Media and Technology Stats and Studies – January 18, 2013

Stats & Studies — 1/18/13

STEM Degree Disparities Among First and Second Generation Immigrants

The National Center for Education Statistics reported an 11-point gap (25% versus 14%) of first generation Asian immigrants who pursue STEM degrees compared to their Latino immigrant counterparts. The report shows that most computer, math, statistics, and engineering degrees are going to foreign-born residents primarily from India and China. Further, 18% of Latino immigrants indicated English as the primary language spoken at home, compared to 26% of Asian immigrants. Latino immigrants who ever enrolled in at least one remedial college course was 52%, compared to 40% of their Asian counterparts.

A Third of Smartphone Users Use Their Device While Driving

One in three smartphone owners uses a device while driving, according to McKinsey and Company. Seventy percent of those users used their devices to check email or send instant messages. Last year, AT&T released the results of a teen driver survey revealing higher instances of texting while driving among Latino teens.

Minority and Female-Owned Radio Stations are Few Among Thousands

According to the FCC, there were 15,196 full-power radio stations licensed in the U.S. at the end of 2012. In November of 2012, the FCC reported 80% of all (including full power and low power) AM and FM radio stations were owned by Whites, with 70% owned by men.

Working Poor Have Negative Disposable Income to Spend on Broadband

The Working Poor Project reports that while unemployment numbers are down, nearly a third of working families struggle to meet basic needs because they take lower paying jobs. NTIA reported in 2010 that more than a third (34%) of Americans without broadband at home reported the primary reason for not having broadband was that the price of broadband is too high.

Nielsen: Live TV Viewing Continues to Exceed Time-Shifted Viewing

Nielsen reports that 5% of DVR viewing happens beyond 7 days of time shifting but that the highest viewership levels still occur on a live basis, at 87.2% of total tv viewing. Last year, Nielsen reported that African-Americans spend more time watching television than any other group, at 7 hours, 12 minutes per day.

NTIA Released a Quarterly Program Status Report of its BTOP Program Awardees

According to NTIA, award recipients deployed more than 6,500 network miles in the fourth quarter of 2012, bringing the total number of miles passed to 78,000 miles funded by BTOP. This exceeded the goal of 50,000 miles by the end of 2012. BTOP award recipients also connected and or/improved service to 1,200 community anchor institutions, up by 12% over the previous year. Further, BTOP awardees installed 38,600 new computer workstations through September, 2012. BTOP programs also added 134,000 new broadband subscribers in the 4^th quarter to the 510,000 new household and 12,000 new business broadband subscribers reported in September, 2012. The quarterly report does not report on the racial and ethnic characteristics of the communities served. This brings the total number of institutions connected by BTOP to 11,200 across the U.S.

Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Channel Set toTurn Around with 30% Viewership Growth

Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network boasted 325,000 viewers on a typical night in 2012, up 30% from the previous year. This is a turnaround for the channel.  Last May, OWN was reported to have lost nearly $300M following several programming miscues, including a live broadcast from India, which yielded widespread criticism for resorting to “stereotyping and clichés” of Indian culture. . Forbes has ranked Winfrey as the richest African-American of the 20^th century.

Other reports:

George Washington University reports internet users trust social media as a news source.  Seventy-one percent of users under 25 place greater or equal trust in social media news content compared to traditional news sources.

Nielsen reports that significant smartphone growth opportunties remain in Brazil, Russia, and India.

The Department of Commerce reported that while overall retail sales were up by .5% in December, retail sales of electronics and appliances were actually down by .6%.

EBay topped holiday ’12 sales forecasts by $10M fueled by growth in mobile shoppers. Another study by Cisco reported 65% of shoppers research products online before ultimately buying them in brick-and-mortar stores.

According to Comscore, 53 percent of the total U.S. population encountered a video ad online. Americans watched 11.2 billion online advertisements in December alone.

MoPub, one of the largest mobile ad exchanges, reported that advertisers charged a premium for ads to reach iPads. Ads placed on iOS systems garnered higher ad prices than ads placed on Android devices because iOS systems yield higher click-through rates of 1.7 versus 1.3 percent.

The smart energy IT industry is growing rapidly and predicted to grow by 20% in 2013, according to Pike Research.

Babson Research reported 6.7 million—a third—of post-secondary students have taken an online course.

Network Management software provider Ariseo reported that smartphones consume more data than tablets.

It’s Time to Focus on Poverty and Inequality to improve our National Security and Prosperity

Brian D. Smedley, Ph.D.

Brian D. Smedley, Ph.D.

The U.S. Census Bureau released chilling statistics this week:  nearly one in six Americans is living in poverty.  The number of Americans with incomes below the official poverty line ($22,314 for a family of four) rose by 2.6 million in 2010 to 46.2 million.

The poverty rate in 2010 reached its second-highest point since 1965, median income declined, and the number of Americans without health insurance reached record highs.

Nearly one in 10 children (9.9 percent) fell below half of the poverty line in 2010, up from 9.3 percent in 2009.  Disproportionately, children of color are poor:  over one-third of black children (39.1 percent) and Hispanic children (35.0 percent) are living in poverty.

New research released by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies also shows that the number of Americans living in neighborhoods with a high proportion of poor residents is at a record high:  over 22 million Americans live in these neighborhoods, and doing so typically keeps them poor because of their limited access to good schools, good jobs, and good capital.  (link to report:  http://jointcenter.org/research/a-lost-decade-neighborhood-poverty-and-the-urban-crisis-of-the-2000s)

Those living in high-poverty neighborhoods are disproportionately people of color.  And the concentration of people of color in racially- and economically-segregated neighborhoods is a major driver of the health inequalities that many minorities experience relative to whites, which span from the cradle to the grave.  A second report released last week by the Joint Center shows that metropolitan areas with the highest levels of segregation also experience the worst health inequalities, as measured by rates of infant mortality.  Were people of color and whites integrated, over 2,800 black infant deaths could have been averted in  2008.  (link to report:  http://www.jointcenter.org/research/segregated-spaces-risky-places-the-effects-of-racial-segregation-on-health-inequalities)

Clearly, the issue of poverty – and particularly the concentration of people of color in poor neighborhoods – needs more national attention.  Poverty and inequality are arguably a greater threat to our security and prosperity than any outside our nation’s borders.

The good news is that – be seated, now – government can help.

The level of hardship we see now would have been much worse if not for key federal programs such as unemployment insurance, the Earned Income Tax Credit, food stamps, and Medicaid. Without unemployment insurance, for instance, 3.2 million more Americans would have fallen into poverty.  And the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) increased the number of people employed by between 1.0 million and 2.9 million jobs as of June 2010.

As the deficit-busting “Super Committee” convenes, they should prioritize public sector investments that help people survive the economic downturn.

Dr. Brian D. Smedley is Vice President and Director of the Health Policy Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, DC.  More information on Dr. Smedley and his work can be found at the Joint Center website.