The U.S. Science and Engineering Workforce: Recent, Current, and Projected Employment, Wages, and Unemployment

[Excerpt] As Congress develops policies and programs and makes appropriations to help address the nation’s needs for scientists and engineers, it may wish to consider past, current, and projected S&E workforce trends. In this regard, this report provides employment, wage, and unemployment information for the computer occupations, mathematical occupations, engineers, life scientists, physical scientists, and S&E management occupations, in three sections: “Current Employment, Wages, and Unemployment” provides a statistical snapshot of the S&E workforce in 2011 (the latest year for which data are available) with respect to occupational employment, wage, and unemployment data. “Recent Trends in Employment, Wages, and Unemployment” provides a perspective on how S&E employment, wages, and unemployment have changed during the 2008-2011 period. “Employment Projections, 2010-2020” provides an analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ occupational projections examining how the number employed in S&E occupations are expected to change during the 2010-2020 period, as well as how many openings will be created by workers exiting each occupation (replacement needs). A final section, “Concluding Observations,” provides various stakeholder perspectives that Congress may wish to consider as it seeks to ensure that the United States has an adequate S&E workforce to meet the demands of the 21st century

Post-IPO Employment and Revenue Growth for U.S. IPOs, June 1996-2010

Analyzes employment and revenue growth, survival rate, sector, location, and venture capital involvement of U.S. companies that held initial public offerings on American markets from June 1996 through 2010, with a focus on firms younger than thirty years

ICT Investment and Productivity: A Provincial Perspective

In 2008, Statistics Canada, for the first time, made available estimates of information and communication technology (ICT) investment by province. Given the importance of ICT investment for productivity growth, these data are important for the comparative analysis and understanding of productivity growth by province. The objective of this report is to present the basic data on ICT investment and ICT investment per worker in Canada and the ten provinces over the 1981-2007 period. The first part of the report reviews the literature on why ICT investment is important for productivity. The second part examines ICT investment levels and trends by province. The third part decomposes the gap in ICT investment per worker by province, relative to the national average, into three effects: that related to income levels, to the total investment/GDP share, and to the ICT investment/total investment share.Machinery and equipment investment, information and communications technology, ICT, Investment gap, Business sector, Provincial estimates

Characterizing the use of mathematical knowledge in boundary crossing situations at work

The first aim of this paper is to present a characterisation of techno-mathematical literacies needed for effective practice in modern, technology-rich workplaces that are both highly automated and increasingly focused on flexible response to customer needs. The second aim is to introduce an epistemological dimension to activity theory, specifically to the notions of boundary object and boundary crossing. In this paper we draw on ethnographic research in a pensions company and focus on data derived from detailed analysis of the diverse perspectives that exist with respect to one symbolic artefact, the annual pension statement. This statement is designed to facilitate boundary crossing between company and customers. Our study showed that the statement routinely failed in this communicative role, largely due to the invisible factors of the mathematical-financial models underlying the statement that are not made visible to customers, or to the customer enquiry team whose task is to communicate with customers. By focusing on this artefact in boundary-crossing situations, we identify and elaborate the nature of the techno-mathematical knowledge required for effective communication between different communities in one financial services workplace, and suggest the implications of our findings for workplaces more generally

Investing in intangibles: is a trillion dollars missing from the GDP?

Leonard Nakamura examines this paradox of low savings accompanied by increased wealth.Saving and investment

By the Numbers: Property Taxes in Georgia

This report presents data on the property tax in Georgia, considering the growth in property tax base and property tax revenue, how the tax bas varies by county, changes over time, and property taxes by type of government. FRC Report 18

Accumulation of 5-hydroxynorvaline in maize (Zea mays) leaves is induced by insect feeding and abiotic stress.

Plants produce a wide variety of defensive metabolites to protect themselves against herbivores and pathogens. Non-protein amino acids, which are present in many plant species, can have a defensive function through their mis-incorporation during protein synthesis and/or inhibition of biosynthetic pathways in primary metabolism. 5-Hydroxynorvaline was identified in a targeted search for previously unknown non-protein amino acids in the leaves of maize (Zea mays) inbred line B73. Accumulation of this compound increases during herbivory by aphids (Rhopalosiphum maidis, corn leaf aphid) and caterpillars (Spodoptera exigua, beet armyworm), as well as in response to treatment with the plant signalling molecules methyl jasmonate, salicylic acid and abscisic acid. In contrast, ethylene signalling reduced 5-hydroxynorvaline abundance. Drought stress induced 5-hydroxynorvaline accumulation to a higher level than insect feeding or treatment with defence signalling molecules. In field-grown plants, the 5-hydroxynorvaline concentration was highest in above-ground vegetative tissue, but it was also detectable in roots and dry seeds. When 5-hydroxynorvaline was added to aphid artificial diet at concentrations similar to those found in maize leaves and stems, R. maidis reproduction was reduced, indicating that this maize metabolite may have a defensive function. Among 27 tested maize inbred lines there was a greater than 10-fold range in the accumulation of foliar 5-hydroxynorvaline. Genetic mapping populations derived from a subset of these inbred lines were used to map quantitative trait loci for 5-hydroxynorvaline accumulation to maize chromosomes 5 and 7

The Changing Role of Capital in the U.S. Private Business Sector: Evidence for a "New Economy"

Economists differ in their explanation of changes in the rate of U.S.economic growth in the latter half of the 20th century-particularly for the "new economy" period from 1982-2000. Adherents of the Neoclassical Growth Model have emphasized that with the increase in the capital/labor ratio the aggregate production function would be subject to diminishing returns so that economies would asymptotically approach a steady state in terms of output per worker and output per unit of capital. Endogenous Growth theorists have emphasized upward shifts in production functions offsetting diminishing returns. Both theories have neglected to incorporate into their growth models the effects of systematic shifts in the composition of output that accompany economic growth. The paper analyzes the Private Business Sector (exclusion of Government, Residential Housing, and Not For Profit), uses a more restrictive measure of output, Net National Income, rather than Gross Domestic Product and a more general measure of labor input, Persons Engaged in Production, rather than Full Time Equivalent Employment or labor hours in analysis. Using BEA data sets for the stock of physical capital and gross product originating by SIC sector and industry, the paper demonstrates that about half the increase in labor and capital productivity in the new economy has been the result of endogenous growth within sectors and industries and the other half is attributable to shifts in the composition of output away from more physical capital-intensive industries to more labor-intensive industries. After falling steadily from 1966 to 1982, both the nominal output/capital (Y/C) and real output/capital ((Q/K) ratios rise steadily from 1982 to 2000. Growth in the real capital/labor (K/N) ratio slows during this period so that in marked contrast to earlier periods, half of the growth in real output per worker (Q/N) is attributable to increases in capital productivity. Increase in the Y/C ratio is shown, by counterfactual analysis, to depend partly on the shift of output from more to less capital intensive industries. The paper also demonstrates that half of the change in the nominal Y/C ratio is due to “real” rather than relative price changes and that changes in capacity utilization over the business cycle explain only a negligible part of the increase.

The 1990s acceleration in labor productivity: causes and measurement

The acceleration of labor productivity growth that began during the mid-1990s is the defining economic event of the past decade. A consensus has arisen among economists that the acceleration was caused by technological innovations that decreased the quality-adjusted prices of semiconductors and related information and communications technology (ICT) products, including digital computers. In sharp contrast to the previous 20 years, services-producing sectors-heavy users of ICT products-led the productivity increase, besting even a robust manufacturing sector. In this article, the authors survey the performance of the services-producing and goods-producing sectors and examine revisions to aggregate labor productivity data of the type commonly discussed by policymakers. The revisions, at times, were large enough to reverse preliminary conclusions regarding productivity growth slowdowns and accelerations. The unanticipated acceleration in the services sector and the large size of revisions to aggregate data combine to shed light on why economists were slow to recognize the productivity acceleration.Labor productivity