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Are you planning for 2020? The U.S. Census Bureau is. Research and testing for the content and delivery of the 2020 Census have been underway since 2012. Not only is the Bureau testing methods to improve response rates and reduce costs, they are also examining how to structure the questionnaire to best capture changing conceptions of identity and changing household types. John Thompson, the U.S. Census Bureau Director, recently wrote: "One challenge we face is…
NC doesn’t just lead the nation in sweet potatoes – we’re also one of the top turkey producing states. Here are a few fun facts about NC turkeys: 1992 Turkey production—measured as number of heads of turkey produced—peaked in North Carolina in 1992, with 62 million turkeys. The number of turkeys produced in North Carolina has steadily declined since its mid-1990s peak. Although this has led to some declines in overall pounds of turkey produced,…
North Carolina farm products are likely to have a starring role in next week’s Thanksgiving dinners across the state (and nation). Our state farms lead the nation in both sweet potato and turkey production. Here are a few fun facts about NC sweet potatoes: 1971 The year that North Carolina passed Louisiana in sweet potato production. We’ve held the top spot for the last 42 years! 1.1 billion The amount of sweet potatoes, in pounds,…
“The first American Indian Day was celebrated in May 1916 in New York. Red Fox James, a Blackfeet Indian, rode horseback from state to state, getting endorsements from 24 state governments, to have a day to honor American Indians. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed a joint congressional resolution designating November 1990 as “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Similar proclamations have been issued every year since 1994.” – U.S. Census Bureau on the history…
The Labor & Economic Analysis Division (LEAD) at the North Carolina Department of Commerce has a new blog, the LEAD Feed, devoted to helping individuals and organizations better understand the workforce and economic development in our state. Launched in mid-September, the blog has averaged 2 to 3 posts per week across a diverse range of topics, such as the potential impact of Russia’s ban on U.S. pork on North Carolina’s exports and the impact of…
2013 American Community Survey data estimates more than 681,000 veterans living in North Carolina. This is a notable decrease from 2012, when an estimated 720,500 veterans were living in the state. Since the non-veteran NC population is not decreasing, the proportion of North Carolina veteran residents decreased from 9.8% of the total state population to 9.1% from 2012 to 2013. Click here to view last year’s NC veteran data snapshot. The decline of North Carolina’s veteran…
The National Science Board (NSB) recently released an interactive, online resource with data and graphics about student proficiency, college degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, and jobs in science-related occupations. While examining this data, I stumbled across a second web resource related to the NSB’s Science and Engineering Indicators 2014. The S&E Indicators State Data Tool provides data on 59 state indicators, such as elementary and secondary education metrics, the size of…
The deadline to register to vote for tomorrow’s election was Friday, October 10, 2014. Just over 6.6 million voters registered in time for Election Day, according to data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections. Statewide, 42% of voters are registered Democrats. Northampton County has the highest share Democrat (76.4%), followed closely by Hertford (76.3%), and Bertie (75.6%). Thirty percent of voters are registered Republican. Mitchell (62.4%) and Avery (60.1%) have counties with the…
“Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the…
This is an update of the 2013 data discussed in this post. The interactive map below shows data from the North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness (NCCEH) January 2014 Point-in-Time (PIT) count data. The PIT count is a statewide, unduplicated count of homeless people that is held on one night during the last week of January each year. These individuals are literally homeless, meaning that, on the night of the count, they are either living in an…
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