All Things Census

Hispanics will account for three-quarters of the growth in the nation’s labor force from 2010 to 2020, according to new projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). One major reason is that the Hispanic population is growing rapidly due to births and immigration. At the same time, the aging of the non-Hispanic white population is expected to reduce their numbers in the labor force.

A new Pew Research Center report analyzes trends in marriage rates, age at first marriage and number of new marriages. It finds that barely half of U.S. adults are married, continuing a downward trend. In addition, the median age at first marriage for men and women has never been higher. And the number of people who married within the past year fell 5% from 2009 to 2010.

The November 2011 issuance by the U.S. Census Bureau of a new Supplemental Poverty Measure has rekindled interest in questions that have been raised at various times over the nearly half century since the first official measures were published. This posting explores the perceived flaws of the official poverty measures, as well as the features of the unofficial alternative measure recently unveiled by the Census Bureau and the broader issues raised by the contrast between the two.

Money-sharing by cohabiting couples is the topic of this article, which focuses on the Census Bureau's new alternative measure of poverty. Cohabiting couples are much less likely to be considered poor under the alternative measure than the official measure of poverty'; the major reason is that the alternative measure assumes such couples share expenses, while the official measure assumes they are separate economic units.

A new Pew Research Center report explores the demographics and economics of multi-generational households. It concludes that moving to a multi-generational household appears to lift Americans out of poverty, and this is especially true for groups most affected by the recession. Household incomes also are higher for some groups in multi-generational households.

A new report from the Pew Hispanic Center explores and analyzes the poverty rate for Hispanic children. Latino children now outnumber white children in poverty for the first time, according to census data cited in the report.

The Census Bureau today released its first estimates of the number of same-sex married couples in the U.S., as well as alternatives counts to the published data for same-sex unmarried couples that try to account for data-processing issues.

The Census Bureau today released data from the 2010 American Community Survey that expands on the basic demographics in the 2010 Census. Links to the data and special reports are included in this posting.