Jan Vink
@janvink.bsky.social
Applied demographer at Cornell University. Opinions my own.
🚨 And there we have it... Thanks to the Disclosure Avoidance Order, ACS 1-year data release is delayed. www.census.gov/newsroom/pre...
Census Bureau Releases Schedule for Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Statistics and Updates About the American Community Survey Estimates
The Census Bureau is set to release the 2025 Income, Poverty and Health Insurance statistics from the CPS ASEC.
census.gov
Please don’t fall asleep reading this. It’s about the U.S. statistical system. Researchers are concerned that it’s being disrupted by the Trump administration: open.substack.com/pub/countofc...
Don’t snooze as I say this, but the US statistical system is under threat
PLEASE DON’T FALL asleep reading this.
open.substack.com
The Supreme Court ruled in our favor and upheld that birthright citizenship is constitutional and protected. Every child born here deserves the promise of the American dream. That was true yesterday, it's true today, and it'll be true tomorrow.
Musk says not a single person has died due to him axing USAID. Sadly, part of my job involves tracking aid spending. So here’s a thread with just some of the people who lost their lives because of USAID cuts
Noise infusion isn't just when people watch TikToks in public without headphones. It is a method for protecting your privacy. Thanks @dataindex.us @hansilowang.bsky.social and others for explaining why this matters. www.datarescueproject.org/differential...
The Government Just Banned Math (only mildly hyperbolic)
Getting people to care about statistical methodologies is a challenge. Hence the hyperbolic title, but give us a few minutes because what is happening matters for you and your privacy. Last night, Ha...
datarescueproject.org
And I'm not the only one who's personally affected by this bonkers new prohibition on using modern privacy methods. The number of researchers whose work is now suspended until further notice is... 👀
Aaron Sojourner@aaronsojourner.org · 2mo agoBeen waiting for Census to OK our disclosure of new results on a project with the Longitudinal Business Database. RDC administrator just informed us, no disclosure because of new rule. This is gonna mess up a lot of ongoing research & especially job-market candidates. #EconSky
The Census Bureau has scrubbed working papers that mention differential privacy. But @icpsr.bsky.social has them all! www.datalumos.org/datalumos/pr... Fun project for someone to pull out the diff privacy ones and return them to the public!
Census Working Papers
datalumos.org
My latest @npr.org story: New public data for redistricting, policymaking and research may be reduced as Trump officials limit the ways the Census Bureau can protect people’s privacy when it releases statistics www.npr.org/2026/06/12/n...
A Trump push to cut 'statistical noise' could mean less data from the Census Bureau
New public data for redistricting and other uses may be reduced as Trump officials limit the ways the Census Bureau can protect people's privacy when it releases statistics.
npr.org
"A policy this consequential should not be implemented behind closed doors. And, it should not have been released without public comment." dataindex.us/newsletter/a...
A New Commerce Policy Could Mean Less Public Data, Not Better Public Data | America's Data Index
dataindex.us
Farewell differential privacy. If you use LEHD-LODES data, new rules about what tools can('t) be used for privacy protection are going to completely upend your work... Noise infusion is no longer allowed. "Coarsening" & suppression are all that's left. This will not end well for home/work data.
Disclosure Avoidance for Statistical Products
Number: DAO 216-26 Effective Date: 2026-06-04 SECTION 1. PUR
commerce.gov
This morning the Census Bureau released the Vintage 2025 County Population estimates! Though there is no clear trend in the total population change across counties in NY over the past 15 years, the components behind it have shifted. Find our report here: pad.human.cornell.edu/papers/downl...
The #CensusBureau released new state estimates today! We created a document of highlights from this release for NYS [total pop flat in 2025] and revisions [2024 international migration peak revised +83K]. We also share our findings from the 2024 state-to-state migration flows released last week.
pad.human.cornell.edu
"No grant may be awarded by the Federal Government to such State unless such State uses only such tabulation as so revised for all purposes for which such State would have used such tabulation prior to such revision" -- such BS
Hansi Lo Wang (he/him)@hansilowang.bsky.social · 10mo agoOn Oct. 10, Republican Rep. Beth Van Duyne of Texas introduced a bill calling for a U.S. citizens-only population count for each state based on the 2020 census (which did not asked about people's citizenship status) & for those counts to be used to guide the distribution of federal funding to states
The request for states to produce new population estimates or lose FEMA $ makes, and I can't emphasize this enough, no sense.
dataindex.us@dataindex.us · 10mo ago🚨 To receive FEMA Emergency Management Performance Grants, states must now certify that their population counts as of 9/30 exclude people removed under US immigration laws. Regardless of one’s philosophical view, our latest blog outlines several technical concerns. 🔗 dataindex.us/newsletter/a...
This is a critical victory in our efforts to protect the privacy of New Yorkers and ensure people can safely access the food assistance they need.
US judge blocks Trump's demands for state data on food stamp recipients
A U.S. judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's administration from stripping 19 mostly Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., of food stamp benefits funding unless the states hand over data on millions of people who receive them.
reuters.com
USDA is ending future Household Food Security Reports AND the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement–our most comprehensive source on food insecurity in the U.S. For approximately $1 million a year, it informs over $100 billion in nutrition programs. Cutting it means cutting evidence.
A little more on George Cook, another person who seem to wear many hats in this administration
Director
Information about the Census Bureau's Director.
census.gov
Hansi Lo Wang (he/him)@hansilowang.bsky.social · 11mo agoSCOOP: The Trump administration has installed a new acting director of the Census Bureau, @npr.org has learned. George Cook takes over the federal government’s largest statistical agency after it's been thrust into the middle of a renewed attempt by President Trump to alter the national head count
NEW: Members of the Census Bureau's scientific advisory committee that the Trump administration ended plan to meet on their own on Sept. 18 to discuss #2030Census privacy protections at their first public meeting as the newly formed Independent Census Scientific Advisory Committee
Fall 2025 Meeting — Independent Census Scientific Advisory Committee (I-CSAC)
Description
censusscientific.org
“The www.reginfo.gov/public/ website went offline at the end of last week and was partially restored this week. Data was missing after Aug. 1, according to dataindex.us, a collective of data scientists and advocates who monitor changes in federal data sets.” apnews.com/article/cens...
Federal data website outage raises concerns among advocates
A federal website that informs the public about data collection has gone down, causing concern among advocates.
apnews.com
Want to talk with others about the challenges facing the Federal Statistical System and public data? @apduorg.bsky.social has created some useful slides! #DataRescue #PublicData docs.google.com/presentation...
Data System Changes and Challenges 2025
NOTES ABOUT THIS SLIDE DECK Please feel free to use information from these slides in your own presentations. Attribution to APDU is appreciated but not required. These slides are intended for an audie...
docs.google.com
Added a few items and made some updates to the Applied Demography Toolbox page: https://applieddemogtoolbox.github.io/ #Demography #PopMastodon #AppliedDemogToolbox
Applied Demography Toolbox
applieddemogtoolbox.github.io
Somebody at Commerce will tell him that, wouldn't they?
two women are standing next to each other in a living room and one of them is saying `` that 's not how this works ! ''
ALT: two women are standing next to each other in a living room and one of them is saying `` that 's not how this works ! ''
media.tenor.com
Hansi Lo Wang (he/him)@hansilowang.bsky.social · 12mo agoBREAKING: With #2030Census prep already underway, President Trump says he's instructed Commerce Dept to "immediately begin work" on a "new" census that excludes people living in the states without legal status from a count the 14th Amendment says must include “whole number of persons in each state”
This is the US Constitution page @ the Library of Congress Sections 9 and 10 have been removed 9 includes habeas corpus, the courts' review of unlawful detention & imprisonment This gov't can't change the Constitution w/ sneaky editing, but it's a new low: constitution.congress.gov/constitution/
@ericagroshen.bsky.social adds: "With regard to allegations of altering the data, the process is highly, highly choreographed, with tight deadlines. BLS does this every month, and everybody knows who needs to do what job on what day to get this out on time."
Statement from Friends of BLS on Commissioner McEntarfer’s Removal. “This escalates the President’s unprecedented attacks on the independence and integrity of the federal statistical system.” www.friendsofbls.org/updates/2025...
Statement on Commissioner McEntarfer’s Removal — The Friends of the Bureau of Labor Statistics
Today, President Trump called into question the integrity of the Employment Situation report that the BLS released this morning. He accused BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer of deliberately reporting ...
friendsofbls.org
Nice deprivation index dashboard for New York: mypublicdashboard.ny.gov/t/OJRP_PUBLI...
Tableau
mypublicdashboard.ny.gov
