Percentage of singles who feel that the financial stability of their suitor is more important now than one year ago, according to a pop culture and relationship survey by OkCupid.com: 36

Percentage who would pay for a dating site if they had more discretionary cash: 14

Source: OkCupid.com.

Percentage of workers who say they always or usually live paycheck to paycheck, according a nationwide survey by CareerBuilder.com: 47

Percentage of workers with salaries of $100,000 or more who report that they, too, live paycheck to paycheck: 21

Percentage of workers who say they don't put any money aside for savings each month: 25

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of Americans with a New York accent who are happy with how their particular regional accent sounds in comparison with other American accents, according to a poll commissioned by SpinVox and conducted by Harris Interactive: 52

Rank of the New Jersey/New York dialect (as exemplified by James Gandolfini in his role as Tony Soprano) as the accent Americans would least like to have themselves: 1

Percentage of U.S. adults who reported they would like to speak like the queen of England: 36

Source: Harris Interactive.

By increasing graduation rates by 10 percentage points, the estimated number of murders that could be prevented every year, according to The Fight Crime: Invest in Kids members' report called "School or the Streets": 3,000

Estimated number of aggravated assaults that could be prevented annually: 175,000

If graduation rates were raised 10 percent among males nationwide, estimated total amount of money that could be saved every year through reducing costs associated with crime: $15 billion

Source: Fight Crime.

Percentage of the overall population who report that they use coupons when shopping for grocery, household and health care items at supermarkets, according to research from the Promotion Marketing Association's Coupon Council: 89

Percentage of primary shoppers who report that they use coupons at supermarkets: 97

Average percentage savings reported by coupon users on their grocery bill with coupons: 7

Source: Promotion Marketing Association.

Percentage of employers nationwide who are experiencing a leadership shortage that is impeding their organization's performance, according to Aon Consulting's "2008 Benefits and Talent" survey: 56

Percentage who expect to have a leadership shortage that will impede performance in the next one to four years: 31

Ranks of health care (62 percent), professional services (58 percent) and manufacturing (57 percent) as the industries that are hit hardest by the impact of this leadership shortage: 1, 2, 3

Source: Aon Consulting.

Percentage of employers who allow flexible work schedules in order to prevent good workers from leaving their organizations, according to a survey conducted for Robert Half International: 63

Percentage who provide funding for additional training/certification in order to keep their workers: 62

Source: Robert Half International.

Percentage of U.S. adults who are satisfied with the quality of primary and secondary education in the country, according to a survey by Gallup: 44

Percentage of parents of school-aged youth who say they are satisfied with their own children's education: 77

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of companies that reported that creating employee ownership through an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) was "a good business decision that has helped the company," according to a survey by the Employee Ownership: 92.4

Percentage of companies that indicated a better performance in 2007 when compared to 2006: 66

Source: Employee Ownership Foundation.

Percentage of executives who believe procurement issues are a high priority in their companies, according to a survey of global procurement and C-level executives by KPMG LLP: 74

Percentage who say that the procurement function in their companies focuses too much on cost reduction instead of value creation: 49

Source: KPMG LLP.

Idle Thought

"Tear man out of his outward circumstances; and what he then is -- that only is he." -- Johann Gottfried Seume, author

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)

4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600

Estimated annual price tag for the United States caused by Americans' expanding waistlines, according to Gold's Gym-sponsored research titled "Fat-O-Nomics": $122.9 billion

Estimated amount that obese Americans lose annually out of their own pockets (based on the median U.S. salary of $48,451): $10,000

Source: Gold's Gym.

Rank of Philadelphians as the most generous tippers in the nation, according to a Zagat survey: 1

Average tip -- as a percentage of the bill -- left by those from the City of Brotherly Love: 19.6

Countrywide average: 19

Source: Zagat.

Number of high-income countries that offer no paid parental leave, according to a Center for Economic and Policy Research report: 2 (United States and Australia)

In the United States, total guaranteed (non-transferable) weeks of unpaid leave for two-parent family under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): 24 weeks (12 for mother; 12 for father)

In terms of total guaranteed time off from work, rank of the U.S. out of 21 high-income countries: 20

Rank of Switzerland, in terms of time off from work (14 weeks of protected leave, though financial support is paid at 80 percent of a mother's income): 21

Paid leave offered to mother or father in Sweden: 78 weeks

Source: Council on Contemporary Families.

Percentage of hiring managers who said they are willing to negotiate compensation for top candidates, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.com: 65

Percentage of hiring managers who said Generation Y employees (born between 1979 and 1999) are the most difficult to recruit, perhaps because of high expectations about pay, career advancement, flexible schedules and overall work environment: 56

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of college students who say they are educated about money management and understand the consequences of debt, according to a poll for Western Union Payment Services conducted by Javelin Research: 84

Percentage who still say they wish they had a plan to help decrease their debt: 50

Source: Western Union Payment Services.

Percentage of finance and accounting professionals who think the United States is currently experiencing a recession, according to a poll by Ajilon Finance for the Institute of Management Accountants: 65

Percentage who feel the economic uncertainty is making their jobs more complex: 54

Source: Ajilon Office.

Percentage of U.S. workers who own pets, according to a national survey of working adults commissioned by Workplace Options: 60

Percentage of workers who are currently stressed by their job and for whom convenience services can help reduce worker anxiety over the competing daily demands of work and family: 72

Source: Workplace Options.

Rank of the United States with 590,200 international students in 2007, Great Britain with 318,400 and Germany with 246,000 on the list of worldwide destinations for foreign students, according to the 2008 edition of the survey "Wissenschaft -- weltoffen," co-edited by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD): 1, 2, 3

Source: German Embassy.

Percentage of U.S. adults who purchase natural and/or organic foods, according to the Whole Foods Market consumer survey findings: 74

Percentage of U.S. adults who indicated that they don't want to compromise on the quality of the food they buy -- even with today's rising food prices: 79

Source: Whole Foods Market.

Percentage of U.S. gamers who are women, according to a report published by industry research firm IBISWorld on the video gaming industry: 38

Average age of video game players (Note: not the teenage boys of the past): 35

Average age of those buying video games: 39

Source: IBISWorld.

Idle Thought

"The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it." -- John Ruskin

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)

4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600

Calculated annual cost to taxpayers of tax and accounting loopholes that encourage excessive executive pay, according to the 15th annual Executive Excess report from the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy: $20 billion

Amount accounted for by stock-option accounting double standard: $10 billion

Amount accounted for by unlimited deductibility of executive compensation: $5.2 billion

Amount of the $20 billion accounted for by preferential capital-gains treatment of carried interest: $2.6 billion

Source: United for a Fair Economy.

Percentage of parents who say that parent involvement was a key factor in student achievement, according to the results of an independent, nationwide survey by Pearson: 96

Percentage of parents who felt achievement would improve with better communication between school and home: 95

Source: Pearson Education/Pearson Scott Foresman.

Average percentage pay increase planned by U.S. employers in 2009, according to the "2008/2009 U.S. Compensation Planning Survey" from Mercer: 3.7

Expected percentage base-pay increases in 2009 for the highest-performing employees (14 percent of the workforce): 5.6

Expected percentage base pay increases in 2009 for the weakest performers (7 percent of the workforce): 0.6

Source: Mercer.

Estimated annual value of books in the religious products market, according to a study by Packaged Facts: $6 billion

Percentage increase in the overall religious products market between 2004 and 2008: 21

Amount this percentage increase represents: $1 billion

Source: Packaged Facts.

Percentage of Americans who say economic growth and development is more important to their region than protecting the environment, according to a survey by Harris Interactive: 63

Source: Harris Interactive.

Rank of overpacking on the list of the biggest mistakes travelers make, according to a poll of U.S. Tour Operators Association member companies: 1

Source: Kundell Communications.

Percentage of Americans who use at least one electronic device in the bathroom, according to American Standard's 2008 Bathroom Habits Survey: 88

Percentage who read their mail in the bathroom -- both snail mail and e-mail: 33

Percentage who talk on the phone: 15

Percentage who watch TV: 3

Source: American Standard.

Ranks of Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University on the list of America's Best National Universities, according to the U.S. News Media Group's 2009 edition of America's Best Colleges: 1, 2, 3, 4 (tie)

Ranks of Amherst College, Williams College and Swarthmore College on the list of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges: 1 (tie), 3

Source: U.S. News Media.

Percentage of parents who say that they are working additional hours at their current job so they can pick up the tabs (and mortgages, car payments, grocery bills, etc.) that have increased, according to a Sittercity.com survey: 42

Percentage of stay-at-home parents who are now going back to work: 27

Percentage of working parents who have taken on a second job: 8

Source: Sittercity.com.

Percentage of high-net-worth business owners -- whose companies have at least $10 million in annual revenue -- who participate with their family in charitable activities, according to a SunTrust Bank Private Wealth Management study: 72

Percentage of business owners who cited a spouse or partner as their greatest influence in making charitable decisions: 81

Source: SunTrust Banks Inc.

Idle Thought

"The perfection of a clock is not to go fast, but to be accurate." -- Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)

4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600