oddities

Figuratively Speaking for June 03, 2016

Figuratively Speaking by by John MacIntyre
by John MacIntyre
Figuratively Speaking | June 3rd, 2016

Percentage of time the average person spends indoors over the course of a typical week, according to a survey among homeowners conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of Velux Skylights: 67

Percentage of Americans who say that having a healthy home is important to them because they know and recognize the benefits: 62

Percentage who say it enhances their mood: 58

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of CFOs who said the most difficult part of becoming a new manager is balancing individual responsibilities with time spent overseeing staff, according to a Robert Half Management Resources survey: 32

Percentage who said supervising friends or former peers is most difficult: 19

Ranks of motivating the team (17 percent), prioritizing projects (16 percent) and meeting higher performance expectations (16 percent) on the list of the biggest challenges for new managers: 3, 4 (tie)

Source: Robert Half Management Resources.

Average marrying age, according to the results of The Knot Real Weddings Study: bride, 29; groom, 31

Average number of guests at a typical wedding: 139

Average number of bridesmaids: 5

Average number of groomsmen: 5

Source: The Knot.

Percentage less interest charged on the average new-car loan than is charged on the average used-car loan, according to Wallet Hub's 2016 Auto Financing Report: 17

Number of times more that buyers with fair credit will end up spending to finance a vehicle -- about $6,304 in additional interest payments over the life of a $20,000, five-year loan -- than consumers with excellent credit: 6

Percentage below average charged to finance a new car through car manufacturers: 38

Source: WalletHub.

Average time it takes Americans to fully unpack all of their belongings when moving to a new home, according to a survey of U.S. adults conducted on behalf of Cramer-Krasselt: 2 months

Percentage of respondents who say they had everything fully unpacked within a week or less: 28

Percentage who say it took them up to a month to unpack: 36

Percentage who took between one and six months: 18

Source: Cramer-Krassel.

Percentage of employees who grade their bosses' performance as either an "A" or "B," according to a survey from CareerBuilder: 62

Percentage who would assign a grade of "C": 22

Percentage who grade their boss with a "D": 10

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of global citizens who are concerned that their information may be bought or sold online, according to a poll commissioned by the Centre for International Governance Innovation: 79

Percentage who are aware that companies often sell their personal data to other companies or government: 49

Percentage of global citizens who are more concerned about their online privacy compared to one year ago: 57

Source: Centre for International Governance Innovation.

Estimated percentage of small businesses that are in low-wealth communities, according to a report from The Association for Enterprise Opportunity: 43

Amount in annual revenue created by these businesses: $1.87 trillion

Of the 11.2 million small businesses in low-income communities, number that are microbusinesses: 10.2 million (90.7 percent)

Of the $1.87 trillion, amount generated by microbusinesses: $1.34 trillion

Source: Association for Enterprise Opportunity.

Year that Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington, conceived the idea of Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon, according to the Census Bureau: 1909

Number of children her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran, was left to raise alone: 6

Date of the first Father's Day celebration proclaimed by Spokane's mayor because it was the month of Smart's birth: June 17, 1910

Year the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was issued when President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day: 1966

Source: Census Bureau.

Among retired U.S. adults without a pension, percentage who recommend that those younger than them save earlier in their career, according to a survey commissioned by Pentegra Retirement Services: 63

Percentage who suggest saving more throughout their career: 57

Source: Pentegra Retirement Services.

Idle Thought

"It is wrong always, everywhere and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence." -- William Kingdon Clifford, mathematician and philosopher

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

581-7323

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.)

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