After a near telephone monopoly that existed for decades, the number of telephone carriers now available to consumers, according to the Census Bureau: 5,300-plus

Estimated number of Americans who carry cellphones with them every day at work, on errands and during leisure time: 300 million

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of those with a bachelor's degree who have ever worked who say that their education positively influenced being hired, compared to 41 percent of their counterparts who have worked but never earned a bachelor's degree, according to a survey from University of Phoenix: 78

Percentage of working adults who say they are currently taking an online course or plan to in the future: 59

Source: Kelton Research.

Among those Americans who have previously quit smoking or are interested in quitting, percentage who say gaining weight is their biggest challenge to quitting smoking: 41

Ranks of hypnosis, acupuncture and individual therapy or support group on the list of non-nicotine replacement-based methods: 1, 2, 3

Source: Mintel.

Percentage of academic leaders who rate the learning outcomes in online education as the same or superior to those in face-to-face classes, according to a survey of online learning conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group: 77

Percentage of chief academic officers who believe their faculty should accept the value and legitimacy of online education: 30

Percentage of chief academic leaders who say online learning is critical to their long-term strategy (a new high): 69

Source: Babson College.

Percentage of American millionaires who say they are doing more for their own children than was done for them, according to a survey from PNC Wealth Management: 91

Percentage of respondents who say they have provided or expect to provide financial support for higher education: 84

Percentage of millionaire parents who strongly support basic purchases such as a car: 61

Percentage who support down payments on homes: 45

Source: PNC Wealth Management.

According to an Aon Hewitt analysis, total health care costs per employee in 2012: $10,522

Employers' share of that cost: $8,318

Source: Aon Hewitt.

Percentage of company data breaches that were reported by employees other than IT, according to a survey conducted by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics and the Health Care Compliance Association: 47

Percentage that were reported by customers: 15

Source: Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.

Percentage of 20-somethings who identified "paying the bills" as essential to achieving financial independence, according to the second nationwide survey by The PNC Financial Services Group Inc.: 78

Percentage of those aged 25 to 29 who have achieved that milestone: 60

Source: PNC Wealth Management.

Percentage of large firms that offer retiree health benefits (down from 66 percent 1988), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: 25

Percentage of small firms that offer retiree health benefits: 4

Percentage of the cost paid by Uncle Sam for members of Congress, who get health coverage through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: 72 to 75

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Net worth of Tiger Woods, outshining the combined fortunes of all others golfers in a top 10 ranking, according to data by Wealth-X: $590 million

Rank of Tiger Woods on the list of the world's wealthiest athletes who are still active in their sport -- more affluent than other top-earning athletes such as Swiss tennis player Roger Federer ($180 million) and NBA basketball player Kobe Bryant ($220 million): 1

Ranks of Phil Mickelson ($190 million), Vijay Singh ($70 million), Ernie Els ($60 million) and Jim Furyk ($55 million) on the list of the wealthiest golfers: 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Wealth-X.

Idle Thought

"The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude." -- Aldous Huxley, novelist

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

Percentage of teachers who have seen programs cut or reduced from their schools in the last three years, according to a survey by RetailMeNot: 67

Percentage of teachers who have had to pay for classroom supplies for their students using their own money: 87

Source: RetailMeNot.com.

Year of the first observance of Labor Day, when some 10,000 workers assembled in New York City for a parade, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1882

Year that President Grover Cleveland signed a bill designating the first Monday in September as "Labor Day" to pay tribute to the social and economic achievements of American workers: 1894

Number of people 16 and older in the nation's labor force in May 2013: 155.7 million

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of American full-time workers who say they worry about personal finances during work hours, according to findings released by Purchasing Power: 44

Percentage who said they spend time dealing with their personal finances during work hours: 29

Of those, percentage who spend an average of two to three hours per week at work dealing with their financial issues: 46

Source: Purchasing Power LLC.

Percentage of workers who report they have obtained investment advice regarding their household financial situation from a professional financial adviser who was paid through fees or commissions, according to EBRI's 2013 Retirement Confidence Survey: 23

Of these workers, percentage who followed all of the advice: 27

Percentage of workers who said their reason for not following all of the advice was that they didn't trust the advice: 33

Source: EBRI.

Percentage of teens who say emotional bullying -- such as spreading rumors or being ignored -- is the most hurtful form of bullying, according to the Harlequin Teen and the Jed Foundation's Love Is Louder survey: 58

Percentage who say physical bullying -- hitting and pushing -- is the worst form of bullying: 15

Source: Harlequin Enterprises Limited.

Percentage of wine drinking Americans who agree that their parents' generation put more effort into entertaining guests than they currently do, according to a survey conducted by Survey.com on behalf of Ecco Domani Wines of Italy: 46

Percentage of participants who wish better manners were a priority as in previous generations: 79

Source: Survey.com.

Number of times a year that a young athlete suffers a sports injury severe enough to go to the emergency room, according to a report by Safe Kids Worldwide: 1.35 million, or once every 25 seconds

Number of those ER visits that are for concussions: 163,000, or 12 percent

Percentage of the sports-related concussions seen in the ER that are for athletes ages 12 to 15, a statistic made even more disturbing by the knowledge that younger children with concussions take a longer time to recover than older children: 47

Source: Safe Kids Worldwide.

Percentage of online consumers in 24 countries who indicate they "entered a contest/sweepstakes sponsored by a brand or product" online in the past month, according to a poll conducted by Ipsos OTX: 32

Percentage more likely that women are than men to participate in such activities: 34

Source: Ipsos Open Thinking.

Percentage of students transferring from two-year schools in the 2005-06 academic year who obtained degrees at four-year institutions, according to the findings of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center: 60

Percentage of students who remained in college and were still working on a four-year degree six years after transfer: 8

Source: National Student Clearing House.

Percentage of parents who agree that breakfast is essential, according to a survey by The American Egg Board: 75

Percentage of parents who serve breakfast to their kids before school because they believe it is the most important meal of the day: 38

Percentage who say it helps their kids focus in school: 36

Source: American Egg Board.

Idle Thought

"You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions." -- Naguib Mahfouz, writer, Nobel Prize winner

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

Percentage of IT workers who said the ability to acquire new skills is very important when evaluating a job opportunity, according to research from Robert Half Technology: 68

Percentage of respondents who said they are very concerned about keeping their skills current in the next three to five years: 64

Percentage of chief information officers who said their companies do not have training and development programs for IT professionals: 44

Source: Robert Half Technology.

Ranks of Mark Zuckerberg ($17.3 billion), Dustin Moskovitz ($4.2 billion) and Chris Hughes ($950 million), on the list of ultra-wealthy technopreneurs aged 30 and under according to Wealth-X: 1, 2, 3

Combined net worth of Mark Zuckerberg and two of his Facebook co-founders, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, representing nearly 90 percent of the total fortune in the list: $22.4 billion

Source: Wealth-X.

Percentage of Americans who said they would not want treatments to enable them to live dramatically longer lives, even if new medical treatments could slow the aging process and allow people to live to at least 120 years old, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center: 56

When asked how long they would want to live, percentage of Americans who cited between 79 years and 100 years: 69

Percentage of respondents who think that most other people would choose to live to 120 and beyond: 68

Source: Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Percentage of senior managers who said they are uncomfortable being friended by their bosses on Facebook, according to a survey by OfficeTeam: 68

Percentage of respondents who are uncomfortable being friended by the employees they supervise: 62

Percentage of senior managers who are uncomfortable being friended by business contacts: 74

Source: OfficeTeam.

Forty years ago, estimated percentage of jobs in the U.S. that required only a high school diploma or less, according to the California Workforce Association: 75

Today, percentage of jobs that are available to those without some form of postsecondary education: 37

By 2020, estimated shortfall in the number of workers with college degrees in the U.S. economy: 1.5 million to 3 million

Source: California Workforce Association.

Percentage of the parents doing back-to-school shopping this year who are looking for deals to help them save money on back-to-school items, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Offers.com: 97

Of the parents with school-aged children, percentage who plan to do their back-to-school shopping in August: 47

Percentage of parents doing back-to-school shopping this year who plan to shop in-store: 78

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of Americans who could not give an accurate description when asked what an antioxidant is, according to a survey for MonaVie by Wakefield Research: 92

Percentage who could not recognize one or more sources of foods rich in antioxidants, even though 75 percent of Americans say they actively try to eat foods full of these nutritional molecules: 91

Source: MonaVie.

Percentage of women who depend on the convenience of frozen foods when getting dinner on the table for their families, according to a survey from Edelman: 55

Percentage of respondents who say frozen vegetables are their No. 1 go-to item in the frozen food aisle: 60

Source: Edelman.

Year that Nathan Ames obtained the first patent for a moving stairway -- though it was never built, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1859

Year that Jesse Reno built the first practical escalator -- or "inclined elevator," as he called it -- at Coney Island, N.Y.: 1896

Length of the longest escalator in the western hemisphere at the Wheaton, Md., station of the Washington Metro System: 230 feet

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of consumers who plan to send their children back to school in style with new clothing, according to the results of PriceGrabber's first 2013 Back-to-School shopping survey: 68

Ranks of laptop computers, electronic tablets and computer accessories on the list of items in the electronics category that consumers plan to buy: 1, 2, 3

Source: PriceGrabber.com.

Idle Thought

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward." -- Spanish proverb

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