BLS Data, Chapter One:

The minimum wage brouhaha currently unfolding in Washington, D.C., (and in several state capitols as well) may have you wondering which states report the most workers earning minimum wage or less. The answer comes courtesy of a Bureau of Labor Statistics report on characteristics of minimum wage workers published in May. Leading the way in minimally-compensated workers, perhaps in part because of their sizable populations, are California, Texas, Florida, New York and Ohio. But the percentage of hourly wage earners in California earning minimum or less is 0.9 percent, a considerably lower proportion than the states leading in that category: Oklahoma and West Virginia (tied at 4.3 percent), followed by Louisiana and South Dakota (3.8 percent) and then Arkansas and New Mexico (3.6 percent). Click here for the full report and tables.

BLS Data, Chapter Two:

BLS data shows a hike in union membership rates in certain parts of the U.S. South, driven primarily by the service and public sectors. Union membership was up to 7.1 percent in Mississippi in 2005, from 4.7 percent in 2004. In Alabama, union membership was at 10.2 percent, up from 9.7 percent. However, South Carolina and North Carolina, at 2.3 percent and 2.9 percent respectively, continue to have the nation’s lowest union membership rates, followed by Arkansas and Virginia at 4.8 percent and Utah at 4.9 percent. What’s more, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee and South Carolina show year-on-year declines in union membership, with Tennessee leading the nation in that category, dropping by 2.3 percent to 5.4 percent of all workers. Among the states with the steepest climbs in union membership were Alaska (+2.7 percent to 22.8 percent), Maryland (+2.4 percent to 13.3 percent) and Hawaii (+2.1 percent to 25.8 percent). Among other data, the 12-page report’s summary notes that construction and extraction occupations have a relatively high unionization rate of 17.6 percent, but a look at the data shows that this category was among few to demonstrate a substantial decrease in year-on-year union membership, down 2 percent.

BLS Data, Chapter 3:

Even with investment booming in China, Japan has a long headstart on automated processes, which may in part explain recently resurgent interest in Japanese facility investment.

Newly installed industrial robot volume worldwide grew by 25 percent between 2004 and 2005, according to a preliminary interpretation for the World Robotics 2006 study released in May by the International Federation of Robotics. The 121,000 robots installed in 2005 include 20,500 in North America and 72,600 in Asia (up 41 percent from 2004), while Europe saw a decline of 9 percent to 26,800 installed. The relative decline or ascendancy of the automotive industry in each territory was indicative, but so too was "intensified demand from other sectors, e.g. food, household appliances and medical technology," in North America, said Donald Vincent of the Robotics Industries Association. Overall, says the IFR Statistical Department, some 914,000 industrial robots are now doing their jobs, with 50 percent based in Asia, 33 percent in Europe and 16 percent in America. Final data will be published in August 2006.

New Jersey was among the 2005 leaders in increased commuter rail ridership. Photo Courtesy of Michael Rosenthal/ NJ Transit.

If your personal or corporate site selection matrix includes public transportation, then you may find use for 2005 data from the American Public Transportation Association. According to the APTA’s annual report, the 9.7 billion trips on public tranportation systems in 2005 mean that use of those systems has increased by 25.1 percent since 1995 — faster than the rate of highway vehicle miles traveled (22.5 percent). The highest year-on-year increase was in light rail, with the following cities leading the field in ridership growth: Minneapolis (168.9 percent); Houston (38.0 percent); New Jersey (17.8 percent); Salt Lake City (13.3 percent); Sacramento (12.8 percent); and Los Angeles (10.5 percent). The top five commuter rail systems with the highest ridership increases for 2005 were: San Carlos, CA (12.5 percent); Chesterton, Indiana (7.3 percent); Philadelphia (5.4 percent); and New Jersey (5.3 percent). And while overall bus ridership increased by on 0.4 percent, some cities showed more substantial ridership increases: Minneapolis (14.5 percent); Dallas (7.5 percent); the Pace system in suburban Chicago (7.4 percent); and San Antonio (5.8 percent).

The National Association of Manufacturers excels at filing legal briefs and writing letters on behalf of its constituents. Now you can access its entire trove of more than 400 legal briefs dating to 1995 via its new "Beagle" database, unveiled June 22. "This system will greatly simplify the legal research function for anyone with an interest in business litigation," said David Kralik, NAM Manager of Internet Programs and Web Content. NAM’s epistolary talents were most recently on display two days previous, when, in a letter to Congressional leaders, NAM President John Engler called on them to renew and strengthen the expired R&D Credit. "Many of our economic competitors, including Canada, Ireland, China and France, are actively courting U.S. R&D activity with a variety of more generous and permanent incentives," he wrote. "The current lapsed R&D credit in the United States, coupled with strong incentives in other countries, are factors in the current trend of increasing foreign-based R&D spending." For the latest data on industrial, academic and federally funded R&D in the U.S., keep the National Science Foundation high on your favorites list.