Newsroom

Broadband Adoption Rises While 'Gap' Persists; Digital Divide Not Simply Due to Socio-Economic Status

Submitted on November 8, 2010 - 10:30am

WASHINGTON, November 8 — The Department of Commerce's Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today released a new report, “Digital Nation II,” that analyzes broadband Internet access and adoption across the United States. The study – the most comprehensive of its kind -- finds that socio-economic factors such as income and education levels, although strongly associated with broadband Internet use, are not the sole determinants of use; even after accounting for socioeconomic differences, significant gaps persist along racial, ethnic, and geographic lines. The report analyzes data collected through an Internet Usage Survey of 54,000 households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in October 2009.

application/pdf iconPress Release

Under Secretary Blank Keynotes U.S./German Innovation Conference

Submitted on November 2, 2010 - 1:04pm

Washington, D.C. (November 2, 2010) - Under Secretary Blank gave the keynote address on "Innovation and Economic Growth" at a U.S./German Innovation Conference sponsored by the National Academies and DIW Berlin.

U/S Rebecca Blanks is interviewed by the German public television

She is pictured here being interviewed about the economy by "Phoenix" German public television earlier that same day.

Statement from Commerce Under Secretary Rebecca Blank on Personal Income and Outlays in September 2010

Submitted on November 1, 2010 - 8:30am
Categories:

Personal income decreased 0.1 percent and real consumer spending increased 0.1 percent in September, according to data released today by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. Real consumer spending in the third quarter was 2.6 percent higher, at an annual rate, than the second-quarter average. Real disposable personal income decreased 0.3 percent in September.

Statement from Commerce Under Secretary Rebecca Blank on Personal Income and Outlays in August 2010

Submitted on October 1, 2010 - 12:00am
Categories:

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis today released personal income and outlays for August 2010.  Personal income increased 0.5 percent in August.  Real disposable personal income increased 0.2 percent.  Real consumer spending also increased 0.2 percent in August and the July-August average stood 1.6 percent at an annual rate above the second-quarter average.

Statement From Commerce Under Secretary Rebecca Blank on American Community Survey 2009

Submitted on September 28, 2010 - 12:00am
Categories:

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Census Bureau today released the results of the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS). These results, which are based on survey responses collected over the course of the 2009 calendar year, provide information on the nation's socioeconomic, housing and demographic characteristics in that year.

Statement From Commerce Under Secretary Rebecca Blank on Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in 2009

Submitted on September 16, 2010 - 11:00am
Categories:

An earlier version of this statement incorrectly reported that "the poverty rate would have been 14.8 percent instead of 14.3 percent in the absence of the Recovery Act. The correct statement is: "the poverty rate would have been 14.5 percent instead of 14.3 percent in the absence of the Recovery Act."

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Commerce Department's U.S. Census Bureau today released data on income, poverty and health insurance coverage in 2009.

Under Secretary Blank Presents Report on Drilling Moratorium to Senate Small Business Committee

Submitted on September 16, 2010 - 12:00am
Categories:

Washington, D.C. – Under Secretary Blank testified before the Senate Small Business Committee on the economic impact of the deep water oil drilling moratorium.  At that hearing, she presented the interagency report that laid out estimates of employment losses resulting from the moratorium. 

application/pdf iconReport

Statement from Under Secretary Rebecca Blank on the Second Estimate of Gross Domestic Product in the Second Quarter 2010

Submitted on August 27, 2010 - 9:30am
Categories:

The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis today released the second estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter of 2010. Growth in real GDP was lowered to 1.6 percent at an annual rate from the advance estimate of 2.4 percent. Most private-sector analysts had expected a revision to 1.4 percent in the second quarter. The downward revision reflected a wider trade deficit and lower inventories than were originally reported.

Statement from Commerce Under Secretary Rebecca Blank on Personal Income and Outlays in June 2010

Submitted on August 3, 2010 - 12:00am
Categories:

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis today released personal income and outlays for June 2010. Personal income remained unchanged in June, and real disposable income increased 0.2 percent.  Real personal consumption expenditures increased 0.1 percent in June and at a 1.6-percent annual rate in the second quarter.

“Employment in private industry is growing at a modest pace, and this growth is helping to raise incomes among American families,” said U.S. Commerce Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Rebecca Blank. “Healthy consumer spending goes hand-in-hand with income and job growth, and the administration remains focused on boosting employment to ensure every American who wants a job can get one.”

Blank Named Eleanor Roosevelt Fellow By American Academy of Political and Social Science

Submitted on May 13, 2010 - 12:00am
Categories:

Washington, DC- Under Secretary Blank was inducted as an Eleanor Roosevelt Fellow by the American Academy of Political and Social Science. The event was held at the Newseum in Washington, DC. In appointing its first set of Fellows in 2000, the Academy sought to recognize and honor individual social scientists for their distinguished scholarship in the social sciences, sustained efforts to communicate that scholarship to audiences beyond their own discipline, and professional activities that promise to continue to promote the progress of the social sciences. Each Fellow is designated to a position named after a distinguished scholar and public servant.