Benefits of Clean Energy
EPA has just released a resource for states and other interested parties for assessing the benefits of clean energy. This document is a absolute necessity for any organization which analyzes energy development, production, transmission and the associated effects these systems have on economies, public health and policy.
Assessing the Multiply Benefits of Clean Energy(pdf)
Unemployment and Education
Unemployment hit 12.6 percent in South Carolina this past December. I believe that was predictable, so this should not be a surprise to anyone. My question is what does unemployment look like when viewed from a different perspective, such as college graduation rates? In particular, I am interested in technical schools, since they should provide new skills, within a relatively short time horizon, needed by employers to compete.
What I found was encouraging. I used Trident Technical School (TT) graduation rates for two-year programs and the Charleston MSA, as my unemployment geography. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) provides the data for TT, with a little help from TT’s graduate page, while the BLS provides data for unemployment. Note: I gave TT the benefit of the doubt since they included multiple degrees in their data…hmmm.
My hypothesis is as unemployment increases graduations lag but also increase. The recession started in December 07. With a lag of two years, one should note more Associate Degree graduates given all other variables being constant.
TT has graduated on average ONLY three percent of enrollees (two-year programs), based on 150 percent of time to complete degree! In comparison Clemson is almost 70 percent (four-year) with other technical schools across the country graduating closer to 20 percent. The two-year degree is a subgroup of TT’s enrollment population, since others attend part-time, less than one year, night school, continuing education, etc.
The link is to the spreadsheet graph (pdf). Up front, this is insufficient data, but it does clear the “interesting” hurdle and one that may justify continued research or Moore Data! I used JMP to compile a back of the envelope model (pdf). Note the big jump from 2008 to 2009, but the model provides some hope (R-squared below .50), for this relationship. As unemployment increases, graduations are delayed but also increase! Of course there are other factors not in this analysis which affect the outcome, but this is one place to start to think about the process. If this analysis holds any shred of truth, it would suggest people are NOT waiting for the “old job” but getting after it, regardless if there is a job available or not.
One key piece of information which would assist in answering this question is the “SK” claims collected at the state level. This is an unemployment claim where the job is not expected to return, i.e. textiles. In other words, the job hunter is expected to find NEW and different employment. This analysis would point in the direction of a high number of “SK” claims. Hopefully the folks at the state are doing this analysis which would assist in predicting both educational needs and unemployment claims and more importantly, payouts, since they may be doing it for a while.
Survey Monkey
One of the easiest methods to collect survey data is Survey Monkey (SM). What many do not realize is that this tool is a cost effective way to collect simple everyday samples. Who wants to go to lunch? Give us some feedback on the meeting? SM allows ten questions for free. It is surprising the amount of data (no relation to quality) one can capture in 10 questions.
I have also used SM for larger research projects. OK, yes there are issues with online accessibility. As an example in SC, 40 percent do not have a computer at home- so one needs to know the subject and audience to insure data is not unintentionally skewed- you all know the rules!
When this process is appropriate, I typically supplement the online survey with a phone call (reminder, especially when time is an issue) and spend measured time confirming emails and contacts. This process however saves a significant amount of time in the end, especially if it is a survey that is repeated time and time again. SM output quality is quite high- as good as YOUR process. SM provides a simple but effective interface to do what you need.
