South By North Strategies, Ltd.

Still Time to Register For “Making Sense of the Census”

CHAPEL HILL, NC (October 5, 2017) – Time still remains to register for “Making Sense of the Census: Using Census Data for Local Change,” a training course developed by South by North Strategies, Ltd. for professionals working in nonprofit, public, philanthropic, and media organizations.

The course will take place on October 26, 2017, at The Frontier at Research Triangle Park, which is located in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina.

“Making Sense of the Census” provides an introduction to essential census concepts and sources, along with hands-on opportunities to practice local applications. Special attention is paid to the American Community Survey.

Upon completion of the daylong course (9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), participants will return to their organizations better able to complete such tasks as the following:

• Define a local community in a systematic way for analysis
• Locate needed census data
• Create a demographic and economic profile of a community
• Incorporate census data into reports, grants, presentations, and work documents
• Communicate data to general audiences like boards of directors and civic leaders

No prior exposure to statistics or quantitative analysis is needed to benefit from the course.

More details about the course and answers to frequently asked questions are available in this online flyer. Note that registration is limited to 25 participants on a first-come basis.

The registration fee is $195/person, payable by credit or debit card via a secured Square transaction.

Agencies interested in sending multiple people should e-mail courses@sbnstrategies.com for details about group discounts. Enrolled university students also are eligible for a discounted rate; for information, e-mail courses@sbnstrategies.com.

This course is the first in a series developed by South by North Strategies, Ltd., a research firm specializing in economic and social policy. The goal is to provide individuals working in nonprofit, public, philanthropic, and media organizations with a practical orientation to the data collected by public statistical agencies like the US Census Bureau.

Address additional questions to courses@sbnstrategies.com or (919) 622-2392.

Register For “Making Sense Of The Census” on October 26 In RTP

 
CHAPEL HILL, NC (September 6, 2017) – Today, registration opens for “Making Sense of the Census: Using Census Data for Local Change,” the first in a new series of training courses developed by South by North Strategies, Ltd.

This daylong training course will take place on October 26, 2017, at The Frontier at Research Triangle Park, which is located in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina.

The course is the first in a series developed by South by North Strategies, Ltd., a research firm specializing in economic and social policy. The goal is to provide individuals working in mission-driven organizations — nonprofit, public, philanthropic, and media organizations, in particular — with a practical orientation to the data generated by agencies like the US Census Bureau.

No prior exposure to statistics or quantitative analysis is needed to benefit from the course.

“Making Sense of the Census” provides an introduction to essential census concepts and sources, along with hands-on opportunities to practice local applications. Special attention is paid to the American Community Survey. Upon completion of the daylong course (9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), participants will be better able to complete such tasks as the following:

• Define a local community in a systematic way for analysis
• Locate needed census data
• Create a demographic and economic profile of a community
• Incorporate census data into reports, grants, presentations, and work documents
• Communicate data to general audiences like boards of directors and civic leaders

NC’s Labor Market Continues To Confound

CHAPEL HILL, NC (August 18, 2017) – In July 2017, employers in North Carolina collectively added 8,800 more payroll jobs than they cut (+0.2 percent), due primarily to net hiring in the private sector. The monthly household survey, meanwhile, recorded a decrease in both the number of unemployed North Carolinians and in the statewide unemployment rate, which fell to 4.1 percent, the lowest figure posted since the end of 2000.

These findings come from new data released today by the Labor and Economic Analysis Division of the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

“Job growth in North Carolina slowed in July,” said John Quinterno, a principal with South by North Strategies, Ltd., a research firm specializing in economic and social policy. “Over the first seven months of 2017, North Carolina netted a total of 31,700 payroll jobs, which was the smallest net gain over the first seven months of a year since 2011. Based on payroll data, North Carolina’s recovery—a recovery that already was sluggish—clearly has slowed this year.”

Between June 2017 and July 2017, North Carolina employers added 8,800 more payroll jobs than they cut (+0.2 percent). Private-sector payrolls gained, on net, 6,900 positions (+0.2 percent), and public-sector payrolls netted 1,900 jobs (+0.3 percent), due to hiring at the local level. Within private industry, the trade, transportation, and utilities sector netted the most jobs (+3,300, +0.4 percent), followed by the education and health services (+2,700, +0.5 percent) and the leisure and hospitality services (+2,500, +0.5 percent) sectors. The construction sector, meanwhile, shed 2,400 more positions than it added (-1.2 percent).

Since North Carolina’s labor market recovery began in February 2010, the state has netted an average of 6,400 jobs per month, resulting in a cumulative gain of 573,000 positions (+14.9%) since the worst point of the last recession. Today, the state has 4.4 million payroll jobs, up from 3.8 million in February 2010. Yet even with that gain, North Carolina has just 246,200 more payroll jobs than it did when the recession began in December 2007 (+5.9 percent).

“While the payroll data recorded in North Carolina so far in 2017 point to a slowing recovery, the household employment data logged so far this year paint a more positive picture of the state’s labor market,” noted Quinterno. “Reconciling these diverging data is essential to understanding what is happening in the labor market and what that means for all those North Carolinians who want and need work.”

Judging by the household survey, North Carolina’s labor market appears to have improved during 2017, at least at a superficial level. Since the year’s start, the unemployment rate has fallen to 4.1 percent from 5.2 percent, with the number of unemployed persons declining to 200,752 from 256,852 (-21.8 percent). For context, the rate in February 2010 was 11.3 percent, with the number of unemployed individuals totaling 522,896.

Also in 2017, the number of employed persons has risen by 0.8 percent, climbing to 4.70 million from 4.66 million. Yet the size of the labor force has decreased slightly, falling by 0.4 percent to 4.90 million from 4.92 million. Compared to the start of the year, 19,914 fewer North Carolinians are either employed or actively seeking working; if all those people were in the labor force and counted as unemployed, the state’s unemployment rate in July would have been 4.5 percent.

“The item in this month’s employment report apt to generate the biggest headlines is the drop in the unemployment rate to 4.1 percent, which is the lowest monthly rate posted since November 2000,” observed Quinterno. “Today’s labor market is radically different from the one of 17 years ago, largely because there is little evidence of the widespread gains in wages, incomes, and living standards generated during that earlier period—an expansionary one that would end the next year with the onset of the 2001 recession.”

Another key difference between the two periods is how much more potential labor is sitting idle today. In late 2000, some 68 of every 100 working-age North Carolinians either had a job or were actively seeking one, versus 61 of every 100 today. Similarly, 65 percent of all working-age North Carolinians had a job in late 2000, as opposed to 59 percent today. While some of the decline is tied to demographic changes, weaker economic conditions also likely are contributing. Alarmingly, both of these important indicators have been trending downward.

“So far in 2017, North Carolina’s unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest one recorded in 17 years despite a slowdown in job creation,” said Quinterno. “While the low unemployment rate seems promising, the underlying dynamics are much less so, which explains why seemingly low rates of unemployment are not occurring alongside gains in wages, incomes, and living standards.”

“Even more troubling is the fact that North Carolina’s weak recovery appears to have slowed in 2017. If the national economy tips into a recession in the next several months, North Carolina will enter that recession having never truly recovered from the prior one.”

Ideas Sought For New Training Courses

CHAPEL HILL, NC (August 8, 2017) – Public, nonprofit, philanthropic, and media organizations today have instant access to massive amounts of raw data and the computing power needed to analyze them. They are challenged, however, to make sense of a seemingly contradictory flood of facts, identify the key ones, and communicate them effectively.

In response, South by North Strategies, Ltd., a research firm specializing in economic and social policy, is developing a set of training courses focused on the use of public demographic, economic, and social data. Courses will be tailored to the needs of mission-driven organizations.

To help shape this initiative, interested individuals kindly are asked to complete an anonymous 5-minute survey about organizational training needs related to public data.

Click here to access the survey, or paste the following link into a web browser: https://goo.gl/forms/VOZZ0JmX2jF32qCt2

Thank you for your input.

Opportunity Gaps In The Research Triangle

In early 2017, South by North Strategies, Ltd. joined with the program and communications professionals at the Triangle Community Foundation to prepare a series of county-level snapshots that documented differences in educational, economic, demographic, and social conditions within each of the four counties that constitute North Carolina’s Research Triangle.

Click on the following links to see the profiles for each of Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Wake counties, or view a composite file with all four snapshots below.