The digital, or internet, economy has transformed many aspects of our lives over the past two decades. How we communicate, entertain ourselves, make decisions, and do business continues to evolve as the digital economy grows in size and importance. Given this transformation, it is becoming even more important for policymakers to consider how the internet affects our lives and the economy as a...

Building on previous work examining broadband availability across different geographies by population, this report examines broadband availability by job location. As in Broadband Availability, Beyond the Rural/Urban Divide , this report divides the United States into five categories based on the degree of urbanization. Rather than examining broadband and general population levels; however, this...

This report, based on data from the Census Bureau’s July 2011 Current Population Survey (“CPS”) Computer and Internet Use Supplement, updates and substantially expands on the previous study in this series, Exploring the Digital Nation: Computer and Internet Use at Home , issued in 2011. For the first time in eight years, this study goes beyond new findings on computer and internet adoption in the...

The United States has been the world’s largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) since 2006. Every day, foreign companies establish new operations in the United States or provide additional capital to established businesses. With the world’s largest consumer market, skilled and productive workers, a highly innovative environment, appropriate legal protections, a predictable regulatory...

Hurricane/ Post-Tropical Storm Sandy struck the New Jersey coast on October 29, 2012, inflicting billions of dollars of damage. This report examines potential long-term economic effects of the storm in terms of losses and gains in economic activity. This impact analysis is for all the counties in New Jersey and the 13 counties in lower New York that that were declared as disaster areas by the...

Manufacturing jobs, including new manufacturing jobs, continue to deserve their reputation as good jobs. We use a relatively new data source, the Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI), to analyze the earnings of new hires relative to incumbent workers in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing. We find that new hires in the manufacturing sector earn more than new hires in other industries and have...

Contradictory news articles about the U.S. auto industry have appeared in recent days. On the positive side:"Auto Sales Showed Powerful Gains Across the Board in June" (NYT 7/2/2013) and "A Revitalized Car Industry Cranks Up U.S. Exports" (WSJ 7/1/2013). On the negative side, however, we have: "With Mexican auto manufacturing boom, new worries" (WP 7/1/2013). This is a brief attempt to reconcile...

Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey (NJ) on October 29, 2012. Several months after the storm, stakeholders were still assessing the damage and the long-term economic effects on the region. To help with this effort, the Economic and Statistics Administration developed this report which provides baseline information on demographic and economic conditions in these areas. This report was requested by...