Percentage of hiring managers who say a lack of a cover letter will likely result in them not considering a candidate for their open position, according to data released by CareerBuilder: 33
Once they have read a candidate's cover letter, percentage of hiring managers who say they prefer to see a career summary at the top of a resume instead of an objective: 70
Percentage who think a resume should be two pages long: 57
Source: CareerBuilder.com.
Percentage of U.S. singles who say they plan to watch the royal wedding on TV, according to the Zoosk Royal Wedding survey: 40
Percentage of British singles who plan to watch: 31
Percentage of U.S. singles who would rather have a root canal than watch the royal wedding: 39
Percentage who say family gatherings with the royal in-laws would be a snooze-fest: 66
Source: Zoosk.
Year that a landmark in the development of the way we use language (Noah Webster's "American Dictionary of the English Language") was published with the goal of simplifying spelling from British practice and including everyday words used by Americans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1828
Of the 70,000 words contained in Webster's first dictionary, number that had never been included in previous dictionaries, including words such as "skunk" and "squash": 12,000
Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
Equivalent number of miles per gallon that the Nissan Leaf, the first all-electric car for the masses, will deliver, according to the Environmental Protection Agency: 99
Number of miles delivered per charge: 73
Source: Kelley Blue Book.
Cost to consumers who financed a car through a dealership in 2009 in extra interest over the lives of their loans because of dealer interest rate markups, according to the report by the Center for Responsible Lending: $25.8 billion
Percentage increase in the odds that a subprime borrower will default: 12
Percentage increase in the odds that a borrower will end up having the car repossessed: 33
Source: Center for Responsible Learning.
Despite concerns about the impact of rising health care costs on their businesses and employees, percentage of employers who say they favor a federally tax-funded universal health care system, according to the 2011 United Benefit Advisors survey: 16.3
Percentage of top corporate decision makers who are concerned with the impact that health care costs are having or are going to have on their overall corporate costs: 99.4
Percentage of employers who still believe a good benefits program helps attract good employees: 96.9
Source: United Benefit Advisors.
Percentage of American adults who believe in redistributing wealth by heavy taxes on the rich, according to a Gallup Poll: 47
Percentage who disagree: 49
Source: Gallup.
Estimated number of Americans who live in food insecure households, including 17 million children, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture: 50 million, or 1 in 6
Estimated number of eggs that America's egg farmers donated this Easter season to food banks across the country: 11 million
Source: United Egg Producers.
Percentage of U.S. consumers who are receiving a tax refund who say they will use at least part of that money for leisure travel this year, according to Travel Leaders' nationwide consumer survey: 57.4
Ranks of Australia, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand and a Mediterranean cruise on the list Americans' "ultimate dream international destination": 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Source: Travel Leaders.
Percentage of brides who turn to their families for advice to get started in planning their wedding, according to Get Married: 64
Percentage of brides who said that having all your friends and family in attendance trumps everything when it comes to planning the perfect day: 86
Source: Getmarried.com.
Idle Thought
"Being truthful, as I discovered long ago as a journalist, is much more difficult than being accurate." -- Sandra Gwyn, journalist and author
(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)