Assess Costs Everywhere (ACE) has been recently revised with more modern, up-to-date information. ACE is a resource developed by the Office of the Chief Economist in the Department of Commerce to outline the hidden costs and risks U.S. firms need to consider when evaluating the location of manufacturing operations and supply chains. ACE was originally launched in April 2013, and we are constantly reviewing it to ensure the data and research are current.

Highlights from our newly updated research include:

On June 12th, a team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) headed to Cleveland, OH for the second of five Department of Commerce Natural Capital Business Roundtables. The roundtables will inform development of a DOC website to help businesses incorporate natural capital in their planning and operations. Natural capital includes the air, water, soil and living resources that provide a range of goods and services on which the global economy depends. 

Simple arithmetic tells us that data jobs are good.  They pay well, have low unemployment rates, and are expanding across many industries. More complicated arithmetic projects a bright future of growth.  Over the decade ending 2022, employment in data occupations—in which data analysis and processing are central to the work performed—is projected to grow 14.5 percent, faster than the 10.4 percent projected growth of ("for") non-data jobs. Research first published in The Importance of Data Occupations in the U.S. Economy highlights that these jobs not only are multiplying, but that they pay more than $40 an hour on average.  Data workers also are very unlikely to be unemployed.   This blog examines projected future growth in this field, courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2012-2022 employment projections.

Since the Great Recession, manufacturing has experienced a period of growth. In our June 2014 report, Manufacturing Since the Great Recession, Ryan Noonan and I provided an overview of recent trends in manufacturing. This blog updates those facts.  What we find is that while manufacturing is still recovering, the rebound has slowed somewhat in recent months.