Percentage of America's blue-collar workers who see their lives heading "in the right direction," according to a study conducted by the Harris Poll and commissioned by Express Employment Professionals: 85
Percentage of these workers who are proud of their work: 91
Percentage who are satisfied with their jobs: 86
Percentage who say their jobs provide a good living: 80
Source: The Harris Poll.
Rank of actuarial science on the list of the most valuable college majors, based on salary, unemployment rate and career path that does not demand schooling beyond a bachelor's degree, according to a Bankrate.com report: 1
Average annual salary earned by actuarial science majors (ninth overall): $108,658
Rank of petroleum engineering on the list of the most financially lucrative degrees: 1
Source: Bankrate.com.
Percentage of employers who use social networking sites to research job candidates, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey: 70
Of those that do social research, percentage who have found content that caused them to not hire candidates: 57
Source: CareerBuilder.com.
Percentage of HR professionals who say that compared to three years ago, contingent, or "gig," workers now make up a larger percentage of their professional workforce, according to survey by Korn Ferry: 60
Percentage who say they plan on hiring more gig workers in the future: 42
Ranks of "access to resources for short-term projects" and "expertise we don't have in-house" on the list of the top two reasons given for hiring gig workers: 1, 2
Source: Korn Ferry International.
Number of pet-owning households in the United States, according to Packaged Facts: 67 million
Source: Packaged Facts.
Percentage of Americans who agree that apprenticeships -- or "earn while learning" vocational opportunities -- make people more employable than going to college, according to a survey by American Staffing Association: 62
Percentage who say college degrees aren't worth what they used to be: 69
Percentage who say learning a trade is better for finding a job than a bachelor's degree: 68
Source: American Staffing Association.
Percentage of workers with lower incomes who agreed that preparing for retirement makes them feel stressed, according to an Employee Benefit Research Institute report: 64
Among workers who have not calculated how much they will need to save for retirement, percentage who are stressed: 65
Percentage of those in fair or poor health who are stressed: 75
Source: EBRI.
Percentage of Americans who say that saving for vacations is a low priority, according to a survey by CIT Bank: 43
Percentage who say that vacation saving is not a priority at all: 25
Percentage of Americans who go on vacations each year, with the majority spending up to $5,000: 77
Source: CIT Bank.
Percentage of people surveyed by patient.info who found it "extremely," "very" or "quite" inconvenient to cater for their non-meat-eating friends: 25
Percentage of people who now describe their diet as "meat-free" (pescatarian, vegetarian or vegan): 30
Percentage rise in veganism since 2006, when less than 5 percent of the population described themselves as vegan or vegetarian: 350
Source: Patient.info.
Percentage of Americans who think people in their country trust politicians to tell the truth less than they did 30 years ago, according to an Ipsos study: 69
Percentage of Americans who are confident they can identify "fake news" (which was defined as entirely made-up stories or facts) from real news: 65
Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.
Idle Thought
"When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear." -- Mark Twain
(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre@bwr.eastlink.ca.)