Percentage of U.S. workers who say they have become very sleepy or fallen asleep at work in the past month, according to a survey conducted by the National Sleep Foundation: 29

Percentage of U.S. workers who say they have arrived late at work in the past month because of sleepiness: 12

Percentage of U.S. workers with more than one job who say they get a good night's sleep only a "few times" a month or less: 43

Number of Americans who chronically suffer from sleep problems and disorders: 50 million

Source: National Sleep Foundation.

Ranks of Warren Buffett (net worth: $63 billion) and Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu ($60 billion) among the world's richest people as of Feb. 11, 2008, according to a study conducted by Forbes: 1, 2

Number of Americans among the world's 20 richest people in 2006: 10

Number of Americans among the world's 20 richest people in 2008: 4

Number of Indians among the world's 10 richest people (more than any other country): 4

Source: Forbes.

Cost of traffic crashes each year in the U.S., according to a study conducted by the AAA that calculates cost based on property damage, lost earnings, medical costs, emergency services, legal costs and travel delays: $164.2 billion

Cost of car crashes each year in New York and Los Angeles, the two largest U.S. cities with the highest cumulative annual car crash costs, respectively: $18 billion, $10 billion

Source: AAA.

Percentage of small-business owners who say they plan to retire and stop working completely in their businesses in the long run, according to the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey: 11

Percentage of small-business owners who say they expect their small businesses to keep going after they stop working: 62

Percentage who feel their businesses will stop: 33

Source: Gallup.

U.S. homeowners' equity in their homes in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve: 47.9 percent

Year in which Americans' equity in their homes last fell below 50 percent, based on data tracked since 1945: Never

Source: U.S. Federal Reserve.

Percentage of employees who live paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent study by the American Payroll Association: 67

In 2008, a leap year, number of extra paychecks that employees paid on Tuesdays or Wednesdays can expect to receive: 1

Source: American Payroll Association.

Percentage of Americans who filed their tax returns by mid-February 2008, according to a survey conducted by BIGresearch: 28.5

Percentage of Americans who will prepare their tax return using a computer software program: 31.5

Percentage who will do it by hand: 14.7

Percentage who will use an accountant: 23.5

Percentage who will use a tax preparation service: 18.7

Percentage who will have a spouse, friend or other relative handle it: 11.6

Source: BIGresearch.

Percentage of workers who said their jobs would be more difficult if they did not work in the same office as their supervisors, according to a survey developed by OfficeTeam: 48

Of this group, percentage who felt it would be much more difficult: 27

Percentage of managers who said it is important that all staff members work in the same location: 58

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of college students seeking jobs who say they expect it will take them only three or fewer months to find a job, according to a poll conducted by CollegeRecruiter in March 2008: 74

Percentage who said the same in January and February 2008, respectively: 69, 65

Source: CollegeRecruiter.com.

Dollars invested in 221 "clean technology" deals worldwide in 2007, according to data released by Dow Jones VentureSource: $3 billion

Percentage increase from the $2.1 billion invested in 173 similar deals in 2006: 43

Percentage of global clean-technology investment in 2007 accounted for by the United States, according to the report: 83

Source: Dow Jones VentureOne.

Idle Thought

"Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself." -- Tom Wilson

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

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

Percentage of divorced Americans who report losing weight during or right after a divorce, according to a study by divorce360.com: 36

Percentage who changed jobs or got a new job: 33

Percentage who bought a car: 30

Percentage who bought furniture: 28

Source: divorce360.com.

Average number of hours that Americans are putting in at work each day, according to NSF's 2008 Sleep in America poll: 9.5

Estimated number of hours of additional work they do at home: 4.5

Percentage of those surveyed who say they only get a good night's sleep a few nights per month: 32

Source: National Sleep Foundation.

Percentage of open positions in 2007 that were filled by internal movement, according to CareerXroads Annual Sources of Hire Study: 30

Percentage of all external hires that were made based on referrals: 28.7

Percentage of external hires that were attributed to job boards: 25.7

Percentage of hires that were made from traditional print sources: 5

Source: CareerXroads.

Percentage of female middle managers who aspire to senior level positions, according to a Hudson research study: 77

Estimated percentage of women who ever achieve that goal: 25

Source: Hudson.

Ranks of London, New York and Moscow as the world's most expensive cities for residential apartment buyers, according a survey by the Global Property Guide: 1, 2, 3

Cost range per square meter of residential apartments in Prime Central London (includes Belgravia, Chelsea, Mayfair, Notting Hill, Knightsbridge, Regent's Park, South Kensington, St. John's Wood and St. James): $21,800 to $36,200

Cost range per square meter of residential apartments in Upper Manhattan: $13,270 to $22,923

Source: Global Property Guide.

Estimated percentage of the world's online population that has used the Internet to make a purchase, according to Nielsen Global Online Survey on Internet shopping habits: 85

Number of people this represents: 875 million

Percentage increase in the market for online shopping in the past two years: 40

Source: Nielsen Media Research.

Percentage of U.S. males who say they have snooped on someone else's e-mail, according to a survey conducted by Google: 21

Percentage of women who say the same: 27

Source: Google.

Percentage of executives who said the CEOs of their organizations are very or completely willing to embrace strategies necessary to attract, assess and retain new generations of employees, according to a survey conducted by Stanton Chase International and Birkman International: 55

Rank of baby boomers as the most stable and loyal workforce in history with average employee tenure of 15 years in 1980 and 10 years in 2000: 1

In 2000, average tenure for Generation X (born 1965-1977): 5 years

Source: Stanton Chase International.

Rank of Nevada as the nation's fastest-growing state, with a population increase of 2.9 percent between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau: 1

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Idle Thought

"A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams." -- John Barrymore

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

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

Percentage of Americans who would pay off debt if they won a million dollars, according to a nationwide survey of consumers conducted by Compass Bank: 48

Percentage who said they would continue to work until they reached retirement age: 41

Percentage who would call in sick the next day and never return to work: 20

Source: Compass Bank.

Percentage of women employees in the U.S. who say they heard at least one sexually inappropriate comment in their workplace last year, nearly double from 2006, according to a survey conducted by Novations Group: 38

Percentage of male U.S. employees who said they heard at least one sexually inappropriate comment in their workplace in 2007: 45

Source: Novations Group Inc.

Percentage of U.S. employers who say stress, caused by "working long hours/doing more with less," is affecting business performance, according to Watson Wyatt's 2007/2008 Staying@Work Report: 48

Percentage of employers who believe stress caused by work/life balance issues adversely affects business performance: 32

Percentage of employers who believe stress caused by widespread use of technologies that expand availability, such as cell phones and personal digital assistants, are greatly affecting business performance: 29

Source: Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

Percentage of respondents who admit that they've thanked their vehicle, according to national survey commissioned by Jiffy Lube International: 46

Percentage who have complimented their cars on their dependability: 33.5

Percentage who admit they have given a nice rub to the dashboard or some other sweet spot: 17

Percentage who have tried to bribe their vehicle into behaving by offering such things as a car wash or premium gasoline: 17

Source: Opinion Research Corp.

Percentage of full-time, commuting U.S. workers who say their commute to or from work has been affected by "severe weather" in the past three months, according to a survey conducted by Kronos, The Workforce Institute and Harris Interactive: 33

Percentage who arrived late to work as a result: 23

Percentage who left early: 16

Percentage who lost pay because of their affected commute: 20

Source: Kronos Inc.

Percentage of U.S. employees who say they are open to a new career opportunity in 2008, according to a survey conducted by Yahoo! HotJobs: 72

Percentage who say they would be willing to leave their current job because they either dislike their boss's management style or feel there is a lack of mentorship at their company: 43

Percentage of U.S. employees who agree with the statement, "People don't leave companies; they leave managers": 55

Source: Yahoo! HotJobs.

Estimated total value of all online advertising revenue in 2007, according to a study conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers: $21.1 billion

Approximate total value of all online advertising revenue in 2005: $12.6 billion

Source: Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Percentage of single women who contribute regularly to retirement, according to the MetLife Mature Market Institute's Family Matters study: 21

Percentage of traditional families that consistently contribute to their retirement accounts: 41

Percentage of blended families that do the same: 29

Source: MetLife Mature Market Institute.

Percentage of Americans who were able to correctly estimate how interest compounds over time, according to a survey conducted by TNS in partnership with professors at Harvard Business School and Dartmouth College: 35

Percentage of respondents who did not understand how minimum payments are calculated and applied to a principal balance: 50

Source: TNS.

Number of top 10 beaches that are in Florida: 4

Number that are in Hawaii: 3

Source: TripAdvisor.

Idle Thought

"Natural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability." -- Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

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

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