State’s Money Woes Earn National Spotlight

The cover of the national magazine depicts a waterfront home in Mystic Seaport, under the headline that reads “The fiscal mess in America’s richest state.”  Connecticut, without an approved state budget for all of July and August and nearly half of September, is earning some notice.  And it is not particularly friendly. The article, in the September issue of Governing, begins with the question, “How could the nation’s wealthiest state become a fiscal basket case?”  The answer is complex, and the magazine devotes a full six pages to walking through how the state got into this mess, and how it might navigate its way out.

Along the way, the magazine suggest that the state “may be too rich for its own good,” pointing out that “long blessed with a disproportionate number of high-income residents, the state has entertained lavish spending habits for decades.” It also cites statistics that underscore the problems and challenges:

• Over the past 20 years, job creation numbers have ranked in the bottom five among the 50 states
• Connecticut has the nation’s second-highest rate of income inequality, after New York
• The state has lost population for three years running
• Last year, Greater Hartford ranked fourth and New Haven fifth in population loss among the nation’s 100 largest metro areas

The ineffective state spending cap, approved by voters more than 20 years ago but routinely circumvented since, is cited as a contributor to the fiscal cliff the state sits on, along with an overreliance on the income tax, political infighting, increased taxes, the lack of regionalism and a host of other decisions made by Governors and legislatures for decades.

One glaring example cited:  “Connecticut, which is home to 3.6 million people, has 111 police dispatch centers.  By comparison, Houston, which as 2.3 million residents, has just one emergency dispatch center, which handles fire as well as police.”

With a circulation of 85,000 in print and a widely viewed website, Governing is described as "the nation's leading media platform covering politics, policy and management for state and local government leaders." It is among the most widely read and most influential among government leaders - with an audience that also includes "journalists, academics, advocates and activists."

The article did point to some silver linings, past and present.  “Connecticut clearly has the means to change course. Not only is its median income still high, but the state boasts assets such as proximity to Boston and New York, amiable coastlines and river valleys, and notable institutions of higher education.  In addition to the continuing presence of a thriving financial sector, Connecticut is home to aerospace and defense contractors and other advanced manufacturers who can’t hire help fast enough, as well as a growing medical and life sciences sector.”

On the other hand, the publication points out, “Connecticut is 80 percent white, but its population of white children under the age of 10 is falling faster than in any other state.  Racial and ethnic minorities already make up more than 50 percent of infants and toddlers and are about to become a majority of 3- and 4-year olds.”  There is, the publication adds, “a pronounced achievement gap among racial groups and by geography.”

The conclusion reached by the Governing article?  “Connecticut is not in a death spiral but it has failed to position itself to react to changing demographics and location preferences… it’s clear that what’s worked so well for Connecticut in the past isn’t working now.”

Summed up House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, one of many political leaders, including the Governor and legislators from both political parties, as well as city officials and economic analysts, who were interviewed for the article: “We are the land of steady habits and the world has changed around us.”

Women in Manufacturing Bring Summit to Hartford Next Week

The 800-member Women in Manufacturing (WiM) professional organization will hold their annual Summit at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, September 13 - 15, 2017. This annual Summit is geared toward women who have chosen careers in manufacturing and want to share perspectives and network with others in the industry. It is expected to attract more than 300 professional women in manufacturing, with titles ranging from production to CEO. Attracting hundreds of women in manufacturing from across the country, WiM's annual Summit is the only national conference of its kind. This networking and educational event features manufacturing plant tours, professional development tracks, industry roundtables, keynote presentations and social events to expand participants' networks.

Plant tours that have been organized as part of the conference agenda include visits to Kaman Corporation, CNC Software, Hartford Flavor Company, TRUMPF Inc., and Pratt & Whitney, all on the opening day of the conference on September 13.

Break-out sessions will focus on Technology, Leadership & Professional Development, Operational Excellence, and Diversity & Inclusion.  Speakers at conference-wide sessions will discuss topics including “Engineering Young Women,” “Developing Your Personal Brand,” “Recruiting A Pipeline for Skilled Labor Positions,” “Empowering Women Through Sales,” and “The growing Digital Intensity of Manufacturing.”

Speakers will include Jonna Gerken, Manager, PCME Group, Pratt & Whitney and the president of the Society of Women Engineers, and George Saiz, President & CEO of The Association for Manufacturing Excellence.

The Board Chair of Women in Manufacturing is Sheila LaMothe, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for Goyer Management International, a Florida-based company.  Previously, she spent 15 years responsible for the marketing and public relations activities for TRUMPF Inc. in Farmington, CT, initially serving as Marketing Manager before becoming Associate Director of Marketing & Public Relations. She founded the WiM Connecticut Chapter and served as chapter chair until her relocation to Florida.

Among the host committee members is the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.  The New Haven Manufacturers Association and the Waterbury Regional Chamber’s Manufacturer’s Council are among the Supporting Partners for the Summit.

This is the organization’s first summit to be held in the Northeast.  The Summit location moves around the country giving attendees the opportunity to experience manufacturing and develop their networks throughout the United States.  The  6^th annual summit was held last year in Nashville, TN.  Previous events were held in Minneapolis, MN; Schaumburg, IL; Dearborn, MI; Milwaukee, WI; and Cleveland, OH.

Gender Disparity Is Alive and Not-So-Well; Particularly in Connecticut, Analysis Finds

Connecticut places dead last among the 50 states in the degree of gender gap in executive positions in the workplace and overall workplace environment for women, according to a new analysis prepared by the financial website WalletHub.  The state also ranked in the bottom ten in the “education and health” category, ranking higher – in the top ten – only in “political empowerment,” despite having fewer women in the state legislature than about a decade ago. Overall, the state ranked 28^th among the “Best and Worst States for Women’s Equality.”

The challenges present in Connecticut are true – to varying degrees – nationwide.  In 2016, the U.S. failed to place in the top 10 — or even the top 40 — of the World Economic Forum’s ranking of 144 countries based on gender equality, WalletHub reports.

Among the states, the top 10, with the slimmest inequality gap, were Hawaii, Nevada, Illinois, Minnesota, Washington, Maine, North Dakota, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Vermont.  Among the other New England states, Massachusetts ranked #13, New Hampshire was #16, and Rhode Island was #34.  The widest gaps were in Texas, Virginia and Utah.

"Connecticut ranked below average overall mostly because of its rankings for two of the categories we analyzed, Workplace Environment (50th) and Education & Health (43rd),” WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez told CT by the Numbers.  “Connecticut's disparities between women and men are quite pronounced when it comes to the workplace environment. Women earn 23 percent less than men, 9th highest in the country, and Connecticut has the highest gap of women in executive positions. Large differences also appear when looking at higher-income earners, with a 13 percent gap between women and men, and the entrepreneurship gap in Connecticut is at 48 percent, again favoring men."

To determine where women receive the most equal treatment, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states across 15 key indicators of gender equality in three central categories: workplace environment, education and health, and political empowerment  Among the indicators used in the analysis, Connecticut ranked 46th with among the largest educational attainment gap among Bachelor’s Degree holders, 48^th in the entrepreneurship gap, 49^th in the disparity among higher income wage earners (in excess of $100,000 annually) and 50^th with the largest executive positions gap.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, just over one-quarter of Connecticut’s legislators are women, at 27.3 percent, compared with the national average among state legislatures of 24.8 percent.  There are 1,830 women serving in legislatures across the country.  In Connecticut, 42 of 151 House members are women, and 9 of the Senate’s 36 seats are held by women.   Among the states with the highest percentage of women in their legislature are Vermont, Colorado and Nevada with 39 percent, Arizona with 38 percent, and Illinois and Washington at 36 percent.  Connecticut’s numbers have declined since 2009, when a total of 59 women held legislative seats, 8 in the Senate and 51 in the House.

The workplace environment category included data on income disparity, the number of executive positions held, minimum wage workers, unemployment rate disparity, entrepreneurship rate disparity and the disparity in the average number of work hours.

The analysis found that in every state, women earn less than men. Hawaii has the lowest gap, with women earning 12 percent less, and Wyoming has the highest, 31 percent. Connecticut ranked 41^st.  Rhode Island has the highest unemployment-rate gap favoring women, with 2.4 percent more unemployed men. Georgia has the highest gap favoring men, with 1 percent more unemployed women. The unemployment rate is equal for men and women in Illinois and Idaho.  In Connecticut’s it’s nearly identical, with the 0.3 percent more unemployed men than women, based on the data reviewed.

Women continue to be disproportionately underrepresented in leadership positions nationwide. According to the Center for American Progress, women make up the majority of the population and 49 percent of the college-educated labor force. Yet they constitute “only 25 percent of executive- and senior-level officials and managers, hold only 20 percent of board seats, and are only 6 percent of CEOs.”  In addition, salary inequity continues, and women are underrepresented in government.

The analysis was released to coincide with Women’s Equality Day, which is observed annually on August 26. The U.S. Congress designated the commemoration beginning in 1971 to remember the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. The observance of Women’s Equality Day also calls attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality, according to the National Women’s History Project.

Best Run Cities in USA? Not in Connecticut, Study Finds

A new analysis of the best run among the 150 largest cities in America shows that Connecticut’s three largest fail to make the top half of the list, with Bridgeport coming closest. Bridgeport is ranked #77, New Haven is #122, and Hartford ranked #145. 

In order to determine the best- and worst-run cities in America, WalletHub’s analysts compared 150 of the most populated cities across six key categories: 1) Financial Stability, 2) Education, 3) Health, 4) Safety, 5) Economy and 6) Infrastructure & Pollution.

The top ten best run cities are: Nampa, ID; Provo, UT; Boise, ID; Missoula, MT; Lexington, KY; Las Cruces, NM; Billings, MT; Bismarck, ND; Fort Wayne, IN and Louisville, KY.

For each city, the analysts constructed a “Quality of City Services” score – comprising 33 key performance indicators grouped into six service categories – that was then measured against the city’s total per-capita budget.  The website evaluated those dimensions using 33 relevant metrics, with each graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest quality of service.

In the “financial stability” ranking, only four cities ranked lower than Hartford, which was #146.  New Haven was #143 and Bridgeport #128 in that category.  In the education ranking, New Haven was #115, just ahead of Bridgeport at #116 and Hartford at #121.

Bridgeport reached the top ten nationally in the “health” category, at #8.  Hartford was #42 and New Haven #56.  The cities were again bunched toward the bottom of the list of 150 cities in the “economy” category, with Bridgeport at #142, New Haven #143 and Hartford #146.

Connecticut largest cities fared better in the “infrastructure and pollution” category, with Hartford ranked #36, New Haven #60, and Bridgeport lagging at #115.

Immigration May Be Key to Connecticut's Economic Future (Again)

Immigrants may be a pivotal component in Connecticut’s economic strength – or weakness – in the coming decade, according to recent statistics.  Population projections from the University of Virginia’s Demographics Research Group, reported by the American Immigration Council, show that in many states in the Northeast and Midwest, including Connecticut, growth of the working-age population is slowing due to aging, lower fertility rates, and people moving out of the state. The aging of the workforce in the working-age population can mean shrinking workforces and potential economic problems, the Council reported recently. As a result, “states need to think about how immigration can ameliorate impending trouble.”

By 2020, the number of working age adults (age 25-54) is expected to decline in 16 states. For example, in Maine, while the overall population is expected to decrease by about two percent, the working age population will decline by 16 percent. Vermont and West Virginia can also expect declines of more than 10 percent, while Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin can expect more than five percent decline, according to the data.

Those states “will become less attractive to the people who are already there, and less attractive to newcomers,” according to UC-Berkeley demographer Ronald Lee, who explained that a shrinking working-age population can hurt a state’s economy: businesses close due to a lack of workers and customers, housing prices drop, schools close, and tax revenue declines.

The decline in the working-age population will not be offset by births, the Council reported, citing data the projects the current total fertility rate is about 1.86 children per woman and would need to be at least 2.08 for the population to replenish itself. At the same time, the U.S. population is getting older and living longer. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that by 2024, Americans age 55 and older will increase by 18.2 million—reaching 102.9 million, or 38.2 percent of all people in the country.

Reliance on immigrants is nothing new for Connecticut.  The Connecticut Business and Industry Association recently cited statistics from the New American Economy, which indicated that 494,059 Connecticut residents were born abroad.  That is 14 percent of the state’s population, compared to 13 percent across the United States.

For example, almost a quarter (23%) of Connecticut workers in science, technology, engineering, and math fields such as healthcare and bioscience were immigrants.  Over 36,000 foreign-born Connecticut residents are self-employed, with immigrant-owned businesses generating $1.1 billion income in 2014 while employing 73,047 people. “Immigrants are already playing a huge part ensuring that Connecticut remains a leading innovator in industries like healthcare and bioscience,” according to the analysis.

The report also notes that foreign-born workers currently make up 21.3 percent of all entrepreneurs in the state, despite accounting for 13.7 percent of Connecticut’s population.

Immigration mitigates the downward population trends that are anticipated, in Connecticut and beyond. In many areas of the country, the foreign born have accounted for more than 20 percent of the growth of the adult population since 1990. In some areas – mainly in the Midwest – overall adult population would have declined if not for an increase in the foreign born population. Almost half of immigrants admitted between 2003 and 2012 were between the ages of 20 and 40, while only 5 percent were ages 65 or older, the Council reported.

Economic Insecurity Plagues More Than Half of Single Seniors in CT, Report Finds

More than half of single adults age 65 and older in Connecticut can’t afford food, housing or other basic necessities, based on their income.  The “economic insecurity” of that population ranks Connecticut the 13^th highest rate in the nation.  In the neighboring states of Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, the situation is even worse.  Massachusetts, in fact, has the second highest rate in the nation. Nationwide, 53 percent of single older adults fall below the index’s target value.  In Connecticut, the percentage is 56.1 percent.

The report, Living Below the Line: Economic Insecurity and Older Americans Insecurity in the States 2016, was published by the Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging Publications at the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Gerontology Institute.

According to the report’s analysis, only about 15 percent of older Connecticut residents living alone fall below the poverty line, but 56.1 percent don’t make enough to live on, and often do not qualify for public assistance, because of the relatively high cost of living in the state.  The gap, the report points out, is 40.8 percent of Connecticut’s single elderly, among the largest in the nation.   Only four states have a larger percentage of that population below the index rate but above the poverty rate, reflecting the substantial economic insecurity in the state among the single elderly population.

The states with the largest percentage of single older adults situated below the index are Mississippi, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Arkansas, Kentucky, Maine, and Hawaii.

The report notes that “Northeastern states at the top of the rankings are characterized first and foremost by high Elder Index values, reflecting the high cost of living in these locations, whereas Southern states at the top of the rankings are characterized predominantly by low incomes.”

In considering the economic insecurity of elderly couples, Connecticut fared better in the analysis, ranking 25^th, midway among the states.  Still, fully one-quarter (25%) of the state’s elderly couples were below the index level, although only 2.9 percent fell below the poverty rate for income.

Most older adults rely on Social Security benefits as a key component of their incomes, the report pointed out. The Social Security Administration estimates that Social Security benefits provide one-third of all income received by older adults, and that lower-income elders are especially reliant on Social Security. The UMass-Boston analysis indicated that on average, half of older adults who live below the Elder Index rely on Social Security for at least 90 percent of their incomes.  In Connecticut, that percentage is 46.9 percent of single older adults and 45.2 percent of older couples.

The report concluded that “many older adults who live alone do not have the means to live with economic security. These older adults are of special concern, and policy and programs that address the concerns of single or couple elders living on their own— congregate and home-delivered meals, transportation, falls prevention, employment and training—should also be of special concern to federal, state and local governments.”

Noting that “Elder Economic Insecurity Rates demonstrate that a large proportion of every state’s independent older adults lack incomes that would allow them to escape the threat of poverty, to remain independent, and to age in their own homes,” the analysis implored that “each state must learn to recognize the economic security gap and those who fall into it.”

Developed by the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Wider Opportunities for Women, and maintained through a partnership with the National Council on Aging (NCOA), the Elder Index defines economic security as the income level at which elders are able to cover basic and necessary living expenses and age in their homes, without relying on benefit programs, loans or gifts.

Three Metro Regions in CT Are Among Top 30 Most Educated in the US

Three Connecticut metropolitan areas are among the top 30 “most educated cities in America,” according to a new analysis.  The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk area ranked #12 in the nation, narrowly missing the top 10.  Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford placed 22^nd, and New Haven-Milford ranked 29^th in the ranking developed by the financial website WalletHub. The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk region ranked fourth in the nation for the highest percentage of individuals who have earned Bachelor’s degrees and fifth in the percentage of “graduate or professional degree holders,” according to the analysis.  The New Haven area ranked second in the nation in the quality of universities.

Overall, the top 10 most educated cities were Ann Arbor, Washington DC, San Jose, Durham, Madison, Boston, Provo, San Francisco, Austin and Tallahassee, according to the analysis.

To identify the most and least educated cities in America, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 150 most populated U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, or MSAs, across two key dimensions, including “Educational Attainment” and “Quality of Education & Attainment Gap.”  Data used to create the overall ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, GreatSchools.org and U.S. News & World Report.

The Ann Arbor, MI, metro area has the highest share of bachelor’s degree holders aged 25 and older, 52.7 percent, which is 3.8 times higher than in Visalia-Porterville, CA, the metro area with the lowest at 13.8 percent.

Economic Policy Institute analysts point out that one way to strengthen an economy is to attract well-paying employers “by investing in education and increasing the number of well-educated workers.” In states where workers have the least schooling, for instance, the median wage is $15 an hour compared with $19 to $20 an hour in states where 40 percent or more of the working population hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.

A similar study by WalletHub earlier this year, comparing states, ranked Connecticut as having the fourth highest educated state population, just behind Maryland, Massachusetts and Colorado.

Knowledge Corridor to Gain Boost as More Frequent Rail Runs Through It

For years, the tag line has been “innovation runs through it.”  In the coming year, there will also be more frequent rail service running through it, and that may make all the difference in the world. When proponents of economic development in what’s known as “New England’s Knowledge Corridor” get together for a conference this fall, it will be with the backdrop of the three anchor cities that span two states – New Haven, Hartford, and Springfield – being more connected than ever, with the start of the new regular rail service between the cities just months away.

The half-day conference, “Leveraging the Knowledge Corridor’s Transportation Assets and Investments to Drive Economic Progress,” will be held at Union Station in Springfield on October 18.  It will serve as the coalition’s 2017 “State of the Region” conference.

The keynote speaker will be Robert Puentes, President/CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation.  Panelists will include five members of Congress from the region:  Richard Neal and James McGovern from Massachusetts and John Larson, Rosa DeLauro, and Elizabeth Esty from Connecticut.

Plans also include talks by Connecticut Commissioner of Transportation James Redeker and his counterpart in the Bay State, Stephanie Pollack, Secretary/CEO of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.  Officials also anticipate releasing the results of the 2017 New England Knowledge Corridor Business Survey.

"In the Knowledge Corridor, we’re convinced that the transportation assets we have; new ones that will be coming online in the  next year or two, plus; those we are planning to see realized over a longer range time line constitute the bedrock of a competitive 21^st century economy that enables ready and affordable access to skilled workers, attractive markets and motivated consumers on a global scale," Tim Brennan, Chairman of New England Knowledge Corridor Partnership and Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, told CT by the Numbers.

On Monday, Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced that a joint venture of TransitAmerica Services and Alternate Concepts has been selected as the service provider that will operate and manage service on the Hartford Line – which is expected to launch in May 2018.

Work is continuing throughout the summer, including grade crossing upgrades in Wallingford this month, as part of the overall upgrade of the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield rail line – now branded as the CTrail Hartford Line, with expanded service scheduled to being in 2018, according to transportation officials.  Last month, construction in Meriden and Windsor included track construction upgrades.

New England’s Knowledge Corridor is an interstate partnership of regional economic development, planning, business, tourism and educational institutions that work together to advance the region’s economic progress. The region “transcends political boundaries,” officials point out, and it comprises the Hartford, Springfield and New Haven metro areas and is centered on seven counties in the two states, underscoring the area’s “rich tradition of inventions, research and higher education.”

The New Haven-Hartford-Springfield (NHHS) Rail Program is a partnership between the State of Connecticut, Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration.  The goal is to provide those living, working or traveling between New Haven, Hartford and Springfield with high speed rail service equal to the nation’s best rail passenger service, officials emphasize.

The Hartford Line will act as a regional link with connections to existing rail services, including Metro-North, Shoreline East, and Amtrak Acela high-speed rail services on both the New Haven Line to New York and on the Northeast Corridor to New London and Boston. There will also be direct bus connections to the Bradley Airport Flyer and to CTfastrak.  With a heightened level of direct and connecting service linking the region, the hope is that towns along the future Hartford Line will become magnets for growth – ideal places to live and to relocate businesses that depend on regional markets and travel.

All of which dovetails perfectly with the “selling points” routinely used to promote the Corridor:

• Academic Powerhouse – One of the country’s highest academic concentrations and largest capacities for research, with 41 colleges and universities and 215,000 students
• Exceptional Achievement – Consistently among the nation’s top 10 in percentage of the population with advanced degrees, science-engineering doctorates and new patents registered
• Big, Concentrated Market – The nation’s 20th largest metro region, with over 2.77 million people, is comparable to Denver and St. Louis, but with twice their population density, which means ready access to labor and consumers
• Large Workforce – A labor force of 1.34 million, 50% larger than the Charlotte metro area
• Business Hub – 64,000 businesses – 60 percent more than the Austin metro

"Providing frequent, reliable, commuter rail service connecting New Haven-Hartford-Springfield, the three major cities that anchor the Knowledge Corridor and its over 2.7 million people, will be nothing short of a game changer enabling the cross border region’s to reach its potential as an economic powerhouse within New England while simultaneously linking it to the white hot economies found in the Boston and New York City mega regions," Brennan added.

The CTrail Hartford Line rail service will operate at speeds up to 110 mph, cutting travel time between Springfield and New Haven to as little as 81 minutes. Travelers at New Haven, Wallingford, Meriden, Berlin, Hartford, Windsor, Windsor Locks and Springfield will be able to board trains approximately every 30 minutes during the peak morning and evening rush hour and hourly during the rest of day, with direct or connecting service to New York City and multiple frequencies to Boston or Vermont (via Springfield).  New train stations also are in various stages of development in North Haven, Newington, West Hartford and Enfield.

Also, very much a part of the strengthening transportation options with the potential to spur economic development is Bradley International Airport, which recently has added international flights on Aer Lingus (last year) and Norwegian Air (last month) and a direct-to-San Francisco route via United Airlines.

Connecticut Airport Authority Executive Director Kevin A. Dillon said the aim is to “build on Bradley’s strengths and continue our focus to deliver more convenience and connectivity for our region.  Flying to Europe from Bradley has never been easier and more affordable.”

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) conducted a bidding process and cost-benefit analysis for the Hartford Line program and selected TransitAmerica Services and Alternate Concepts, which are forming a joint venture solely for the purpose of serving the Hartford Line. This marks the first time that CTDOT has been able to select and contract with an experienced service provider for a major transportation program, a more cost-efficient alternative to the agency creating a separate internal unit and hiring employees to manage the Hartford Line, according to state officials.

Connecticut Ranked #2 Among States for Fitness Centers/Gyms

The United States has more fitness centers than any other country in the world, and Connecticut is one of the reasons why.  The state is ranked #2 in the nation, just behind Minnesota, among states with the most gyms/fitness centers, according to data compiled by the website exercise.com.  Rounding out the top 10 are Wisconsin, Iowa, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Rhode Island, Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota. The states were ranked based on the most gyms using these four categories: total number of gyms, state population in 2016, people per gym, and gyms per capita (100,000 people).  Totals were based on the 14 largest gym chains in America. There were more than 36,000 health clubs in the U.S. last year, up from 29,000 a decade ago.

As of 2017, the average yearly number of U.S. gym members is around 58 million, the website points out, with an average gym membership fee of $58 a month. Interestingly, two-thirds of gym members say they don’t actually go to their gym.

According to a Gallup survey of 335,050 adults, only 51.6 percent of Americans report exercising three or more days a week for at least 30 minutes.  Connecticut has nearly 300 gyms/fitness centers.

According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), total health club/gym/studio visits surpassed 5 billion a year ago.

UConn Study: When State Pays for ACT Exam, More Poor Youth Reach College

New research finds a simple strategy can modestly boost the share of students with limited financial resources who go on to college: requiring, and paying for, all students to take the ACT or SAT.  A University of Connecticut researcher examined the effects of requiring and paying for all public high school students to take a college entrance exam – which 11 states have done since 2001- and found that while the impact isn’t enormous, the policy is relatively inexpensive, and does move the needle on college enrollment. At just $34 per student, increases in four-year college attendance reach about 1 percentage point for low-income students, the higher education website Chalkbeat reports.  Ohio was the latest state to require all members of the junior class to take the exam, as of this past spring.

“Although these increases in the four-year college enrollment rate might not appear to be dramatically large, relative to other educational interventions this policy is inexpensive and currently being implemented on a large scale,” writes Joshua Hyman, an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut.

Hyman cautions, however, that paying for every student, regardless of income, to take the exam only goes so far.

“The results suggest that requiring all students to take a college entrance exam increases the supply of poor students scoring at a college-ready level by nearly 50 percent. Yet the policy increases the number of poor students enrolling at a four-year institution by only 6 percent. In spite of the policy, there remains a large supply of disadvantaged students who are high achieving and not on the path to enrolling at a four-year college.”

The research and 30-page journal entry “validates recent efforts … to expand access to these tests,” Chalkbeat points out, “which are required to enroll at most colleges and universities.”   In order of adoption, according to the paper, the states are Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Delaware, North Carolina, Louisiana, Wyoming, and Alabama.

In Connecticut, April 5, 2017, was the Connecticut SAT School Day administration.  SAT scores are used by the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) for school and district accountability purposes, state Education Commissioner Diana Wentzell explained in a letter to parents earlier this year.

The research, published this summer in the peer-reviewed journal Education Finance and Policy, examined Michigan’s policy to require — and, importantly, pay for — high school juniors to take the ACT. Unsurprisingly, the number of students taking the exam jumped from 56 percent statewide to 91 percent after the policy was implemented in 2007. College attendance in the state then increased by nearly 2 percentage points (though the study can’t show how much of the increase was because of the mandatory ACT).

“The mandatory college entrance exam policy is more cost-effective than traditional [college financial] aid at boosting postsecondary attainment,” the study states.

Hyman found that, prior to the policy, a substantial number of Michigan’s low-income students didn’t take the ACT even though they would have scored at or above the standard for college readiness. That might been due to financial or logistical barriers, like the cost of the test (between $30 and $50) or difficulties traveling to an exam center on a Saturday. (Both the SAT and ACT offer fee waivers to low-income students, but the study notes that the waivers are underused.)

“I show that for every ten poor students taking a college entrance exam and scoring college-ready, there are an additional five poor students who do not take the test but who would score college-ready if they did,” Hyman explains.  “In spite of the policy, there remains a large supply of disadvantaged students who are high-achieving and not on the path to enrolling at a four-year college.”

Hyman, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut, has a joint appointment in the Department of Economics and Neag School of Education. His research focuses broadly on labor economics, public finance, and the economics of education. As for the interest in Michigan, Hyman earned a Ph.D. in Economics and Public Policy from the University of Michigan in 2013.