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EuroWire – November 2010
30
Transat lant ic Cable
In brief . . .
Americans are becoming more compliant, to judge from the
❈
number of people (72%of the population) whomailed in their
completed forms for the 2010 Census. The reduced need for
expensive door-to-door visits permitted the project to come
in $650 million under budget. The Commerce Department is
returning the unneeded funds to the government, together
with $800 million in unused contingency money. It will be up
to Congress to determine what to do with the windfall from
the o cial head count, conducted every ten years.
According to the results of the most recent Conference Board
❈
survey, consumer con dence in the US has risen slightly: to
53.5 points in August, up from 51 in July.
With 50 the median between pessimism
and optimism, the con dence index
re ectshowAmericansfeelaboutbusiness
conditions, the job market and the next
six months. The factor is closely watched
because consumer spending, which
typically rises in tandem with feelings of
security, accounts for some 70% of the US
economy and is considered crucial to a
sustained recovery. The Conference Board
is an independent source of economic
and business information, with a global
membership.
The Labor Department reported that the
❈
number of American workers who died on
the job fell by 17% in 2009 to the lowest
level in nearly two decades, an apparent
e ect of the recent recession in the
United States. The 4,340 workplace
fatalities recorded over the 12 months
provided the lowest total since the
Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking
the data in 1992. The labour agency said
unemployment and layo s in construction
and other dangerous industries were
major factors in the decrease.
The College Board has warned that the
❈
growing gap in college-completion rates
between the US and other countries
threatens to undermine American econo-
mic competitiveness.
The not-for-pro t association, founded
in New York in 1900 with a mission to
“connect students to college success and
opportunity,” said that the United States
used to lead the world in the number of
25- to 34-year-olds with college degrees.
Now, it ranks twelfth among 36 developed
nations.
According to a College Board report
released at a July meeting of education
leaders and policy makers in Washington
DC, almost 70% of high school graduates
in the US enrol in college within two years.
But only about 57% of students who
enrol in a bachelor’s degree programme
graduate within six years; and fewer
than 25% of students who begin at a
community college graduate with an
associate’s degree within three years.