Data Points, April 12, 2022
—— Good news on economic output: the most recent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates show that this measure of economic output was up in 47 states during the fourth quarter of 2021. The percent change in real GDP in the fourth quarter ranged from 10.1 percent in Texas to –2.3 percent in Iowa.
—— Kastle, a company that provides access control and other security-related services for office buildings, put together a back-to-work barometer that shows how far along its customers are in getting people back to the office in the wake of Covid-19. This is only one indicator among many, but in the 10 major cities around the U.S. that it covers, it shows that office occupancy levels are about 43 percent of pre-pandemic levels. That’s up 1.1 percent from last week and it’s the highest level since office closures began in March, 2020.
The barometer has increased 15 points since the start of the year. Austin, Texas continues to lead the way, with 63% occupancy. San Jose, California reports the lowest occupancy, 33%, of the 10 tracked cities.
—— There are seven times more incarcerated women in the U.S. than there were 40 years ago. More than 220,000 women were incarcerated in 2019, compared to 26,378 in 1980. Incarceration rates for Black women have actually declined since 2000, but they’re still well above those for Hispanic and White women.
The state with the highest rate of female imprisonment is Idaho (138/100,000) and the state with the lowest incarceration rate of females is Massachusetts (10/100,000).
—— The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 1.2 percent in March, and was up 8.5 percent in the past 12 months. Reactions to the report were mixed:
“Top line was ugly but the core rate was lower than we expected. This is not good news, but yields are coming off their high indicative of another bloodbath in the debt market.”
“The bottom line is inflation is going to stick around for a while, but we could see it begin to reverse in the summer months, provided we get some cooling off in agricultural and energy prices.”
—— “Increasingly, an individual’s life expectancy in the US will depend on the state in which they live.” That’s a direct quote from an incendiary editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The article documents the effects of “red versus blue state” politics that have become increasingly important since the Reagan-influenced new states rights movement began in the 1980’s.
The implications of these state-level actions require medical and public health professionals and the public to shift their focus from the political standoffs in Washington, DC, to the escalating activity in state capitols and to be vigilant about policies that threaten health and safety, deepen inequities, or target vulnerable groups. The nation should also reflect on federalism and decide whether it wants health policy to come in 50 varieties, considering that the Constitution and Tenth Amendment granted public health authority (ie, “police powers”) to the states.
That’s it for today. Take care, and thanks for reading.
Karl Pearson
