Just released-

Ask any librarian to rank their top reference books and one book that will always be on their list is the Statistical Abstract of the United States. Published since 1878, the Statistical Abstract has been collecting data about the U.S., it's citizens and their lives for the last 127 years. Or to put it in their words: The authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States."

JUST RELEASED -- the 127th, 2008 edition of the Stat Ab is now available full-text on the Internet from the U.S. Census Bureau website.

In addition to the current 2008 printing, the Census Bureau has scanned all earlier Statistical Abstract editions and they are available as PDF versions dating back to the first 1878 printing. Also available is the text of Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970 - containing information about the U.S. dating back to 1789. Containing a wealth of information, data from the Statistical Abstract draws a numeric portrait of the U.S. that can be very interesting to examine.
Some examples of tables and data included:

• Live Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Divorces: 1960 to 2006
• Employment by Industry: 2000 to 2006
• Federal Drug Seizures by Type of Drug: 1990 to 2005
• Individuals in Science and Engineering (S&E) Occupations as Share of Workforce by State and Other Areas: 2006
• Federal Budget--Receipts and Outlays: 1960 to 2007