Another Look at Unemployment

Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released updated unemployment info on a state-by-state basis. The Wall Street Journal posted in a blog that the drop was in manufacturing states, mentioning Michigan and Ohio specifically. But a more in-depth look at the data shows that these states still aren’t leading the charge on job growth in America.

First, let’s look at the where manufacturing happens in America. Using DIVER’s mapping capabilities, we can see what we need in a few seconds.

While the upper Midwest is still a major base for manufacturing, it’s only one of three fairly distinct areas. In addition to the ‘Rust Belt’, the Carolinas and Virginia are home to a growing set of manufacturers in the auto and biotech industries. South Carolina alone is home to over 250 auto manufacturing plants. And just west of this ‘Tobacco Road’ region, Alabama and Tennessee anchor the ‘Pittsburgh of the South’ heavy industry region. A quick look at the ‘Largest State Employers’ module shows that the auto industry is key here as well: two of Alabama’s nine largest employers are auto manufacturers. In Kentucky the number is even higher: 4 of the top 15.

We can see the relative ability of the regions to grow employment by looking at jobs growth. Mapping out growth, we see that the South has been creating jobs, while the Rust Belt continues to lose them.

So why is the Journal reporting that unemployment is down in Michigan and Ohio? One line in the article gives us a clue:

To be sure, not all of this is due to the improving economy. Some people have moved away in search of better pastures while discouraged workers have simply given up looking for work. Both Michigan and Ohio have seen year-on-year declines in their labor force, which is the number of people working and looking for work.

With employment dropping in the North and rising in the South, indications are that some, if not most, of the North’s improvement is due to workers moving to find jobs in the South. While this may lead to improving stats for the Rust Belt, it does not bode well for their long-term ability of these areas to meet their obligations.

 

Muni Index Musings

Some quick observations we wanted to pass on as we have updated our State and County muni indices (these are updated periodically over the month to capture the most recent data).

The results for the March 2012 DIVER Point in Time State Index are below (left) and capture the following key factors: unemployment rate, tax revenue per capita, housing prices and personal income per capita.  The blue, green and yellow States represent those faring better than the other States (especially the red States).

Some quick observations we wanted to pass on as we have updated our State and County muni indices (these are updated periodically over the month to capture the most recent data).

The results for the March 2012 DIVER Point in Time State Index are below and capture the following key factors: unemployment rate, tax revenue per capita, housing prices and personal income per capita.  The blue, green and yellow States represent those faring better than the other States (especially the red States).

The DIVER Trend State Index tells a different story as it looks at the same factors and ranks annual change across those factors.  Our legend construct is the same as noted above. 

 

As one evaluates State level data important to them, comparing and contrasting the same types of data over time is critical to developing a more complete understanding of the economic and demographic conditions in a given area.

The same approach is equally as important when looking at counties.  The DIVER County Indices take into consideration the unemployment rate, average weekly wages, foreclosure rates, housing prices and labor force.  The legend (color coding) is the same as for the States – blue is best and red is, well, not so good.  The map below shows the DIVER Point in Time County Index.

The final map shows the DIVER Point in Time and Trend (relative rank of key indicators at point in time coupled with the change in key indicators over a one year period).  While not as much of a contrast as the States, there are real distinctions.

See us in Las Vegas

We will be in Sin City for the NFMA’s 29th Annual Conference. If you’re interested in meeting up and talking and seeing what DIVER can do, look for our booth or drop us a line.

 

New Data in DIVER

Over the past few working days, we have added several new data sets or made certain data sets available in areas of DIVER previously not available.  Here is a brief list:

- Pension Plan, Funded Ratio at the State level is now available on the Map Page, Filter and PSC (Please note that for these data points, we went to the Pension Plan Actuarial Reports and/or CAFR (as applicable) – generally, this provides more current information that what is reported in the State level CAFR)

- Job Growth (“Unempl./Emply” Category) – beyond unemployment, this data set provides a look at the % change in the number of employed people over a one year period (really interesting v. unemployment rate – net, net, is the unemployment rate really going down?)

- Tornadoes (“Disasters” Category) – due to the unfortunate continuation of an active tornadoes season, we will continue to update this data set weekly.

- Nuclear Plants (“Other” category) – we include those operating and those that are operational but are in the process of decommissioning.

 

Also, don’t forget to check out the Muni Index at both the State and county level.  Here we present a unique perspective as to how the States and counties look at a point in time and how they are trending.

DIVER Users, please keep your requests for data and functionality coming!

Thanks

The DIVER team

Announcing the Lumesis and Investortools Product Link

We are extremely excited to announce a new strategic alliance with Investortools, another leading municipal market industry software provider. You can read the official announcement here.

When Lumesis was originally formed, one of our early goals was to allow our clients to seamlessly integrate our DIVER software into their existing systems for analyzing muni credits. Now users of Investortools’ CreditScope Municipal Edition software will have easy access to our portfolio and credit analysis tools.

We are excited to potentially be opening our software to a wider audience, and we are grateful for the support from our friends at Investortools. We are hoping that this alliance allows muni analysts everywhere to do their jobs that much more easily and more effectively.

New Release: DIVER 2.8

To our DIVER Users:

Thanks for your patience while we toiled away with some maintenance and upgrades.  We are pleased to announce the release of DIVER 2.8!

Here is what’s new:

• Upload multiple portfolios from a single upload document
• Portfolio upload files can contain up to two columns of “wild-card” information (our way of saying, “whatever you like”)
• All portfolio upload information (including “wild-card” information) is now available with DIVER’s data upon excel export via the Map or Filter
• Map Color Reverse – you can now toggle to have the map and legend reverse so you can display the data you deem best as blue and worst as red
• Custom Map Title – from the Map Details page, title your map whatever you want for your export, print or save.
• Security Upgrade – we think we were already pretty good (ask your IT folks who examined us) but we continue to take steps to enhance our data and protect your information.  Let the IT people know!

All of the above comes from your requests – thanks!  Please keep the ideas coming.

Always more to come and we will keep you posted as we get closer to nailing down deliverable dates for further enhancements.  Also, we will be adding data sets and will send a blast when we do.

Finally, thank you for being part of the family of DIVER users.  We appreciate your entrusting us to help you perform your responsibilities.  We will continue to do our best to exceed your expectations.

Thanks,

The DIVER by Lumesis Team

Safeguard Scientifics Leads $2.5 Million Series A Financing for Lumesis

We are ecstatic to announce the closing of our Series A Financing. You can see the official press release here.

We are thrilled to embark on the next stage of our growth with the support of our new partners: Safeguard Scientifics, NextStage Capital, and Jim Ashton. We’d especially like to thank Phil Moyer, Managing Director at Safeguard Scientifics, for pushing this forward and getting this financing done.

Today is an exciting day in the history of Lumesis, but it’s just the beginning: we’ll be using the proceeds to make our current products even better and to launch products we’ve had in the hopper for a while. We’re hoping to make our investors as happy about today’s news as we are.

We know there is a long road ahead of us, but we’re proud to have taken a big step down that path.