Introducing Datasets Project — First Up, Disability

Partly to better familiarize myself with the Current Population Survey and partly because I have a hard time finding certain important information, I have started a Datasets Project. I will track certain social statistics on an ongoing basis and update the datasets as the new numbers come in. For now, all of the datasets will be built upon my own calculations of monthly Current Population Survey microdata.

The first dataset is a detailed breakdown of disability in the United States. As mentioned on the page itself, the Current Population Survey only includes disability information for the adult civilian population, and only began asking detailed disability questions in January of 2009. The numbers are interesting though. As of last month, approximately 9.3% of the adult civilian population has some sort of disability as described in the dataset.

For the next dataset, I intend to construct a wasted youth index in line with a previous post on the topic. In essence, I want to track over time how many young adults are neither in school, in vocational training, or in a job. Hopefully this will be enlightening and of use to others beyond my own eccentric curiosities.