Looking Beyond Data Through the Ages

Abstract: Accessing data has always been crucial in order to get access to (cultural) knowledge. But in the new ages different challenges arise to keep complex data accessible. Concerning these challenges a linguistic use case, which has been set up in 1993, serves as an example to show that it might be hard to re-enact an old system in order to reuse its research data and processes. Re-enacting the old system showed that other crucial points emerge in the context of research data management that need attention. In order to increase the probability of gaining access to research data in the future Data Management Plans can be identified as central tool. Although preservation of and creating access to data is a global task, the scientific management of data is still strongly shaped through national regulations and practices and hence delivers a quite fragmented picture

Youth and the Labor Force: Background and Trends

[Excerpt] This report provides current and historical labor force information about young people ages 16 to 24. In general, youth have a lower rate of labor force participation, and those who are in the labor force are less likely to gain employment than older workers. Both labor supply and demand factors drive this pattern. On the labor supply side, young people are making greater investments in education by enrolling in and completing high school and college in greater numbers. They are less likely to be attached to the labor force due to their limited availability (e.g., only able to work full-time during the summer if they attend school) and their relatively weaker connections to employers. Labor demand also plays a role. Youth are less desirable in some ways than adult workers because they are less experienced; have fewer skills and education; and are potentially short-term hires, which can be costly to employers. The report focuses on trends from 2000 to 2018. This period has included two recessions (March to November 2001 and December 2007 to June 2009) and a decline in jobs requiring only a high school diploma. Many workers were still struggling to find work in the years immediately following the more recent recession. The recession exacerbated challenges that workers have faced in securing and retaining employment since 2000. Against this backdrop, young people ages 16 to 24 experienced their steepest decreases in labor force participation and employment; however, in recent years employment levels have steadily been recovering. Some studies have found that early labor market experiences and outcomes have lasting impacts on employability and wages. Given the current and future challenges that young people can experience in the labor market, this report may be of interest to Congress in the contexts of workforce development, education, unemployment insurance, youth policy, or macroeconomic policy; however, the report does not discuss specific programs or policy implications. The report begins with a brief discussion of current employment and education pathways that young people can pursue. Following this is a description of the labor market data used in the report, which includes the labor force participation rate, employment-population ratio, and unemployment rate.2 The report then discusses these data for the post-World War II period, with a focus on trends since 2000, comparing labor force outcomes based on age, sex, and race/ethnicity. The report concludes by exploring the factors that influence the extent to which youth participate in the labor force and their prospects for employment. The last section also discusses the potential short- and long-term effects of young people’s labor market experiences. The Appendix includes supplemental tables and figures on youth employment trends

Baby Boomers and Beyond: Facing Hunger After Fifty

Baby Boomers and Beyond: Facing Hunger after Fifty provides insight into the personal, economic, and health circumstances of adults age 50 and older -- referred to as older adults throughout this report -- who seek charitable food assistance through the Feeding America network. In addition, the report highlights the ways in which older adults and their household members cope with food insecurity and other challenges. Data in this report are the result of analyses of the Hunger in America 2014 dataset and are presented at the individual, respondent and household level. Individual-level results reflect responses about individual clients (defined below) age 50 and older. Respondent-level results reflect responses from clients age 50 and older who completed the Client Survey. Household-level results reflect the circumstances of client households that contain at least one member age 50 and older. In addition to discussion of the 50 and older group as a whole, the report also looks at other age ranges (50-64, 65-74, and 75+) where notable trends exist

Online Dating & Relationships

One in ten Americans have used an online dating site or mobile dating app themselves, and many people now know someone else who uses online dating or who has found a spouse or long-term partner via online dating. General public attitudes towards online dating have become much more positive in recent years, and social networking sites are now playing a prominent role when it comes to navigating and documenting romantic relationships. These are among the key findings of a national survey of dating and relationships in the digital era, the first dedicated study of this subject by the Pew Research Center's Internet Project since 2005

Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits From Internet Access at U.S. Libraries

Examines the use of free computer and Internet access in public libraries, by income level, age, race/ethnicity, and online activity. Explores libraries' role as a community resource for social media, education, employment, e-government, and other areas

The Changing Pathways of Hispanic Youths Into Adulthood

Analyzes 1970-2007 census data for trends in skills acquisition, school enrollment, labor force participation, military enlistment, marriage and parenting, and incarceration among Latino youths. Compares data by race/ethnicity, gender, and nativity

Long-Term Unemployment Over Men\u27s Careers

[Excerpt] Since the start of the recent recession, which began in December 2007, many unemployed Americans have entered the ranks of the long-term unemployed (those who are unemployed for 27 weeks or more). Long-term unemployment peaked at 46 percent of total unemployment in May 2010, well after the recent recession ended in June 2009. In contrast, after an earlier recession, which lasted from July 1981 to November 1982, the long-term unemployed number peaked at 26 percent of total unemployment in 1983. These point-in-time estimates, however, do not indicate the proportion of people who have a long-term unemployment spell over their labor market career, how long it takes to find a job after their first long-term unemployment spell, or how the spell affects wages over time. This BEYOND THE NUMBERS article begins to answer these questions. Using the employment history of men in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), the article examines entry into and out of longterm spells of unemployment and looks at the effect of long-term unemployment on average wages. The men in the NLSY79 were born in the years 1957 to 1964. The analysis covers the mid-1980s through 2009, focusing on men’s employment histories from their mid-20s, after they have become integrated into the labor market, until their middle to late 40s and early 50s

Exploring the Star Formation History of Elliptical Galaxies: Beyond Simple Stellar Populations with a New Estimator of Line Strengths

(Abridged) We study the stellar populations of 14 elliptical galaxies in the Virgo cluster. We propose an alternative approach to the standard side-band method to measure equivalent widths (EWs). Our Boosted Median Continuum maps the EWs more robustly than the side-band method, minimising the effect from neighbouring absorption lines and reducing the age-metallicity degeneracy. We concentrate on Balmer lines (Hbeta,Hgamma,Hdelta), the G band and the 4000A break as age-sensitive indicators, and on the combination [MgFe] as the main metallicity indicator. We go beyond the standard comparison of the observations with simple stellar populations (SSP) and consider various models to describe the star formation histories, either with a continuous star formation rate or with a mixture of two different SSPs. Composite models are found to give more consistent fits among individual line strengths and agree with an independent estimate using the spectral energy distribution. Our age and metallicity estimates correlate well with stellar mass or velocity dispersion, with a significant threshold around 5E10 Msun above which galaxies are uniformly old and metal rich. In a more speculative way, our models suggest that it is formation **epoch** and not formation timescale what drives the Mass-Age relationship of elliptical galaxies.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

The New Demography of American Motherhood

Compares the demographics of women who gave birth in 2008 with those who gave birth in 1990, including age, race/ethnicity, marital status, and education and examines contributing factors. Analyzes survey findings on views on parenthood and recent trends

Eye-tracking measurements of language processing: developmental differences in children at high risk for ASD

To explore how being at high risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), based on having an older sibling diagnosed with ASD, affects word comprehension and language processing speed, 18-, 24- and 36-month-old children, at high and low risk for ASD were tested in a cross- sectional study, on an eye gaze measure of receptive language that measured how accurately and rapidly the children looked at named target images. There were no significant differences between the high risk ASD group and the low risk control group of 18- and 24-month-olds. However, 36-month-olds in the high risk for ASD group performed significantly worse on the accuracy measure, but not on the speed measure. We propose that the language processing efficiency of the high risk group is not compromised, but other vocabulary acquisition factors might have lead to the high risk 36-month-olds to comprehend significantly fewer nouns on our measure.K01 DC013306 - NIDCD NIH HHS; R01 DC010290 - NIDCD NIH HHS; K01DC013306 - NIDCD NIH HHS; R01 DC 10290 - NIDCD NIH HH