On average, total number of days Americans receive in paid time off (10) plus additional national holidays, such as Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day (10), according to a survey by Hotels.com: 20

Of the 30 nations surveyed, global average of annual leave and public entitlement: 28 days

Source: Hotels.com.

If giving up sex for a month got their bills paid, percentage of Americans who would skip time between the sheets -- up from 18.5 percent last year, according to a national consumer survey conducted by independent market research firm Toluna, on behalf of BillFloat Inc.: 40.5

Source: BillFloat.

Percentage of adults 18 or older who are married today, compared to 72 percent in 1960, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of long-term data on time use: 51

Percentage of working moms who say they find it very or somewhat difficult to juggle the responsibilities of work and family life: 56

Among mothers with children under age 18, percentage who say they would prefer to work full-time, up from 20 percent in 2007: 32

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Percentage of private companies that have taken substantial cost-containment measures over the past several years, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' Trendsetter Barometer survey: 84

Percentage of those companies that have seen sustainable savings as a result: 89

Percentage of the companies that took cost-containment measures during the past one to four years that say they applied the savings to keeping their businesses afloat: 70

Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Due to 2013 payroll tax changes, average amount less per month that working Americans are taking home than they did in 2012, according to a survey: $130

Percentage of working Americans who have cut back most on going out to bars and restaurants due to these tax increases: 20

Source: Accounting Principals.

Percentage of men who say they prefer to make a relationship official after a couple of good dates, according to a Zoosk and Glamour.com survey: 42

Percentage of women who prefer to wait at least a few months: 35

Source: Glamour Magazine.

In spite of understanding the problems they face if their mobile device or data is lost, percentage of consumers who reported requiring a passcode or other authentication methods to access their device, according to data from NQ Mobile: 52

Percentage of respondents who reported either losing their device or having one stolen in the past: 25

Of these devices, percentage that were unprotected: 40

Source: NQ Mobile Inc.

Energy consumption in the U.S. manufacturing sector in 2010, down almost 10 percent from the 21,098 trillion British thermal units consumed in 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 19,061 million Btu

Percentage drop in the consumption of residual fuel oil in the U.S. manufacturing sector in 2010: 46

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of brides who say online resources such as Pinterest, Facebook and blogs are the best places to find wedding inspiration, according to a survey by David's Bridal: 59

Percentage of brides who use technology during their fittings, from texting pictures to family to posting videos on a social media site: 68

Source: David's Bridal Inc.

Percentage of consumers who follow a brand on its social networking page who feel an acknowledgment from the brand to the comments or links they post makes them feel more connected to that brand, according to a survey by Marketing Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange: 28

Source: Ipsos Open Thinking.

Idle Thought

"It is impossible to live pleasurably without living prudently, honorably and justly; or to live prudently, honorably and justly, without living pleasurably." -- Epicurus, philosopher

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

Percentage of global executives who say talent management is the single most important corporate strategy for their company to implement -- and they indicate it is more critical than marketing (26 percent), financial management (21 percent) and capitalization (7 percent), according to results from a survey of global executives by Korn/Ferry International: 45

Percentage who say they do not believe their company has the right management team over the next 12 months: 43

Percentage who do not believe they will have the right team five years from now: 56

Source: Korn/Ferry International.

In 2011, percentage of U.S. households that hold some form of debt, down from 74 percent in 2000, according to statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau: 69

In 2011, median amount of household debt, up from $50,971 (in 2011 constant dollars): $70,000

Source: Census Bureau - Bernstein.

Percentage of single baby boomers who would prefer to date someone about their same age, according to Del Webb Baby Boomer Survey data: 44

Percentage of men who want to date a younger or "much younger" woman, compared to 22 percent of women who say they would prefer to date a younger or much younger man: 63

Source: Del Webb.

Percentage of Americans who find gathering the required paperwork the most frustrating part of filing their taxes, according to a survey conducted for RetailMeNot: 30

Percentage who find the most frustrating part is waiting to get a refund: 20

Percentage who say that finding they owe additional taxes most frustrating: 19

Source: RetailMeNot.com.

Percentage of small-business owners who indicate that a crashed computer is more disruptive than a sick employee, according to a survey by Brother International Corp.: 75

Percentage who noted that a tech malfunction has negatively impacted their business through a missed deadline or business opportunity: 77

Source: Brother International.

Percentage of Americans who confess to having passed off frozen meals as their own culinary creation, according to a survey by Nestle USA: 25

Percentage who admitted to having "accidentally" stolen a frozen meal from the freezer at work: 14

Percentage of respondents who said they've tried to create their own version of a favorite frozen meal: 31

Source: Nestle Confections & Snacks.

Percentage of Americans who agree that "a product needs to be manufactured within the U.S. for me to consider it 'American,'" putting domestic manufacture ahead of the importance of being from a U.S. company, being made from American parts, or being American designed, according to a Harris Poll: 75

Percentage of U.S. adults who agree that "a product needs to be made by a U.S. company for me to consider it 'American'": 52

Source: Harris Interactive.

During the last recession, percentage better on average that residential property values performed if they were located near public transportation with high-frequency service, according to a study released by the American Public Transportation Association and the National Association of Realtors: 42

Number of times more jobs (per square mile) there are in neighborhoods with high-frequency public transportation compared to other areas in a given region: 5

Source: American Public Transportation Association.

Percentage of the world's adults who say they would like to leave their country and move somewhere else permanently, according to a Gallup poll: 13 (or about 630 million people)

Number of people for whom that somewhere else would be the U.S. -- the No. 1 desired destination for potential migrants: 138 million

Source: Gallup Organization.

Number of Christians there are around the world, up from about 600 million in 1910, according to a study by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life: 2.18 billion

Because the world's overall population also has risen rapidly, from an estimated 1.8 billion in 1910 to 6.9 billion in 2010, percentage of the world's population who are Christian today, down from 35 percent a century ago: 32

Percentage of the world's Christians who live in Europe and the Americas, down from 93 percent in 1910: 63

Source: Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Idle Thought

"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." -- Bill Gates

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

Percentage of the boomerang generation (ages 25 to 34) who currently live with Mom and Dad or temporarily moved home during the recession, according to Pew Research Center research: 29

Among this group, percentage who say they're satisfied with their living arrangements: 78

Percentage of boomerang children who report that they have paid rent to their parents: 48

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Percentage of U.S. workers who skip breakfast on a regular basis before hitting the road for work, according to a study conducted for CareerBuilder: 23

Among those who do squeeze in a quick meal, rank of cereal, fruit and eggs on the list of the top breakfast choices: 1, 2 (tie)

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Year of the first publication of the "Ten Most Wanted" list by the FBI, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1950

In the years since, number of men and women who have appeared on the list: 497

Of these, number who have been apprehended or located: 467

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Ranks of Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Visa, Wal-Mart, Yahoo, Procter and Gamble, and eBay on the list of the most influential brands in the United States, according to Ipsos MarketQuest: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Ranks of Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Visa, Coca-Cola, Samsung, YouTube, MasterCard, and Procter and Gamble on the list of the most influential brands in the world: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Source: Ipsos Marketing Open Thinking Exchange.

Percentage of Americans who admit to committing financial errors, according to a survey by financial services firm Edward Jones: 78

Ranks of "not saving enough for retirement" (26 percent), "inadequate tracking of spending" (20 percent) "taking on too much debt" (13 percent) on the list of the most common money mistakes cited by respondents: 1, 2, 3

Source: Edward Jones.

Percentage of singles who met their most recent first date online vs. 7 percent who met at a bar, according to findings from the third annual Singles in America study by Match.com: 20

Percentage of singles who reported that they have dated someone they met online: 27.5

Source: Match.com.

Percentage of travelers who said they had difficulty taking a vacation in the past 12 months, according to a Best Western Vacation Citation survey conducted with Wakefield Research: 62

Percentage of frequent business travelers who said work is more likely to ruin their vacation than bad weather: 52

Source: Wakefield Research.

Despite the perception that those who "work from home" sit around in their pajamas, never shower and are really not as productive as those who make it into an office each and every day, percentage of American workers who agree that working from home provides flexibility, according to the results of Harris Poll: 90

Percentage of American workers who are not self-employed who say they spend time during normal business hours working from home: 34

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of Americans who have filed taxes who do not generally handle preparation by themselves, according to a survey conducted for RetailMeNot: 82

Percentage of filers who typically use an online service, such as Turbo Tax, to prepare their taxes, up from 22 percent: 28

Average length of time it takes consumers for their taxes to be prepared: 4 hours

Source: RetailMeNot.com.

With a new marketplace of health insurance exchanges coming in January 2014 for the more than 30 million uninsured Americans, percentage of those Americans who are confident they will be able to select the best health plan for themselves and their family, according to a national survey released by Express Scripts: 53

Source: Express Scripts.

Idle Thought

"Every advance in civilization has been denounced as unnatural while it was recent." -- Bertrand Russell, Nobel prize in literature

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