@datahistorian.bsky.social
Retired History Prof, UW-Milwaukee, https://uwm.edu/history/about/directory/anderson-margo/
History of Data, Politics of Numbers.
Latest book [with William Seltzer]: Use and Misuse of the U.S. Census
History of Data, Politics of Numbers.
Latest book [with William Seltzer]: Use and Misuse of the U.S. Census
The data community needs to weigh in here, not just on “privacy,” but on data “stewardship,” the way data curators see their ethical responsibilities. The administration has a completely different understanding, namely that all “data” is fair game for their agenda.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/b...
Trump Is Claiming Mortgage Fraud to Attack Enemies. Is Your Information Public?
www.nytimes.com
August 28, 2025 at 2:49 PM
The data community needs to weigh in here, not just on “privacy,” but on data “stewardship,” the way data curators see their ethical responsibilities. The administration has a completely different understanding, namely that all “data” is fair game for their agenda.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/b...
More on Trump’s proposals for the census, and the federal statistical system….
apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com/article/trum...
Trump seeks to change how census collects data and wants to exclude immigrants in US illegally
President Donald Trump has instructed the Commerce Department to change how the Census Bureau collects data, seeking to exclude immigrants in the United States illegally.
apnews.com
August 7, 2025 at 6:40 PM
More on Trump’s proposals for the census, and the federal statistical system….
apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com/article/trum...
More tinkering: When to report. Who does what, BLS or Census Bureau. What about private sector surveys? What else could one use to measure unemployment, a new question once the Social Security Act [1935] authorized unemployment “insurance.”
More to come...
More to come...
August 4, 2025 at 4:45 PM
More tinkering: When to report. Who does what, BLS or Census Bureau. What about private sector surveys? What else could one use to measure unemployment, a new question once the Social Security Act [1935] authorized unemployment “insurance.”
More to come...
More to come...
The “Current Population Survey” was born and has been around ever since. We have a “data series”!
August 4, 2025 at 4:44 PM
The “Current Population Survey” was born and has been around ever since. We have a “data series”!
4. Get the tabulation report out fast, preferably 2-3 weeks after the data collection.
5.Who’s going to pay for it? For ~10 years, a government “experiment,” originally the “monthly report on the labor force,” late 1930s-1940s, to work out kinks. [Skipping WWII here, a big part of the story.]
5.Who’s going to pay for it? For ~10 years, a government “experiment,” originally the “monthly report on the labor force,” late 1930s-1940s, to work out kinks. [Skipping WWII here, a big part of the story.]
August 4, 2025 at 4:43 PM
4. Get the tabulation report out fast, preferably 2-3 weeks after the data collection.
5.Who’s going to pay for it? For ~10 years, a government “experiment,” originally the “monthly report on the labor force,” late 1930s-1940s, to work out kinks. [Skipping WWII here, a big part of the story.]
5.Who’s going to pay for it? For ~10 years, a government “experiment,” originally the “monthly report on the labor force,” late 1930s-1940s, to work out kinks. [Skipping WWII here, a big part of the story.]
3. Let’s get the definition straight: a person was only unemployed if in the right demographic [not too old, not too young], and actually looking for work the week the sample surveyors came around.
August 4, 2025 at 4:42 PM
3. Let’s get the definition straight: a person was only unemployed if in the right demographic [not too old, not too young], and actually looking for work the week the sample surveyors came around.
2. Probability sampling [a hot new thing at the time], would permit frequent simple measurement [monthly!], so we’ll need a staff of “field interviewers.”
August 4, 2025 at 4:42 PM
2. Probability sampling [a hot new thing at the time], would permit frequent simple measurement [monthly!], so we’ll need a staff of “field interviewers.”
1. Unemployment fluctuates a lot with the cycles of the larger economy, and needs frequent measurement. A census is the wrong instrument to measure it. Too expensive, too slow for the reporting.....
August 4, 2025 at 4:41 PM
1. Unemployment fluctuates a lot with the cycles of the larger economy, and needs frequent measurement. A census is the wrong instrument to measure it. Too expensive, too slow for the reporting.....
The “data” were unsatisfactory, irregularly reported, long story short, the Depression accelerated technical work on the issue. [A truncated version of the issues…]
August 4, 2025 at 4:40 PM
The “data” were unsatisfactory, irregularly reported, long story short, the Depression accelerated technical work on the issue. [A truncated version of the issues…]
A question for the “occupied” population went on the 1880 census, usa.ipums.org/usa-action/v..., asking the “number of months this person has been unemployed during the census year.” Stayed with changes until 1930 census, including a Congressionally mandated “unemployment census” in 1930 and 1931.
IPUMS USA: descr: MOUNEMP
usa.ipums.org
August 4, 2025 at 4:39 PM
A question for the “occupied” population went on the 1880 census, usa.ipums.org/usa-action/v..., asking the “number of months this person has been unemployed during the census year.” Stayed with changes until 1930 census, including a Congressionally mandated “unemployment census” in 1930 and 1931.
Unemployment, labor force participation, is hard to measure.
Who does it apply to? Adults? Of what ages? People with their own “businesses”? What about farmers? What about “homemakers?” ....
Who does it apply to? Adults? Of what ages? People with their own “businesses”? What about farmers? What about “homemakers?” ....
August 4, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Unemployment, labor force participation, is hard to measure.
Who does it apply to? Adults? Of what ages? People with their own “businesses”? What about farmers? What about “homemakers?” ....
Who does it apply to? Adults? Of what ages? People with their own “businesses”? What about farmers? What about “homemakers?” ....
A series of posts on the history of data.
Like the bridges and roads one drives on, one doesn’t need to know about the bridge builder, unless the bridge falls down, fails. Then all of a sudden it’s really important, which is what happened Friday August 1, 2025, with the monthly unemployment report.
Like the bridges and roads one drives on, one doesn’t need to know about the bridge builder, unless the bridge falls down, fails. Then all of a sudden it’s really important, which is what happened Friday August 1, 2025, with the monthly unemployment report.
August 4, 2025 at 3:55 PM
A series of posts on the history of data.
Like the bridges and roads one drives on, one doesn’t need to know about the bridge builder, unless the bridge falls down, fails. Then all of a sudden it’s really important, which is what happened Friday August 1, 2025, with the monthly unemployment report.
Like the bridges and roads one drives on, one doesn’t need to know about the bridge builder, unless the bridge falls down, fails. Then all of a sudden it’s really important, which is what happened Friday August 1, 2025, with the monthly unemployment report.
Data series, like the unemployment rate, or the consumer price index, are “infrastructure” – need to be “built,” engineered, “usable,” are the work of many hands, built over time, generate debate and commentary about how to build, which allows historians like me to report on the building process....
August 4, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Data series, like the unemployment rate, or the consumer price index, are “infrastructure” – need to be “built,” engineered, “usable,” are the work of many hands, built over time, generate debate and commentary about how to build, which allows historians like me to report on the building process....
Re: Recent articles on data infrastructure, e.g.,
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/04/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/o...
Thread…
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/04/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/o...
Thread…
Opinion | First thing we do, let’s fire all the statisticians
The Trump administration’s strategy in dealing with tough numbers: Don’t count them.
www.washingtonpost.com
July 12, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Re: Recent articles on data infrastructure, e.g.,
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/04/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/o...
Thread…
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/04/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/o...
Thread…
And years ago, I saw a roomful of such petitions in the national archives (NARA) still rolled up unread….congress had a gag rule, avoiding dealing with the ‘peculiar institution’…..
July 10, 2025 at 12:32 AM
And years ago, I saw a roomful of such petitions in the national archives (NARA) still rolled up unread….congress had a gag rule, avoiding dealing with the ‘peculiar institution’…..
New York Gears Up for Fight to Count 1.8 Million Noncitizens in Census
www.nytimes.com
June 20, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Justice on Trial: The Stand of WilmerHale
YouTube video by Silent Moon Project
www.youtube.com
June 7, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Discovering colleagues using their expertise…
William [Bill] Holahan, emeritus professor and former chairman of the Department of Economics at UW-Milwaukee: shepherdexpress.com/topics/willi...
William [Bill] Holahan, emeritus professor and former chairman of the Department of Economics at UW-Milwaukee: shepherdexpress.com/topics/willi...
May 29, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Discovering colleagues using their expertise…
William [Bill] Holahan, emeritus professor and former chairman of the Department of Economics at UW-Milwaukee: shepherdexpress.com/topics/willi...
William [Bill] Holahan, emeritus professor and former chairman of the Department of Economics at UW-Milwaukee: shepherdexpress.com/topics/willi...
Running the numbers on pace of ICE arrests,
Per Axios, www.axios.com/2025/05/28/i...
Goal of 3k people a day for ICE arrests. If daily, 1.1 m arrests/year. Estimated unauthorized immigrants in the US: 14 m, so ~14 years at this rate to “arrest” the undocumented. Then more time and $ to deport.
Per Axios, www.axios.com/2025/05/28/i...
Goal of 3k people a day for ICE arrests. If daily, 1.1 m arrests/year. Estimated unauthorized immigrants in the US: 14 m, so ~14 years at this rate to “arrest” the undocumented. Then more time and $ to deport.
Scoop: Stephen Miller, Noem tell ICE to supercharge immigrant arrests
Trump's top immigration officials are full-steam ahead in pushing for mass deportations.
www.axios.com
May 28, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Running the numbers on pace of ICE arrests,
Per Axios, www.axios.com/2025/05/28/i...
Goal of 3k people a day for ICE arrests. If daily, 1.1 m arrests/year. Estimated unauthorized immigrants in the US: 14 m, so ~14 years at this rate to “arrest” the undocumented. Then more time and $ to deport.
Per Axios, www.axios.com/2025/05/28/i...
Goal of 3k people a day for ICE arrests. If daily, 1.1 m arrests/year. Estimated unauthorized immigrants in the US: 14 m, so ~14 years at this rate to “arrest” the undocumented. Then more time and $ to deport.
My talk next week: "Don’t Do It Again: The Relevance of the “Japanese Internment” during World War II to the Trump Administration’s Efforts to Harass, Intimidate and
Control Americans, Deport Immigrants, and Reshape the American State..."
uwm.edu/history/even...
Control Americans, Deport Immigrants, and Reshape the American State..."
uwm.edu/history/even...
Margo Anderson to Speak on Her Recently Published Co-Authored Book
As part of our noon talk tradition, the Department of History is pleased to announce that our colleague Margo Anderson is stepping in to deliver a talk based on her recently published co-authored book...
uwm.edu
April 25, 2025 at 9:58 PM
My talk next week: "Don’t Do It Again: The Relevance of the “Japanese Internment” during World War II to the Trump Administration’s Efforts to Harass, Intimidate and
Control Americans, Deport Immigrants, and Reshape the American State..."
uwm.edu/history/even...
Control Americans, Deport Immigrants, and Reshape the American State..."
uwm.edu/history/even...
Re: www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c...
Kudos to the U's I've been associated with as student/faculty, thanking the signers [Rutgers, Vassar, Bucknell], and nudging the silent to sign on [Case Western Reserve, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee].
Kudos to the U's I've been associated with as student/faculty, thanking the signers [Rutgers, Vassar, Bucknell], and nudging the silent to sign on [Case Western Reserve, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee].
A Call for Constructive Engagement | AAC&U
A Call for Constructive Engagement
www.aacu.org
April 24, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Re: www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c...
Kudos to the U's I've been associated with as student/faculty, thanking the signers [Rutgers, Vassar, Bucknell], and nudging the silent to sign on [Case Western Reserve, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee].
Kudos to the U's I've been associated with as student/faculty, thanking the signers [Rutgers, Vassar, Bucknell], and nudging the silent to sign on [Case Western Reserve, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee].