oddities

Figuratively Speaking for May 27, 2016

Figuratively Speaking by by John MacIntyre
by John MacIntyre
Figuratively Speaking | May 27th, 2016

Number of megabytes (MB) of data used by Americans in 2015, three times the 3.2 trillion MB in 2013 and the equivalent of consumers streaming 59,219 videos every minute or roughly 18 million MB, according to the annual survey results released by CTIA: 9.6 trillion

Source: CTIA -- The Wireless Association.

Percentage of companies that believe their employees are not knowledgeable about the company's security risks, according to the Experian Data Breach Resolution and Ponemon Institute study: 60

Percentage of companies that have already experienced a security incident due to a malicious or negligent employee: 55

Source: Experian -- Business to Business Unit.

Percentage of human resource managers who say their company commonly acts on feedback from exit interviews, according to a survey by OfficeTeam: 63

Percentage of managers who say they update job descriptions as a result: 29

Percentage who say they address comments about management: 24

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of Americans who don't have six months of savings in their emergency fund, according to a survey conducted by Fifth Third Bank: 69

Percentage who don't have an emergency fund at all: 30

Source: Fifth Third Bank.

Rank of Capital One on the list of the 15 largest credit card issuers for offering the best credit card rewards program (for the second consecutive year), scoring 49 percent higher than TD Bank's last-place program, according to CardHub's 2016 Credit Card Rewards Report: 1

Percentage more value there is in redeeming for travel than there is in redeeming for merchandise, the worst option: 54

Source: CardHub.

Percentage of parents who are unaware that the biggest risk to their teens' safety is the vehicle sitting in the driveway, according to a National Safety Council poll: 76

Rank of car crashes on the list of causes of death among teens (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration research): 1

Source: National Safety Council.

Percentage of beer drinkers who agree that it's a great time to be a beer lover, according to a Harris Poll: 88

Percentage who say they enjoy trying new types of beer: 70

Percentage who are fans of local brews: 64

Source: The Harris Poll.

Average growth in cumulative student debt levels in the last 15 years, according to research by Convergex: $5,000

Average debt per borrower at private, nonprofit four-year institutions: $30,200

According to a vintage survey of 1983-1984 graduates of four-year institutions a year after graduation, conducted by the American Council on Education, average college debt: $5,470 (about $12,483 in today's terms)

Source: Convergex.

Among those who have been exposed to streaming programming, rank of Netflix (33 percent) on the list of the most frequent choices for all demographic groups when they want to watch a TV show, according to a survey from E-Poll Market Research: 1

Ranks of a TV channel during its original air time (16 percent), DVR or TiVo Service (15 percent), Hulu subscription (7 percent) and YouTube (7 percent) on the list: 2, 3, 4, 5

Percentage of respondents who said they chose Netflix because there are no commercials: 69

Source: E-Poll Market Research.

On the subject of least-desirable behaviors (and ranking first for the third year in a row), percentage of people who named "the texter" as the most aggravating driver on the road, according to the results of the Expedia 2016 Road Rage Report: 22

Ranks of "the tailgater" (14 percent), "the last-minute line-cutter" (13 percent) and "the left-lane hog" (11 percent) on the list of the least popular American drivers: 2, 3, 4

Source: Expedia.

Idle Thought

"Do not commit the error, common among the young, of assuming that if you cannot save the whole of mankind, you have failed." -- Jan de Hartog, playwright and novelist

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

581-7323

oddities

Figuratively Speaking for May 20, 2016

Figuratively Speaking by by John MacIntyre
by John MacIntyre
Figuratively Speaking | May 20th, 2016

Percentage of employers who believe that academic institutions are not adequately preparing students for roles needed within their organizations, according to a CareerBuilder survey: 24

When asked where academic institutions fall short, percentage of employers who cited "too much emphasis on book learning instead of real-world learning": 47

Percentage who said they need workers with a blend of technical skills and those skills gained from liberal arts: 39

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Estimated number of the world's severely obese who live in high-income, English-speaking countries, according to a study published in The Lancet: 25

Number of obese adults who live in these countries: 118 million

Source: GMCR Wellness Collection.

Percentage of the time chief financial officers say they spend on work email that is wasted, according to a Robert Half survey: 17

Ranks of spam and overuse of the "cc" line on the list of culprits for this waste of time: 1, 2

Source: Robert Half.

Estimated sales in 2016 of U.S. meal kit delivery services -- whereby consumers order meals from picture menus, pre-measured fresh ingredients along with recipes are delievered to their doorstep and are prepared at home, according to Packaged Facts: $1.5 billion

Source: Packaged Facts.

Amount that can be saved by choosing the average used car instead of the average new car, according to research by Kelley Blue Book 2015: $13,500

After three years, percentage of the original price that your new car will be worth, according to Consumer Reports: 54

Because today's cars, trucks, SUVs and vans simply last longer, age of the average car on American roads (a record high): 11.5 years

Source: Kelley Blue Book.

Rank of New York City as the best city for a young person to launch a career, according to a 100-city report by Bankrate.com: 1

Ranks of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and San Jose, California, as the best cities for young people to launch a career: 2, 3, 4 and 5

Rank of Fayetteville, North Carolina, on the list of cities that offer the best opportunity for career advancement, job prospects and pay potential: 100

Source: Bankrate.com.

Ranks of data scientist (annual median salary $128,240), statistician ($79,990), information security analyst (88,890) and audiologist ($73,060) on the list of the best-ranked jobs, according to Careercast.com's annual Jobs Rated report: 1, 2, 3, 4,

Ranks of enlisted military ($27,936), disc jockey ($29,010), logger ($35,160) and broadcaster ($37,200) on the list of the worst-ranked jobs: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Convergex.

Percentage of Americans who say they enjoy saving money more than spending it, according to a Gallup poll: 65

Percentage of respondents who say they are spending less, and that the change will become a new, normal pattern: 29

Source: Gallup Organization.

The average number of pounds of lettuce that Americans eat annually, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 25

Pounds of onions: 20

Pounds of bell peppers: 10

Pounds of carrots and cucumbers: 10.5

Pounds of tomatoes: 86

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of adults who say most police officers have a positive impact on the communities where they work, according to the results of a Harris Poll: 88

Percentage of the general adult population who feel the police in their community are excellent/pretty good at being helpful and friendly: 68

Percentage of respondents who say the police are effective in preventing crime: 58

When asked about treatment of specific race groups, percentage of Americans who say the police in their community treat all races fairly: 49

Source: The Harris Poll.

Idle Thought

"Kindness is always fashionable." -- Amelia Barr, novelist

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

oddities

Figuratively Speaking for May 13, 2016

Figuratively Speaking by by John MacIntyre
by John MacIntyre
Figuratively Speaking | May 13th, 2016

Estimated revenue from individual income taxes in 2016, according to WalletHub's Tax Day 2016 by the Numbers report: $1.62 trillion

Percentage of all federal revenue that is brought in by the IRS: 92

Percentage decrease in IRS enforcement staff since 2010: 23

Source: WalletHub.

Percentage of college-educated workers who believe that their preparedness for future job positions can be attributed to workplace learning: 72

In companies where employee learning was clearly valued, percentage of respondents who were satisfied with their companies' training methods: 80

Source: Instructure.

Value of the global wellness industry (3.4 times larger than the worldwide pharmaceutical industry), according to the Global Wellness Institute: $3.4 trillion

Value of the beauty and anti-aging sector: $1.026 trillion

Value of the healthy eating/nutrition/weight loss sector: $574 billion

Source: GMCR Wellness Collection.

Amount of money the U.S. Treasury recently spent to upgrade the security of the $100 bill against counterfeiters (North Korea, apparently, was making excellent fakes), according to research by Convergex: $120 million

Value of China's largest banknote: 100 Yuan Renminbi

Approximate U.S. value of this banknote: $15

Source: Convergex.

Value of Bermuda's annual gross domestic product, according to a Citizens for Tax Justice report: $6 billion

Profits that U.S. corporations say they earn in Bermuda: $104 billion

Annual gross domestic product in the Cayman Islands: $3 billion

Profits of U.S.-controlled subsidiaries in the Caymans: $46 billion

Source: Citizens for Tax Justice.

Percentage of chief financial officers who say informational interviews, in which the interviewee is expected to pose most of the questions, are becoming more common now than 10 years ago, according to a survey by Accountemps: 36

Percentage of CFOs who say they receive informational interview requests at least once a month: 31

Percentage of CFOs who said when someone impresses them in a meeting, it's likely they will alert that person to job openings at the company: 84

Source: Accountemps.

Percentage of Americans who say they are paying too much in taxes -- a 6 percentage-point increase from last year and the highest percentage in 15 years, according to a Gallup poll: 57

Percentage who say their taxes are unfair -- the highest percentage since 1999: 47

Source: Gallup Organization.

Percentage of workers who say debt is not a problem for them in 2016 (down 5 percentage points since last year), according to the Retirement Confidence Survey from EBRI: 44

Percentage of retirees who report that they do not have a problem with debt (unchanged from last year): 67

Source: EBRI.

Percentage of boys who accounted for the total number of lawnmower-related injuries, according to a study from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: 81

Percentage of injuries involving a ride-on mower: 55

Percentage of injured children requiring an amputation as a result of their injuries: 53

Percentage of injuries that occur between April and September: 91

Source: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Percentage of vacationers who have never rented a vacation home who would consider doing so, according to a survey by Wyndham Vacation Rentals: 89

Percentage of vacationers who are not confident that they'll get what they anticipate when renting directly from an owner: 46

Percentage of all vacationers who worry about not being able to get problems solved quickly: 62

Source: Wyndham Vacation Rentals.

Idle Thought

"The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play." -- Arnold J. Toynbee, historian

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

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