Percentage of Americans who would pay off debt if they won a million dollars, according to a nationwide survey of consumers conducted by Compass Bank: 48
Percentage who said they would continue to work until they reached retirement age: 41
Percentage who would call in sick the next day and never return to work: 20
Source: Compass Bank.
Percentage of women employees in the U.S. who say they heard at least one sexually inappropriate comment in their workplace last year, nearly double from 2006, according to a survey conducted by Novations Group: 38
Percentage of male U.S. employees who said they heard at least one sexually inappropriate comment in their workplace in 2007: 45
Source: Novations Group Inc.
Percentage of U.S. employers who say stress, caused by "working long hours/doing more with less," is affecting business performance, according to Watson Wyatt's 2007/2008 Staying@Work Report: 48
Percentage of employers who believe stress caused by work/life balance issues adversely affects business performance: 32
Percentage of employers who believe stress caused by widespread use of technologies that expand availability, such as cell phones and personal digital assistants, are greatly affecting business performance: 29
Source: Watson Wyatt Worldwide.
Percentage of respondents who admit that they've thanked their vehicle, according to national survey commissioned by Jiffy Lube International: 46
Percentage who have complimented their cars on their dependability: 33.5
Percentage who admit they have given a nice rub to the dashboard or some other sweet spot: 17
Percentage who have tried to bribe their vehicle into behaving by offering such things as a car wash or premium gasoline: 17
Source: Opinion Research Corp.
Percentage of full-time, commuting U.S. workers who say their commute to or from work has been affected by "severe weather" in the past three months, according to a survey conducted by Kronos, The Workforce Institute and Harris Interactive: 33
Percentage who arrived late to work as a result: 23
Percentage who left early: 16
Percentage who lost pay because of their affected commute: 20
Source: Kronos Inc.
Percentage of U.S. employees who say they are open to a new career opportunity in 2008, according to a survey conducted by Yahoo! HotJobs: 72
Percentage who say they would be willing to leave their current job because they either dislike their boss's management style or feel there is a lack of mentorship at their company: 43
Percentage of U.S. employees who agree with the statement, "People don't leave companies; they leave managers": 55
Source: Yahoo! HotJobs.
Estimated total value of all online advertising revenue in 2007, according to a study conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers: $21.1 billion
Approximate total value of all online advertising revenue in 2005: $12.6 billion
Source: Interactive Advertising Bureau.
Percentage of single women who contribute regularly to retirement, according to the MetLife Mature Market Institute's Family Matters study: 21
Percentage of traditional families that consistently contribute to their retirement accounts: 41
Percentage of blended families that do the same: 29
Source: MetLife Mature Market Institute.
Percentage of Americans who were able to correctly estimate how interest compounds over time, according to a survey conducted by TNS in partnership with professors at Harvard Business School and Dartmouth College: 35
Percentage of respondents who did not understand how minimum payments are calculated and applied to a principal balance: 50
Source: TNS.
Number of top 10 beaches that are in Florida: 4
Number that are in Hawaii: 3
Source: TripAdvisor.
Idle Thought
"Natural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability." -- Cicero (106-43 B.C.)
(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)
4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600