Media and Technology Stats and Studies – April 22, 2013

A Horowitz Associates report found that, while Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans are as likely as their White counterparts to have access to over-the-top (OTT) platforms - such as Netflix, Roku, and Hulu - they are more likely to use them regularly to watch video content. Half of Black (49%) and Hispanic (53%) consumers watch OTT content at least weekly, as do almost two-thirds (61%) of Asians. In contrast, 39% of White consumers watch OTT content on at least a weekly basis.

The results of a Zogby Analytics poll of 1,000 adults revealed that, among all internet privacy-related issues, just 4% of respondents were concerned about cyber-bullying. Paradoxically, a 2011 Ohio State University study found that African American and Hispanic students who were cyber-bulllying victims showed sharper grade point average declines than other racial and ethnic groups. Thirty-nine percent of respondents to the Zogby poll were concerned about identity theft, 33% about viruses and malware, 12% about government surveillance, and 4% about targeted advertising.

An analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data conducted by Dice shows gains in women working in tech. However, most of the gains were seen in consulting jobs, rather than full-time positions. Forty-six percent of consulting jobs were awarded to women, but women comprise just 31% of the tech sector overall.Forrester Research reported a double digit gap in online TV viewing between younger and older TV viewers. Twenty-seven percent of young viewers between the ages of 18-24 watch TV online 5 or more hours per week, compared to 12% among 25-49 year olds and 9% of 35-44-year-olds. Nielsen also released a report assessing behavior among younger viewers. The Nielsen report found that, in the fourth quarter of 2012, teens watched video on mobile phones to a greater degree than any other age group surveyed, consuming 18% more video on their mobile devices than 18- to 24-year-olds and 46% more than persons ages 25-34. The Nielsen report also found that 42% of young adults are African American, Latino, or Hispanic.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau reported a 111% spike in mobile advertising spending in 2012. Advertisers spent $3.4 billion on mobile advertising last year.

A Nielsen/Newspaper Association of America report found readers to be less engaged viewing local newspaper websites on their mobile phones than they were viewing national news websites. Just 8% of respondents viewed a local newspaper website on their mobile phone “today”, compared to 43% for those viewing a national newspaper website.

A Simon-Kucher and Partners study of 2,700 high-end decision-makers at international media companies predicted 90% of online content would be behind a paywall by the end of the next three years.

Viewers flocked to TV news outlets for coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday. NBC reported the largest audience, with 8.8 million viewers tuning into its 10 p.m. special report.

The Center for Digital Education and National School Boards Association reported a 44% increase in the number of school districts overall that use social networks, with 74% now reporting a social media presence. Thirty-two percent of districts reported a lack of computers as the biggest obstacle to preparing for upcoming Common Core online assessments.

Amazon is gaining on Apple in music downloads. According to NPD Group, Amazon had 22% of the music download market in 2012, compared to 15% in 2008. Apple iTunes’ share slipped from 69% in 2009 to 63% in 2012.

Social media usage is declining in the U.S., according to Experian Marketing Services. In 2010, users spent 30% of their time online using social networks. That number has declined to 27%.

Verizon saw a 16% growth in profits in the first quarter of 2013.

Intel’s overall first-quarter revenues declined 2.5% to $12.6 billion compared to last year. The company’s net income dropped 25%. The earning results reinforced existing doubts about the health of the PC market.

Idea Theft and Black Unemployment

By Joseph Miller, Esq.

Black unemployment is a symptom of persistent racial discrimination and skills gaps, but competition and trade policies play a role in unemployment that policy makers too often overlook.  Information technology (IT) and intellectual property (IP) theft is a significant threat to U.S. companies’ ability to generate revenue and thereby jobs.  Earlier this week, U.S. Senators Mary L. Landrieu (D-Louisiana) and Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, along with a bipartisan group of 14 other committee members, wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) urging it to assist 36 state attorneys general in confronting the growing problem of IT and IP theft from U.S. companies by foreign manufacturers.

Some have noted that many African Americans are already grappling with a silent economic depression.  While the nation’s employment picture has slowly improved over recent months to an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent in February 2012, the unemployment rate for African-Americans still stands at 14.1 percent, which is up from 13.6 percent in January.  This is significantly higher than the Great Recession peak overall unemployment rate of 10.2% in October of 2009.

The fates of African Americans have been tied to the manufacturing sector since the end of World War II.  John Schmitt and Ben Zipperer of the Center for Economic and Policy Research have noted that manufacturing jobs “built the black middle class after World War II.”  However, between 1979 and 2007, the share of African Americans working in manufacturing fell from 23.9 percent to 9.8 percent.  During the Great Recession’s incipient stages between December 2007 and December 2009, the manufacturing sector experienced a 14.6 percent decline in employment–among 13 service sector industries, only construction experienced a steeper decline in jobs during that period. African-Americans were among those workers who were hardest hit during this period and are now under-represented in manufacturing.

Improving African-American unemployment trends will require a multi-agency effort.  The U.S. Department of Labor and other agencies have already granted a consortium of 10 universities in South Carolina and an HBCU $20 million to develop 37 new online courses in emerging jobs in manufacturing and other key sectors.  While this approach addresses skills gaps, the FTC can do its part by addressing IT and IP theft and ensuring the competitive landscape remains conducive to job growth.

Joseph Miller, Esq. is Deputy Director and Senior Policy Director of the Media and Technology Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, DC.  More information on Mr. Miller and his work can be found at the Joint Center website.

Fairness Within the Economic Recovery

by Wilhelmina A. Leigh, Ph.D.

June of this year will mark the third anniversary of the official end of The Great Recession, the month when the downturn bottomed out and the economy started to grow again.

With the recovery, as during the recession, however, disparities by race/ethnicity have persisted in economic outcomes such as employment, and will continue to do so unless determined efforts are made to reduce or eliminate them, and the impacts of these efforts are closely monitored.

The economic recovery is currently gaining steam.  During the fourth quarter of 2011, real U.S. gross domestic product, or GDP (the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States), increased at an annual rate of 3.0 percent.  This rate of growth was faster than at any point during the last year and a half and nearly equals the average annual growth rate of GDP over the last 60 years of 3.25 percent.  In addition, unemployment rates have declined even for groups such as African Americans, who were not seeing much of a decline earlier in the recovery.  In the wake of the recent recession, the unemployment rate for the nation peaked in October 2009 (at 10 percent), while the rate for African Americans did not reach its peak until August 2011 (at 16.7 percent).  In February 2012, the unemployment rate for African Americans was 14.1 percent, while the national rate was 8.3 percent.

How can we channel the economic recovery to more completely benefit all Americans?  One way is to monitor existing and new federal, state and local programs and policies for the extent to which they can and do foster economic equity among racial/ethnic groups. An analysis by PolicyLink of proposals in the 2013 Obama budget highlights programs that are promising in this regard. For example, the Partnership for Sustainable Communities—an interagency collaboration among the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Transportation, and Environmental Protection Agency—would redevelop communities to reduce barriers for low-income households to access jobs, schools and affordable housing.  The Pathways Back to Work Fund, another 2013 budget proposal, would provide funding for subsidized employment and work-based training for low-income youth, the long-term unemployed and low-income adults. Among the wish list of programs that presidents’ budgets too often become, initiatives such as these should, first, be supported and then, once enacted, be monitored for their effectiveness.

Racial/ethnic economic disparities will not be lessened or eliminated without conscious action.  We justify not addressing these longstanding disparities during recessions because we lack resources to do so.  We cannot justify the failure to act during periods of economic growth. Thus, we should insist that such action is evident during the coming recovery.  As Alan Krueger, chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers noted recently, “Restoring a greater degree of fairness to the U.S. job market would be good for businesses, good for the economy and good for the country.”

Wilhelmina A. Leigh is Senior Research Associate of the Economic Security Initiative of the Civic Engagement and Governance Institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. More information on Dr. Leigh and her work can be found at the Joint Center website.

From Lilly Ledbetter to Broadband Access: Reframing Women’s Equity

by Nicol Turner-Lee, Ph.D.
originally published at Politic365

Last month, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act celebrated its third anniversary as the first piece of legislation signed into law by President Obama.  The Act was initiated by Lilly Ledbetter who realized that she was unfairly compensated for doing the same work of her male counterparts.  Expanding the statute of limitations on fair pay lawsuits for women, the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act marked a significant step in addressing ongoing wage disparities that exist between men and women.  According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, women made 77.4% of what men make in 2010, with women’s average earnings amounting to $36,931 compared to men’s average earnings of $47,715. In the same study, African American women made an average of $32,290. The unfortunate reality is that more is at stake for women when they earn less, particularly their ability to care for their children, parents, and possibly dislocated spouses.  Further, the lack of access to learning opportunities and career management tools make it harder for women to advance in our new economy, making advances in pay futile if women are unable to secure competitive jobs.

Pay issues are but one of several inequities that exist between men and women.  Recent research suggests that women, on average spend more on health care services.  An article in Modern Physician found that in 2004 women spent $6,000 per capita on health care services, while men only spent $4,540. According to the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, “the number of working-age women who spent 10 percent or more of their income on premiums and out-of-pocket costs rose from 25 percent in 2005 to 33 percent in 2010.” Due in part to the crippling recession and rising health care costs, approximately 27 million women of working age also did not have health insurance as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau.  For African American women who are more susceptible to chronic diseases that include heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, the lack of access to health care can be fatal, and it’s unfortunate that unfair pay exacerbates these trends.

Child care costs can also be a substantial burden to women that earn less, and impact their ability to effectively maintain employment.  According to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau, the average percentage of monthly income spent on child care expenditures for a female, single parent ranges from 11.7 percent to 12.6 percent.  In compensating for these significant costs, women are sometimes forced to put off long term educational goals due to child care issues or delay starting a family.  Missing work for even legitimate child care reasons can often prompt a pink slip for women, especially women of color without a backup plan.  In most cases, equitable pay makes it possible for women to engage more fully in the workforce, advance their skills, and alleviate the immediate and often urgent concerns of their households.

Further, women require the tools to be competitive and nimble in the nation’s emerging information economy.  More job prospects have migrated to the web, altering search strategies.  Access to preventative and diagnostic health care applications are increasingly present on the web.  Many times information that supports learning opportunities is available exclusively on the Internet.  Networks among women who have experienced the joys and challenges of caring for children and elderly parents are populating the web in record numbers. While many women struggle to make ends meet, the virtual world offers opportunities and access that can quite frankly advance their careers, and simplify their lives.

In a time where broadband Internet is rapidly changing how we live, learn and earn, the need to ensure that more women have adequately adopted broadband is immediate.  The good news is that women in general and more so women of color are increasing their use.  Recent research from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that 69 percent of African American women regularly go online to access health, education, and employment information, a promising trend of broadband use in the African American community.   And, more women are turning to mobile technology to assist in real time response and management of their work responsibilities and personal duties.  When income and educational attainment are added into the picture, the unfortunate reality is that low-income women often place broadband access as the lowest priority as they work to make sure their family’s basic needs are met.  Choosing food over a broadband connection is a pretty simple decision for low-income women.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 is addressing one of the most critical inequalities experienced by women today – the inability to make comparable and livable wages as their male counterparts.  However, higher wages for women are not just about principle.  Having the money to effectuate every aspect of one’s life from health care to child care to broadband access helps level the playing for women, and removes the undue stress and possibly death associated with our lifestyles.  Understanding the intersection of fair pay with other inequalities, and identifying the tools required to compete in the nation’s new economy will be essential to women’s future livelihood.

Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee is Vice President and Director of the Media and Technology Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, DC.  More information on Dr. Turner-Lee and her work can be found at the Joint Center website.

Ask Someone Who Isn’t Working …

by Wilhelmina A. Leigh, Ph.D.

“If you think the system is working, ask someone who isn’t.”  Acting on this bumper-sticker advice by surveying people who are not working reveals not only their anguish and depression about being unemployed, but also their belief that the labor market system, and particularly government employment services, are broken and must be fixed.   The American Jobs Act of 2011, recent legislation developed by the Obama administration, offers ways to fix this system.

Unemployed workers surveyed in both 2008 (Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc., for the National Employment Law Project) and 2009 (Knowledge Networks for the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University) agreed that the public workforce system is broken.  In addition, the system has been found to contribute to longstanding racial/ethnic disparities in the labor market, such as those reflected in the September 2011 unemployment rates among African Americans (16.0 percent), Hispanics (11.3 percent), and whites (8.0 percent). A 2005 Joint Center study entitled A Mixed Record found that the public workforce system had just that kind of record in providing jobs for African Americans and Hispanics.  By every performance measure associated with Workforce Investment Act (WIA) programs (the centerpiece of the public workforce system), adult programs were found to be less successful for blacks and Hispanics than for whites and Asians.  Another study finding—that black and Hispanic WIA adult populations were less likely than whites to receive WIA training services—may help explain these differentials.  The WIA Dislocated Worker program, on the other hand, was equally successful for blacks, Hispanics and whites.

Elements of the American Jobs Act of 2011 could create a more even-handed public workforce system.  The Act explicitly prohibits discrimination by employers and employment agencies on the basis of an individual’s status as unemployed (Title III, Subtitle D, “Fair Employment Opportunity Act of 2011”).  If rigorously enforced, this Act could narrow the persistent unemployment rate gaps between people of color and whites.  Along with the “stick” of prohibiting discrimination on the basis of employment status, another provision (Title III, Subtitle B) would offer a “carrot” to employers to hire the long-term unemployed.  Employers who hire individuals who have been unemployed at least six months would be eligible for a maximum tax credit of $4,000.

Yes, people who are not working think the public workforce system is not working, either.  In addition, people of color who are not working achieve mixed outcomes from this system.  Features of the American Jobs Act of 2011—specifically, its mandate not to discriminate against the unemployed and its incentive to hire the long-term unemployed—could go a long way toward resolving these problems.

Wilhelmina A. Leigh is Senior Research Associate of the Economic Security Initiative of the Civic Engagement and Governance Institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. More information on Dr. Leigh and her work can be found at the Joint Center website.

Not Everybody ‘Wins’

by Roderick J. Harrison, Ph.D.
originally published in the New York Times’ Opinion Pages

One of the most powerful concepts for understanding urban growth (and decline) is agglomerative economies - the efficiencies and reductions in cost that can be realized by reducing the transaction costs of producers and consumers exchanging the goods and services needed for their own production processes or final consumption. Although some transactions can now be accomplished digitally at any distance with no loss of efficiency, it is usually advantageous to have reasonable proximity to those with whom one seeks to exchange goods and services.

While the affluence has sustained support jobs in retail, hospitality and entertainment that have suffered large losses elsewhere, the city is highly polarized economically.

Washington D.C. is home to the federal government, the single largest producer of goods and services in the United States. In the past several decades, highly diverse industries needed to provide inputs to the government – defense contractors, IT and telecommunications firms, builders of offices and facilities, nonprofit organizations and lobbyists – have all grown rapidly.

For Washington D.C., the most important feature of the jobs provided by federal agencies and the industries is that they attract is that many of them require highly educated workers, including scientists and engineers capable of state-of-the art research, development and implementation.

In 2009, nearly half (48 percent) of the District’s residents were college graduates, and 28 percent had advanced degrees. The percentages in the greater Washington metropolitan area were similar. In contrast, about 28 percent of the U.S. population in 2009 held a B.A., and 10 percent held advanced degrees.

These educational and employment opportunities support some of the highest concentrations of affluent households in the United States: 4 of the 5 counties with the highest median household income, each with a median income over $100,000, are in the Washington metropolitan area. The metropolitan area includes 10 of the 16 counties with the highest household income in the nation.

This large affluent population, and the much lower vulnerability of federal government and private sector positions requiring high and often scientific or technical education to job losses in the recent recession, go far to explaining why Washington D.C. was one of the few metropolitan areas to experience a rise, rather than a decline, in housing values.

The stimulus funds that the federal government spent to revive the economy helped create jobs in the region, and – this is critical – the affluence of the D.C. metropolitan area has sustained the support jobs in the retail, hospitality, food and entertainment industries that have suffered much larger losses elsewhere. The region has provided attractive career opportunities to recent college graduates and those with advanced degrees, and made the District one of the few central cities in the nation to gain population since the 2000 census.

Firms seeking highly educated workers in turn find concentrations of the size D.C. offers highly attractive, and create even more employment opportunities when they locate or expand their offices or facilities in the region.

Population growth, especially when it is composed of high income workers – and even more so if they are young, as yet childless, and hence with more disposable income – has increased demands for housing in the District. This influx has also increased demands for the cultural amenities that these populations consume, leading to the revitalization – or gentrification – of many neighborhoods and the growth of shops, restaurants and coffee places that in turn provide employment.

The influx of college educated workers fueling the growth in population and housing values is predominantly white; the population lost is predominantly black.

The dynamics underlying these trends are perhaps an urban planner’s dream: job and population growth spur economic growth that in turn attracts jobs and population, transforms neighborhoods, and eventually should increase tax revenues that can be invested in public goods and services.

Everybody “wins” – with the very important exceptions of those who do not have the educational attainments or job skills to compete in so demanding a regional economy, and those for whom rising housing values might push home-ownership or rental costs out of reach. The exceptionally high percentage of high income, college educated households in D.C. has also made the District one of the most highly polarized cities in the nation socioeconomically, and since the population with high school degrees or less is predominantly black and Hispanic, the polarization is racial and ethnic as well.

The influx of college educated workers fueling the growth in population and housing values is predominantly white (an increase of 50,000); the population lost is predominantly black (39,000). Most of the black population loss was from Wards 7 and 8, and likely represents, as it has in past decades, movement from the District’s poorest wards to the inner suburbs of Prince Georges County, Md.

It seems likely that many see their move as a step up to a better neighborhood and an improvement in their lives. However, it does mean that the city that “wins” will not be the city that was majority black and where improvements might represent a long awaited victory for a black population struggling over decades to improve itself. Past transitions of inner city neighborhoods often fueled prejudices that in-migrants “ruined” the neighborhoods; one must hope that too many of us will not unconsciously infer that gentrification is the only way to improve them.

Roderick J. Harrison is senior fellow at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and senior research scientist at the Office of Research Regulatory Compliance at Howard University.