Department+of+Commerce

=**The Department of Commerce** =

Secretary of Department: Gary Locke

Mission Statement: "to foster promise and develop the foreign and domestic commerce" of the United States

Issues:

Residential Mover Rate in U.S. is Lowest Since Census Bureau Began Tracking in 1948
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/mobility_of_the_population/013609.htPr
 * Tom Edwards
 * Public Information Office


 * Summary:** In 2007, the mover rate was 13.2 percent and then it declined in 2008 to 11.9 percent. This is the lowest rate since the bureau began keeping track of this data, starting in 1948. “Even though the number of people who changed residence in 2008 dropped by 3.5 million from the previous year, millions of Americans continue to move,” said Tom Mesenbourg. The people in the south and west were the most likely to move in 2008. Of those people that moved in the year 2008, 65 percent of those people moved inside of the same country, but 18 percent moved to a different country, 13 percent to a different state, and 3 percent moved to the US from being abroad. Cities had a loss of 2 million movers whereas suburbs lost 2.2 million.


 * Some of the other highlights include:** Of the population for whom poverty is determined: 22.8 percent below 100 percent of the poverty level moved within the last year, 16.3 percent between 100 and 149 percent of the poverty level moved within the last year and 9.7 percent at or above 150 percent of the poverty level moved within the last year.While the number of intercounty movers who lived 500 or more miles from their previous residence one year ago (2.8 million) was not statistically different in 2008 than 2007, the number of intercounty movers who lived less than 50 miles away one year ago decreased from 5.1 million to 4.4 million between 2007 and 2008.The most common reasons for moving were housing related (such as the%Proxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 desire to own a home or liveProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 0in a better neighborhood), representing 40.1 percent or 14.1 million movers. The distribution among those who gave other reasons for moving was: family related (30.5 percent), employment related (20.9 percent) and other (8.5 percent). The black alone population had the highest mover rate (16 percent), followed by Hispanics (15 percent), Asian

Article two: Moving Rates When Americans Decline, Census Bureau Says
[] Carol Faber Public Information Office Summary: 16 percent of US residents moved from one home to another home in 1997 and 1998. This is a decline from the 16.5 percent who moved in the year period. "In recent years, mobility rates have changed little or not at all and in fact, the overall drop since the 1950s and 1960s has been only around 4 percentage points," said Carol Faber. As people get older, moving rates decline.

Article three: Percentage of Americans who Move Decline Sharply
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/22/ap/politics/main4961756.shtml

Summary: Americans who moved last year declined and it is reaching the lowest percentage in 60 years. There are fewer jobs and tighter credit so things might be a source of the problem. The levels of people moving have been declining since decades possibly due to the aging boomer. Long distance moves have dropped 36 percent, which is very huge. "It's a combination of the inability to buy or sell homes, locally, as well as a drying up of jobs particularly in hot housing markets," he said. "The lure of the suburbs for immigrants, in particular, has been curtailed as homeownership there has proved to be elusive." Says William Frey. =Issue Two.= = [|ttp://www.commerce.gov/NewsRoom/PressReleases_FactSheets/PROD01_007890] =

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke Meets with China’s Minister of Commerce Chen Deming
They met for one hour at the department. The meeting was to reaffirm the commitment of both governments to continue to build a positive and cooperative relationship that involves trade. This relationship will help to build jobs in both the US and China. These two leaders discussed the importance of achieving concrete results on commerce and trade and to also increase US exports to China and the need to avoid protectionism.

=Chinese commerce minister calls for stronger Sino-U.S. trade ties= Currently, China and the U.S. are each other's second-largest trading partner with the volume of the two-way trade in goods exceeding 300 billion U.S. dollars. The US has petitioned for antidumping investigation, which could restrict imports of Chinese products. The Chinese minister noted that the need to foster positive Sino-US ties has never been greater. Chen has proposed the following: To seize the opportunity for cooperation, and work together to tackle the crisis; To mutually open markets to expand trade and investment; To strengthen bilateral dialogue and resolve differences properly; To safeguard the environment for trade and advance the Doha Round. Chen also said now it's no time for protectionism. Since the US and China are the largest and the third largest trading countries in the world they should take the lead in following up the consensus reached at the G20 Summit and refrain from formulating any new trade protection policys.

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**Stronger Sino-US Trade Ties Urged**

China and the US are each others largest trading partner. US invested in China slumped 19.4% on a year on year basis. Chen the Chinese minister met with US secretary of commerce Gary Locke to discuss bilateral trade and investment issues. Chen stressed the need to mutually open markets and to expand trade and investment. Chen expresses hope and confidence that bilateral trade would rise to a new high and exceed $500 billion in the next 5 years. The overall mission is to promote bilateral trade relations and improve trade balance.

http://www.caltradereport.com/eWebPages/front-page-1240889485.html