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Blog Category: Data

NOAA Joins Other U.S. Agencies and Canada to Survey Arctic Continental Shelf

Submitted on August 10, 2009 - 10:58am
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Image of U.S. and Canada Coast Guard icebreakers side by side. Click for larger image.

The Department of Commerce’s National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will join a multi-agency joint expedition that will bring together icebreakers from the U.S. and Canada to collect and share data useful to both countries in defining the full extent of the Arctic continental shelf. The Arctic survey is part of the multi-year, multi-agency effort undertaken by the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Project, led by the Department of State, with vice co-chairs from the Department of the Interior and NOAA. NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research provided key funding for the U.S. mission. (More)

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Census: Capital Spending Increases Nearly $201 Billion Between 2000-2007

Submitted on August 4, 2009 - 4:18pm
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Census seal.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that spending by all U.S. nonfarm businesses on new and used structures and equipment increased 17 percent, or nearly $201 billion, to a total of $1.362 trillion in 2007. This compares with an earlier cyclical peak of $1.161 trillion in 2000, according to a report issued today. These data come from the Census Bureau’s 2009 Capital Spending Report: U.S. Capital Spending Patterns, 1999-2007. The report provides historical data from the Annual Capital Expenditures Survey (ACES) on spending for new and used structures and equipment by all U.S. nonfarm businesses with and without paid employees. (More)

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Commerce Department Launches U.S. Recovery Act Project Funding Map

Submitted on August 3, 2009 - 12:10pm
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Map of United States. Click to go to interactive ARRA map.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has launched an interactive map indicating the project locations of communities and recipients funded by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on www.commerce.gov/recovery. Five agencies of the Department of Commerce (NTIA, EDA, NIST, NOAA and the U.S. Census Bureau) received a total of $7.9 billion for U.S. job creation and economic growth as part of the historic economic stimulus bill signed by President Obama in February, 2009. The map also includes data from the USDA and HUD Recovery Web sites. (More) (DOC Recovery Map)

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Commerce Secretary Locke Statement on 2nd Quarter GDP Numbers

Submitted on July 31, 2009 - 10:10am
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Photo of Secretary Locke.

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The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis released data on GDP in the second quarter along with comprehensive revisions to the historical GDP data. Real GDP declined 1.0 percent at an annual rate in the second quarter, better than the private-sector expected drop of 1.5 percent. This decline is noticeably less than the larger decreases of 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009. (More)

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Secretary Locke Testifies Before Senate Committee to Discuss National Climate Change Policy

Submitted on July 30, 2009 - 12:00pm
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Secretary Locke with Director Holdren in background. Click for larger image.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to discuss the Department’s contributions to national climate policy. Joined by Dr. John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Locke testified at a full committee hearing on “Climate Services: Solutions from Commerce to Communities.” The Department of Commerce is a leader in climate change research and monitoring, providing critical data and services to all levels of government and the private sector and helping companies and communities understand and adapt to climate change.

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Census Bureau: U.S. Business Employers Add 100,000 Establishments in 2007

Submitted on July 30, 2009 - 10:00am
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U.S. Census Bureau seal.

United States businesses with employees added more than 100,000 establishments in 2007, bringing the total number to 7.7 million and adding more than 650,000 employees to their payrolls. Overall, employees of businesses in the United States earned more than $5 trillion in annual payroll in 2007, up from $4.8 trillion in 2006. These economic numbers come from County Business Patterns: 2007, an annual report that contains data covering establishments with paid employees at the national and state levels, and in more than 3,100 counties. (More)

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NOAA: Global Ocean Surface Temperature Warmest on Record for June

Submitted on July 17, 2009 - 12:14pm
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Image of Earth featuring oceans. Click for larger image.

The world’s ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record for June, breaking the previous high mark set in 2005, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., a bureau of the Department of Commerce. Additionally, the combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for June was the second-warmest on record. The global records began in 1880. (More) (National Climatic Data Center)

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Census Bureau Opens 2010 Census Data Processing Center in Jeffersonville, Ind.

Submitted on July 8, 2009 - 2:28pm
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Census logo. Click to go to Census 2010 Web site.

The Commerce Department’s U.S. Census Bureau opened a data processing center in Jeffersonville, Ind., which will process 58 million 2010 Census forms completed by households in 10 states. The new facility will be at the Census Bureau’s National Processing Center (NPC) and will employ approximately 1,350 people. Census officials were joined by Jeffersonville Mayor Thomas Galligan and other dignitaries at the opening of the data processing center. (More) (Census 2010)

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NTIA Unveils Program to Help States Map Internet Infrastructure

Submitted on July 1, 2009 - 3:00pm
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NTIA logo.

The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced details of a grant program to fund collection of state-level broadband data, as well as state-wide broadband mapping and planning, which will assist NTIA in creating a national broadband map. This initiative will provide consumers with better information on the broadband services available to them and inform efforts to increase broadband availability nationwide. “This program satisfies Congress’ mandate that we collect comprehensive information on broadband in America,” said NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling. (More)

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Census Bureau Opens First 2010 Census Data Capture Center

Submitted on June 29, 2009 - 11:00pm
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Acting Census Bureau Director Thomas Mesenbourg (third from left) is shown with ceremonial scissors. Also shown (L to R) are Ken Asbury of Lockheed Martin, James Sheaffer of CSC, and Rick Ruiz of Lockheed Martin. Click for larger image.

Commerce’s U.S. Census Bureau opened one of three data capture centers that will process the 2010 Census questionnaires as they are mailed back by households across the nation. The 236,500-square-foot facility will bring more than 2,500 jobs to Baltimore County, Md. “Processing the 2010 Census questionnaires accurately and safely at the data capture centers is a crucial step to a successful census,” said Census Bureau Acting Director Tom Mesenbourg.“The data from each form processed at the facility will help provide a complete count of the nation's population and a new portrait of America.” (More) (2010 Census Web site)

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