Pavel Prikhodko, Ph.D. Machine Learning

Football in America is called soccer. It is the third most played team sport in the country, with about 13 million Americans playing soccer. A lot of American people, as the others in the world love to watch European championships. In spring 2015, the number of people in America who watched European soccer amounted to 15.92 million within a period of 12 months, according to Statista.com. The number of European soccer TV viewers in autumn 2014 was 14.05 million compared to 13.97 million in spring 2014. About 15.26 million TV viewers watched European soccer in autumn 2013, and the number of people who watched Euro soccer in spring was 15.04 million. The number of viewers who watched European soccer in autumn and spring 2012 were 14.56 million and 14.74 million accordingly. In autumn 2011 the number of TV viewers was 14.82 million.

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Andrey Kamenov, Ph.D. Probability and Statistics

According to the data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average weekly working hours have increased for employees of most industry supersectors. We will now take a closer look at the changes that occurred in recent years.

As seen on the following heat map, the average hours were exceptionally low in 2009; a decrease of over two hours per week was registered in some industries. The color here represents the difference compared to the 2007 baseline.

Continue reading Average working hours are increasing in most sectors →

Pavel Prikhodko, Ph.D. Machine Learning

The United States of America is a well-known fitness country. In 2014, more than 54 million American people belonged to at least one of the 34,460 health clubs nationwide. The number of health clubs and fitness centers in the country is growing each year. The total number of gyms in 2013 was 32,150, compared to 30,500 in 2012. There was a slight increase from 2009 to 2011: from 29,750 to 29,960. Healthy and active living is inspiring; more and more people are buying memberships at gyms. The number of membership at fitness centers and health clubs is growing also: it was 54.1 million people in 2014, up from 52.9 million people in 2013.

Continue reading Growing revenues of fitness clubs →

Andrey Kamenov, Ph.D. Probability and Statistics

Two out of every three highly-educated Americans (those with at least a master’s degree) in the 23-40 age group are married. The marriage rate for the general population is substantially lower, at exactly 50 percent.

Continue reading Higher-educated people marry early →

Andrey Kamenov, Ph.D. Probability and Statistics

Among the multiple sets of data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is a particularly interesting one: employment projections. Once a year, the Occupational Outlook Handbook is published, containing relatively general predictions about the fastest-growing jobs in the country.

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Alexander Fishkov, Ph.D. student Computer Science

The population of the United States is very diverse: for centuries, people from different nations have been coming here to find their new life. They brought along elements of their culture and their language. There are many families who use languages other than English in their family. In this post we will use various ACS releases to explore the multitude of languages spoken at home in the U.S.

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Alexander Fishkov, Ph.D. student Computer Science

Previously we have counted stay-at home dads using public data from the ACS PUMS. In this post we will use a larger dataset to look deeper into stay-at-home fathers’ demographics. In the broadest sense, a stay-at-home dad is a father who is the main caregiver for his children. While this definition is concise, it is not very useful if one wants to study stay-at-home fathers quantitatively using publicly available data. So here we will use a more narrow definition: stay-at-home fathers are those not at work (for any reason) with a wife who has a job and is at work. We only count fathers with household children under 18 years old. We will use the latest 2014 five-year ACS PUMS release for these calculations.

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Alexander Fishkov, Ph.D. student Computer Science

The growth of principles of equal opportunity for the genders brings change to the traditional family structure. Many women choose to pursue their career instead of being a housewife, while some men decide to take raising children into their own hands. Today we will use the Census’s American Community Survey and Current Population Survey to see how the number of stay-at-home dads has changed in the last decade.

Continue reading The number of stay-at-home dads is increasing →

Andrey Kamenov, Ph.D. Probability and Statistics

Working in the city center is often associated with a higher level of noise than that found in the suburbs. At the same time, this can be partially attributed to generally better acoustic insulation in residential areas.

Continue reading Are noise levels lower in residential areas? →

Pavel Prikhodko, Ph.D. Machine Learning

According to Statista.com, the number of people wearing tattoos is growing each year. In 2012, 21 percent of Americans had one or more tattoos. In comparison, the total rates of tattooed people in 2003 and 2008 were 16 percent and 14 percent respectively. If we examine the rate by gender, it is interesting to note that female respondents are tattooing their bodies more actively in recent years. In 2012, about 23 percent of women had one or more tattoos, compared to 19 percent of men. In 2008, 13 percent of female respondents and 15 percent of male respondents were tattooed. The percentages of tattooed males and females in 2003 were 16 and 15 percent accordingly.

Continue reading United States of tattoos – The art of pop culture →