevance, variety of topics and the attention to social justice and environmental issues. Prizes were awarded to both graduate and undergraduate entries with a third place tie for graduate submissions.
The first place award of a $100 Amazon Gift Card goes to:
Aakash Ahamed, Graduate student in Geology/Geophysics , graduate prize: "Know Your Air".
Elissa Knight, A&S 2015 in Environmental Geoscience, undergraduate prize: "The Effect of Educational Attainment on Health Insurance Coverage".
The second place award of a $50 Amazon Gift Card, goes to:
Christopher P. Soeller, Graduate student in Geology, graduate prize: "Environmental Justice in MA: An Analysis of Income Levels and Hazardous Waste Sites".
Christine Pang, A&S 2015 in Environmental Geoscience, undergraduate prize: "Comparing two heating fuel types in Massachusetts counties".

The third place tie award for graduate students of a $25 Amazon Gift Card goes to:
Oluwaseun Fadugba, Graduate student in Geophysics, graduate prize: "Propagation of P- and S- Waves and the Variation of Peak Amplitude from Earthquake's Epicenter Using the Mississippi 2012 Earthquake as a Case Study".
Stephen Hilfiker, Graduate student in Geophysics/Earth and Environmental Sciences, graduate prize: "Tsunami Risk Assessment for the Pacific-Northwest United States"

Awards were based on map quality, use of GIS as a research tool and originality. Special consideration was given to topics depicting social implications of the research such as  environmental issues. The awards will be presented Wednesday, April 16^th at 3:00 p.m. in the O’Neill Lobby by University Librarian, Tom Wall. Please join us in congratulating the winners. The winning posters will be on display in the O’Neill Lobby.


Special thanks to the contest judges:

Constantin Andronache, Research Associate, ITS ; Rudolph Hon, Associate Professor, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences; Enid Karr, Science Librarian; Barbara Mento, Data/GIS Librarian  and Sally Wyman, Science Librarian.

BC GIS Contest Deadline April 2nd, Enter Now!

5th Annual Library Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Mapping Contest

The Boston College Libraries are proud to sponsor the Fifth Annual GIS Contest for Boston College students, both graduate and undergraduate. Students are encouraged to present their GIS geospatial work, either coursework or research, undertaken at Boston College as part of a campus-wide celebration. Geospatial Research has grown dramatically in the past 5 years at Boston College and is now used as a research tool not just in the sciences, but in the social sciences and most recently in the humanities.

Prizes will be awarded to both the best undergraduate and graduate students at each level.

First Prize: $100 Amazon gift card
Second Prize: $50.00 Amazon gift card
Third Prize: $25.00 Amazon gift card

Submit entries to: http://bclib.bc.edu/form/gis-contest by April 2nd, 2014

Winning entries will be displayed in the O’Neill Library on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 when the prizes will be presented. We ask faculty from all disciplines to encourage students to submit their entries. The first winning entry, “Boston College Tree Inventory” by Kevin Keegan was featured in Boston College Magazine article. The work of recent winners resides in our Institutional Repository at the following url: http://tinyurl.com/giscontestwinners

For full contest details please go to: http://www.bc.edu/giscontest.

Check out the latest Data Visualization Tool, the new OECD Data Lab!

Data Lab from OECD

Visualize trends from OECD's  many statistical sources on key topics such as health, education, environment, economy, social and welfare issues, technology and much more.

Create graphs and share on twitter, facebook and other social media. Compare countries  to OECD just by clicking on a country. 

Create your own graphs at: http://www.oecd.org/statistics/datalab/

The Latest Books from OECD on Economic Policy, Alternative Energy, Research Excellence and Technology

New B

Ambitious structural reforms can pave the return to strong and sustainable growth, says Economic Policy Reforms 2014: Going for Growth Interim Report:  Book on OECD iLibrary

Any country can reach high shares of wind, solar power cost-effectively, saysThe Power of Transformation: Wind, Sun and the Economics of Flexible Power Systems: Book on OECD iLibrary

OECD Work on Climate Change 2013-2014: Brochure 

Census Bureau Highlights Young Noncitizen Population in the U.S.

Census Bureau Highlights Young Noncitizen Population in the U.S.

            More than three out of five noncitizens under age 35 have been in the U.S. for five years or more, with a majority coming before they were 18 years old, according to a new brief released today from the U.S. Census Bureau. Most of these immigrants — about 80 percent — were young adults from 18 to 34.           

            The brief NoncitizensUnder Age 35: 2010-2012 uses multiyear data from the American Community Survey to present demographic and socio-economic information about the noncitizen population under age 35. Noncitizens include legal permanent residents, temporary migrants, unauthorized immigrants and other resident statuses. The American Community Survey does not include a question on legal status of a resident; therefore, the brief compares only the characteristics of citizens with noncitizens.

            “This brief gives an overview of some common characteristics of the younger noncitizen population,” said Elizabeth Grieco, chief of the Census Bureau’s Foreign-Born Population Branch. “The statistics provide new insight into the composition of this unique group.”