Whatever. As far as I can tell, using it to make a point is akin to using a web-survey as evidence of this or that. No matter how big Mayflower may be in Alabama, it is only one company. And not everyone who moves uses a moving company. And just why are they moving? Have they lost their job and home and are using their last dollars to "relocate" back to Mom and Dad's place?
Some answers are in the report, which you can read here.
I wonder why the report covers only the first 8 months of the year.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm no statistician, but the highest "inbound" states are those with low populations. Does this skew the results?
As you illustrate, Tim, this is jaundiced information.
ReplyDeleteIt's a report on those whom use the Mayflower moving service - nothing more, nothing less, and which the company's site plainly so states as "...interstate household moves handled by Mayflower..."
Matter of fact, this "news" item could be - and probably should be - construed as a puff piece/free advertising for Mayflower. It's certainly NOT newsworthy.
A proper analysis and report would have examined official data, such as from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor and Statistics, and others.
Is it any wonder - as you've noted - that increasingly, readers and viewers and the public in general look upon news "gathering" disseminating organizations as they do - with skepticism and disdain?
Even a most simple analysis based upon official data, indicates that Alabama's population has increased 4.8%, as has the entire population of the USA 8.0% for the period April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008.
On an averaged basis, it would be reasonable to estimate AL's annual growth to be approximately 0.6%.
States with significant double-digit growth for that same period included:
NV 30.1%
AZ 26.7%
UT 22.5%
GA 18.3%
ID 17.8%
TX 16.7%
FL 14.7%
NC 14.6%
Our northern neighbor TN, for the same period experienced 9.2%, while MS had 3.3% growth.
Population DECREASES for that same period were seen in:
LA -1.3%
ND -0.1%