South By North Strategies, Ltd.

Editor’s Note

Policy Points is taking several days off to celebrate the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Regular posting will resume on January 3, 2013.

Thank you for your interest in the blog.

Happy holidays!

Around The Dial – December 20, 2012

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• National Public Radio reports on the Census Bureau’s use of Internet surveys.
• Jeffrey Toobin of The New Yorker assesses the career of Robert Bork.
• McClatchy Newspapers reports on the taxation of online sales.

Serving Mental Health Patients In Crisis

In December 2012, the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research, a nonprofit organization in Raleigh, released the first independent evaluation of a statewide initiative to provide crisis services to mental health patients in local hospitals across the state.  The state-funded initiative, which began in 2008, aims to build mental health crisis capacities in local communities through “three-way contracts” involving the state, local health management entities, and private and nonprofit hospitals.

The evaluation concluded that the program has succeeded in achieving many of its goals yet could benefit from certain administrative improvements. A summary of findings is available here.

John Quinterno of South by North Strategies, Ltd. conducted the basic evaluation. That research involved analyses of administrative data, semi-structured interviews with a dozen stakeholders throughout North Carolina, and the preparation of a detailed evaluation report that the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research published in its journal, North Carolina Insight.

NC Unemployment Claims: Week Of 12/1/12

For the benefit week ending on December 1, 2012, some 13,610 North Carolinians filed initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits and 103,619 individuals applied for state-funded continuing benefits. Compared to the prior week, there were fewer initial and fewer continuing claims. These figures come from data released by the US Department of Labor.

Averaging new and continuing claims over a four-week period — a process that helps adjust for seasonal fluctuations and better illustrates trends — shows that an average of 14,089 initial claims were filed over the previous four weeks, along with an average of 102,195 continuing claims. Compared to the previous four-week period, the average number of initial claims was higher, as was the average number of continuing claims.

One year ago, the four-week average for initial claims stood at 15,149, and the four-week average of continuing claims equaled 114,208.

In recent months covered employment has increased and now exceeds the level recorded a year ago (3.8 million versus 3.7 million). Nevertheless, there are still fewer covered workers than there were in January 2008, which means that payrolls are smaller today than they were almost five years ago.

The graph shows the changes in unemployment insurance claims measured as a share of covered employment in North Carolina since the recession’s start in December 2007. 

Both new and continuing claims appear to have peaked for this cycle, and the four-week averages of new and continuing claims have fallen considerably.  Yet continuing claims remain at an elevated level, which suggests that unemployed individuals are finding it difficult to find new positions.

Around The Dial – December 19, 2012

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• Mike Konczal thinks chaining Social Security benefits is “terrible.”
• The Columbia Journalism Review analyzes media coverage of the chained CPI.
• Bruce Bartlett explains the complex relationships between taxes and spending.
• The Charlotte Observer reports on changes to unemployment insurance taxes.