Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Random charts - politics & media

 

"When it comes to getting news about politics and government, liberals and conservatives inhabit different worlds. There is little overlap in the news sources they turn to and trust. And whether discussing politics online or with friends, they are more likely than others to interact with like-minded individuals, according to a new Pew Research Center study.
 
Overall, the study finds that consistent conservatives:
  • Are tightly clustered around a single news source, far more than any other group in the survey, with 47% citing Fox News as their main source for news about government and politics.
  • Express greater distrust than trust of 24 of the 36 news sources measured in the survey. At the same time, fully 88% of consistent conservatives trust Fox News.
  • Are, when on Facebook, more likely than those in other ideological groups to hear political opinions that are in line with their own views.
  • Are more likely to have friends who share their own political views. Two-thirds (66%) say most of their close friends share their views on government and politics.
By contrast, those with consistently liberal views:
  • Are less unified in their media loyalty; they rely on a greater range of news outlets, including some – like NPR and the New York Times– that others use far less.
  • Express more trust than distrust of 28 of the 36 news outlets in the survey. NPR, PBS and the BBC are the most trusted news sources for consistent liberals.
  • Are more likely than those in other ideological groups to block or “defriend” someone on a social network – as well as to end a personal friendship – because of politics.
  • Are more likely to follow issue-based groups, rather than political parties or candidates, in their Facebook feeds..."

Monday, March 21, 2016

Random charts - wage inequality

 
 
Source: Wage inequality continued its 35-year rise in 2015

"Key findings include:
  • While real hourly wages (i.e., wages adjusted for inflation) grew across the board in 2015, this is largely due to a sharp dip in inflation; growth in nominal wages (i.e., wages unadjusted for inflation) has not accelerated. This dip in inflation is unlikely to be a durable source of future real wage gains.
    • Nominal wage growth of 2.2 percent remains below a level where workers would reap the benefits of economic growth.
    • There is no evidence of substantial acceleration of wages that would signal that the Federal Reserve Board should worry about incipient inflation and raise interest rates in an effort to slow the economy.
  • Real hourly wage growth in 2015 was fastest at the top of the wage distribution, illustrating that wage inequality continued its 35-year rise last year.
    • The gap between the middle and bottom has remained stable since 2000.
    • The gap between the top and everyone else has grown.
  • Looking at men and women separately, from 2014 to 2015, the strongest wage growth was at the top of the men’s wage distribution and at the bottom of the women’s wage distribution.
    • For men, wages at the 95th and 90th percentiles grew by 9.9 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively, compared with only 2.6 percent at the median.
    • While significant gender wage gaps remain across the wage distribution, there has been significant narrowing of the gap at the bottom and middle of the wage distribution since 2000.
  • In 2015, faster low-wage wage growth occurred in states that increased their minimum wage.
    • The 10th percentile women’s wage grew 5.2 percent in states with legislated minimum-wage increases, compared with only 3.1 percent growth in states without any minimum-wage increase.
  • Racial and ethnic wage gaps are on the rise at the top of the wage distribution.
    • Between 2014 and 2015, white wage growth was at least as fast as black wage growth at all deciles, and was far stronger at the top than at the middle or bottom.
    • Wage growth at the bottom of the Hispanic wage distribution since 2000 greatly exceeded that of low-wage black workers, who actually experienced losses over that period.
    • Regardless of race or ethnicity, within-group inequality has risen since 2000, with stronger growth at the top than at the bottom.
  • Over 2000–2015, wage growth was faster among the more educated, but not fast enough to explain growing wage inequality.
    • For both men and women, those with less than a college degree had lower wages in 2015 than in 2007.
    • While there has been a slow narrowing of gender wage gaps for those with less than a college degree since 2000, gender wage gaps continued to grow among those with an advanced degree..."

Random chart - world languages


"There are at least 7,102 known languages alive in the world today. Twenty-three of these languages are a mother tongue for more than 50 million people. The 23 languages make up the native tongue of 4.1 billion people. We represent each language within black borders and then provide the numbers of native speakers (in millions) by country.."

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Random chart - state health


Random chart - "defense" spend


"According to the Military Balance 2016, recently published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), global defence spending in 2015 amounted to $1.563 trillion – with the US, China, Saudi Arabia and Russia accounting for more than half of total expenditure. For its part, ‘EUrope’ has largely reversed its trend of cutting budgets and accounts for roughly 14.5% of the world’s spending..." - Global defence spending 2015: the big picture

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Random charts - high-need health

 

Random picture - Death Valley

Source: Rare 'Super Bloom' Carpets Death Valley in Gold

Random chart - SCOTUS decisions

 

Random charts - solar

 
 

"The report tracks the groundbreaking technological advances and innovative business models which have emerged to transform the lives of millions through affordable modern solar energy services; and  provides a comprehensive view of the state of one of the most impactful sectors in the global economy today. 

• 1.2 billion people without access to the power grid 
• $27 billion spent annually on lighting and mobile-phone charging technologies 
 • 89 million people in Africa and Asia with improved access to energy by using off-grid solar products 
 • $276 million invested in the off-grid solar industry in 2015, a 15-fold increase since 2012 
• $3.1 billion market opportunity for the off-grid solar industry by 2020, reaching 99 million households"