Author: Dwight Steward, Ph.D.

Dr. Steward regularly writes and speaks on topics involving business and individual economic damages, employment audits, and the analysis of payroll and time data in wage and hour investigations. Dr. Steward has also held teaching positions at The University of Texas-Austin in the Department of Economics and in the Red McCombs School of Business, The College of Business at Sam Houston State University, and at The University of Iowa. He has taught numerous courses in statistics, corporate finance, labor economics, business policies, managerial economics, and microeconomics.

BLS reclassifies education in Consumer Expenditure Survey to better reflect income and spending patterns.

According to the BLS, its most recent re-classification of education in the Consumer Expenditure (CE) survey better reflects income and spending patterns in the US. The BLS reports this in Beyond the Numbers: Prices & Spending, vol. 3, no. 1 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2014.

Starting with the release of calendar year 2012 CE data, classification of household expenditures by the education of the reference person was changed.  In the latest release, and into the future, education will be replaced by classification by the highest level of education attained by any consumer unit (CU) member.  So for example, if the Husband is the reference person and has a Bachelor’s degree and the wife has a Post-graduate degree, the household’s education in the post 2012 data will be classified as Post-Graduate instead of Bachelors/College Graduate.

Ann Foster, the author of article, states that the rationale for the change was that the highest level of education attained by any household member more accurately reflects income and spending patterns than does the education level of the reference person only.

Source:

Ann C. Foster, “New education classification better reflects income and spending patterns in the Consumer Expenditure Survey ,” Beyond the Numbers: Prices & Spending, vol. 3, no. 1 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2014), http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-3/education-classification-and-income-and-spending-patterns.htm

Review of Bracewell Giuliani’s ShalePlay App on the Shale industry

ShaleAppphoto

Bracewell Giuliani’s ShalePlay app for IPhone is a one stop information source for professionals who are interested in learning more about the Shale industry.  The app has three main sections: Drill Down, Where to Play, and How to Play.

DrillDownphoto

The ‘Drill Down ‘section contains news, information on legislation, studies, and analysis from the attorneys and energy professionals at Bracewell Giuliani.

Wheretoplayphoto

The ‘Where to Play’ section is an interactive map that allows the user to get information on a specific Shale Plays by just clicking on the map.  A single touch provides name and age  information on play.  In future versions of the program it would be nice to get more information, like rig count and drill permits.

Touching and holding a location on the map gives more information provides news from the State that the play is located in.  Hopefully future versions will provide more specific information for each play.  Right now, all plays within a state present the same news.

Howtoplayphoto

The ‘How to Play’ section provides informational and educational sources to learn more about the Shale industry.  There is a detailed glossary, listing of industry links and blogs, and a history of Fracking.  People new to the industry will most likely find this section very helpful.  Hopefully, this section will continue to grow as the app develops.

LA Raiders sued in Alameda County for off-the-clock work and other alleged wage and hour violations

Numerous news sources reported on the wage and hour lawsuit filed by one LA Raider cheerleader against the team for allegedly violating California state wage and hour laws.

Read the complaint here.

KQED (Northern area Public Radio) reports:

A member of the Oakland Raiderettes cheerleading squad sued the football team in Alameda County Superior Court on Wednesday, alleging that the club is in “flagrant violation” of an array of California wage and employment laws.

[The lawsuit]  claims the Oakland Raiders club doesn’t pay the cheerleaders for all the time they spend working, withholds pay until the end of the season, and forces them to pay some of their own business expenses.

 

The lawsuit seeks to be certified as a class action on behalf of all present and former Raiderettes who cheered for the team since 2010.

[according to the complaint] the cheerleaders are paid only $1,250 per season, which amounts to less than $5 per hour for the time they spend rehearsing, performing and making required appearances at charity events.

 

 

Inflation is simply nowhere to be found in the U.S. economy

The latest data from the BLS further confirms the low level of inflation in the U.S.  A number of notable items that make up a large percentage of the CPI actually declined in 2013.  Motor fuel (which has a weight of 5.68 out of 100) in the CPI declined 1.0%, Household furnishings (3.2) fell 2.2%.  Medical equipment, non prescription drug prices, and recreational supplies (like sporting goods).  The average price of DVDs fell nearly 10% last year.

 

Economist, Justin Wolfers provides a light, but informative closer look at the recent CPI numbers and cookie versus cupcake inflation:

New (to me) STATA tool to use Fed Reserve data online

The FRED repository at http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/ contains over 3,000 U.S. economic time series. Each time series is stored in a separate file that also contains a string-date variable and header with information about the series. freduse imports a list of series into a single Stata dataset. This routine will be documented in an upcoming issue of the Stata Journal.

FREDUSE: Stata module to Import FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Database) data

Four plus one take-aways from 12/12/2014 Houston OFCCP Presentation

1. Impact Ratio Analysis (IRA) is still important to the OFCCP’s workforce analyses.  The 80% rule is still a tool.  However, the current compliance manual requires that a more holistic approach using statistical analysis and the calculation of standard deviations, be used in the final analysis and during the investigation.

2. Ethnic and sub group analysis is becoming more and more important.  The diversification of the U.S. workforce is creating a situation where smaller racial or ethnic groups are now large enough to study (2% rule)

3. Pre-Employment background checks can be used with care.  Employers should ensure that criminal history checks are germane and relevant to the jobs at issue.  Guidance on credit history checks is expected in the coming months.

4. Military Vet. goals and more guidance are expected in March 2014.  Some guidance was provided in 2013.

 Plus one take away…

It is amazing how far and wide the concepts of statistical significance have traveled over the last 20 years.  The OFCCP compliance officers were conversant in the concepts as well as small and large sample ratio statistical tests.  20 years ago these concepts were just making there way out for public consumption.

Using Healthcare.gov to evaluate fringe benefits loss allegations in litigation

The existence of insurance through healthcare.gov can impact the valuation of employer fringe benefits in a number of situations.

For instance, self-employed workers or business owners may be involved in lawsuits involving the loss of premium payments.  The healthcare.gov marketplace provides a means to compare the different insurance options available to the self employed or business owner involved in the lawsuit.  Prior to healthcare.gov, it was relatively cumbersome to gather the necessary information.  Now comparisons of premiums, coverages, and standard deductions can be made for multiple policies.

 

Week in Energy

  1. SolarWorld looks to close alleged loopholes in tariffs against Chinese solar manufacturers
  2. Zuckerman’s Frackers presents a balanced, informative and detailed insights into the industry.
  3. Sweetwater, Texas gets ready for drillers
  4. City of Fort Worth sues driller over natural gas royalties

SolarWorld looks to close alleged loopholes in tariffs against Chinese solar manufacturers

The New York Times reports that SolarWorld, a major maker of solar panels, is asking the Commerce Department to impose new duties on imported modules made of certain components from China or Taiwan.

SolarWorld v. China Solar Panel Imports

Learn more about the complaint and the US agency responsible for pursuing it (USIT.gov): (Google Search)

Zuckerman’s Frackers presents a balanced, informative and detailed insights into the industry.

Frackers is a lively but informative book about the recent development of the hydro fracturing industry.   The stories focus mainly on developments from 1990 to 2013.  Zuckerman provides the necessary detail to get the reader to be able to understand the technology without boring them to death. The fast moving biographical sketches of some of the key figures, such as George Mitchell, makes the tale interesting on a personal level.  Zuckerman does all this without editorializing (until the end of the book which is an optional read).  Great book for anyone interested in learning about the fracking industry.

Sweetwater, Texas gets ready for drillers

Austin American Statesman: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/opinion/as-shale-oil-drilling-draws-closer-sweetwater-lead/ncPNX

Sweetwater Economic Development:  http://www.sweetwatertexas.net/cline-shale-oil-play

City of Fort Worth sues driller over natural gas royalties

City of Fort Worth hires the well know Fort Worth law firm of Cantey Hanger to pursue royalty lawsuit.

Read: Complaint and Story

Short shifts under a alternative workweek schedule in California

In California, employees and employers may adopt an alternative workweek schedule or AWS.   An AWS is any regularly scheduled workweek requiring an employee to work more than eight hours in a 24-hour period.

If employees who are under a AWS receive few than the number of scheduled hours then a short shift has occurred.  For short shifts, employees are paid overtime for hours worked in excess of 8 and double time for hours in excess of 12.  From

For all Orders except Order 16, if the employer requires an employee to work fewer hours than those that are regularly scheduled, the employer must pay the employee overtime at the rate of one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of eight hours, and, of course, double the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 12 hours for the day the employee is required to work the reduced hours.

For Order 16 only, an employee who works longer than eight hours but no more than 10 hours in a workday pursuant to an alternative workweek schedule, must be paid an overtime rate of not less than one and one-half times his or her regular rate of pay for any work in excess of the regularly scheduled hours established by the agreement.

Dollar value of a day in Mexico

GeoMex blog reports:

A study by the National Statistics Institute (INEGI) based on 2010 data calculated that routine work done in the home (almost 80% of the time-value involved by women) is worth about 2.9 trillion pesos to the Mexican economy each year, equivalent to more than 20% of Mexico’s GDP. By way of comparison, manufacturing accounts for 17.2% of GDP, and commerce 15% of GDP. The INEGI study is Cuenta satélite del trabajo no remunerado de los hogares de México.