Figuratively Speaking

Amount of money that global piracy has cost the American economy, according to the Institute for Policy Innovation report: $58 billion

Number of jobs per year lost to U.S. workers: 373,375

Estimated loss to the U.S. government in tax revenues: $2.6 billion (including $1.8 billion in personal income tax and $800 million in lost corporate income and production taxes)

Source: Institute for Policy Innovation.

Average length of an executive's lunch break, according to a survey developed by OfficeTeam: 35 minutes

Response reported five years ago: 42 minutes

When survey respondents were asked how many days each week they worked through lunch, the average response: 3 days

Source: OfficeTeam.

Total dollar value of U.S. high-tech merchandise exports in 2007, a decrease of 3 percent from $220 billion in 2006, according to AeA's "Trade in the Cyberstates 2008": $214 billion

Percentage of all U.S. exports to the world this represents: 18

Rank of high-tech as the largest merchandise export sector in the United States: 1

Dollar value of exports from California, the leading high-tech export state in 2007: $48.2 billion

Source: AeA.

Despite the economic doldrums afflicting the nation, projected percentage growth in the U.S. market for vitamins, minerals, homeopathics and herbals between 2008 and 2012: 39

Estimated value of the market in 2012: $8.5 billion

Source: Packaged Facts.

Percentage of respondents who would subject themselves to a week of house arrest rather than miss the broadcast of an NFL game between two undefeated teams, according to a national study of men by Spike TV and TVGuide.com: 41

Source: Spike TV. Contact Sir/Madam at or e-mail info@spiketv.com. See PRNewswire from March 10, 2008.

Rank of Buzzillions.com on the list of premier sites for user reviews, according to the November 2008 issue of ShopSmart, from the publisher of Consumer Reports: 1

Rank of Freeshipping.org for the best shipping deals: 1

Rank of Heyitsfree.net as the best site for freebies: 1

Rank of Pricegrabber.com as the place for bargains: 1

Source: ShopSmart magazine.

Ranks of "accelerating development of key employees" (32 percent) and "competitive pay and benefits" (22 percent) as the top strategies that worked in retaining top talent, according to a Personnel Decisions International survey: 1, 2

Source: PDI.

When mothers from across the country were asked what concerned them most when buying food for their children, percentage who responded with sugar, according to a survey by the Corn Refiners Association: 50

Percentage of mothers who have concerns about their children's health and nutrition as they return to school, despite the fact that nearly seven in 10 moms (68 percent) indicate their children's schools have wellness policies: 64

Source: Corn Refiners Association. Contact Audrae Erickson at (202) 331-1634.

Percentage of executives who felt that data volumes in the organizations they've worked for are increasing in size and becoming unmanageable, owing in part to the amendment to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requiring that companies have the ability to access quickly an inventory of various electronically stored information in the event of litigation, according to an online poll, conducted by Deloitte: 39.7

Source: Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP.

By 2013, percentage of firms that expect to be largely dedicated to green building (on over 60 percent of projects), up from 30 percent today, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, and produced in partnership with the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC): 53

Percentage of firms that expect rapid or steady growth in sales and profit levels associated with green building: 86

Source: McGraw-Hill Construction and National Association of Home Builders.

Idle Thought

"To read fast is as bad as to eat in a hurry." -- Vilhelm Ekelund, poet

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

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

Percentage of newly minted physicians who said they received 10 or more job solicitations during their training, according to a survey conducted by Merritt, Hawkins and Associates: 94

Percentage who said they had received 26 or more solicitations: 80

Percentage who said they had received more than 50 job solicitations: 40

Percentage who said they had received more than 100 job solicitations: 6

Source: Merritt, Hawkins and Associates.

Ranks of Brad Pitt and Justin Timberlake as the most dangerous men to seek on the Internet, according to McAfee's list of celebrity names that produce the largest number of risky sites when searched for on the Web: 1, 2

Percentage chance that fans searching for "Brad Pitt," "Brad Pitt downloads," and Brad Pitt wallpaper, screen savers and pictures have of infecting their PCs with online threats such as spyware, spam, phishing, adware, viruses and other malware: 18

Source: McAfee Inc.

Estimated number of teaching vacancies that will become available over the next decade, based on projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics: 1.5 million

Percentage of college-educated Americans ages 24 to 60 who would consider becoming a teacher, according to a national survey for the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation: 42

Source: Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

Ranks of sex (29 percent), nothing (22 percent) and money (21 percent) as the topics men selected that couples should talk about more, according to a nationwide survey from TRUE.com: 1, 2, 3

Ranks of money (33 percent), nothing (29 percent), marriage (16 percent) and sex (15 percent) as the topics women selected that couples should talk about more: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: True.com.

Percentage of employees over the age of 18 who said they are worried about finding a new job if they lose their current one, according to "America at Work," a national poll conducted by the Employment Law Alliance: 51

Percentage who are troubled by the increasing cost to workers of employer-sponsored health care plans: 45

Source: Employment Law Alliance.

Percentage of finance and human resources managers who said that bringing in a candidate on a temporary basis provides the most insight into that person's future job performance, according to a survey developed by Accountemps: 38

Percentage who described the in-person interview as their most valuable hiring tool: 38

Percentage who cited the reference check: 17

Percentage who relied on the resume and cover letter: 6

Source: Accountemps.

Percentage of heterosexual adults who agree that how employees perform at their job should be the standard for judging employees, not whether or not they are transgender, according to the "2008 Out and Equal Workplace Survey": 71

Percentage of heterosexuals who feel that spouses of married heterosexual employees and committed partners of gay and lesbian employees both should receive leave rights for family and medical emergencies as outlined in FMLA: 68

Source: Out and Equal Workplace.

Average percentage of all auto insurance shoppers that auto insurance companies quote and successfully sign, according to the J.D. Power and Associates study: 2

Percentage of auto insurance customers who have actively shopped for a new insurer in the past year: 36

Source: J.D. Power and Associates.

Percentage of U.S. and U.K. consumers who would be happy to receive a call that used voice recognition to inform them that their plane, train or bus will be late, according to a report published by BT and Nortel: 71

Percentage who would look favorably on automated calls that informed them of the time of delivery of goods to their homes: 80

In finance, percentage of U.S. respondents who welcomed voice recognition for checking their account balance: 56

Source: Nortel.

If the number of overseas visitors arriving in the U.S. had kept pace with the growth in global overseas travel since 2001, estimated number of new jobs that would have been added to the American economy in 2007, according to a study by The Travel Industry Association: 340,000

Percentage to which total unemployment would have dropped: 4.4

Estimated number of fewer visitors to the U.S. since 9/11: 46 million

Revenue lost in visitor spending: $140 billion

Amount lost in tax revenue: $23 billion

Source: Travel Industry Association of America.

Idle Thought

"You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements." -- Norman Douglas, novelist

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

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

Percentage of singles who feel that the financial stability of their suitor is more important now than one year ago, according to a pop culture and relationship survey by OkCupid.com: 36

Percentage who would pay for a dating site if they had more discretionary cash: 14

Source: OkCupid.com.

Percentage of workers who say they always or usually live paycheck to paycheck, according a nationwide survey by CareerBuilder.com: 47

Percentage of workers with salaries of $100,000 or more who report that they, too, live paycheck to paycheck: 21

Percentage of workers who say they don't put any money aside for savings each month: 25

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of Americans with a New York accent who are happy with how their particular regional accent sounds in comparison with other American accents, according to a poll commissioned by SpinVox and conducted by Harris Interactive: 52

Rank of the New Jersey/New York dialect (as exemplified by James Gandolfini in his role as Tony Soprano) as the accent Americans would least like to have themselves: 1

Percentage of U.S. adults who reported they would like to speak like the queen of England: 36

Source: Harris Interactive.

By increasing graduation rates by 10 percentage points, the estimated number of murders that could be prevented every year, according to The Fight Crime: Invest in Kids members' report called "School or the Streets": 3,000

Estimated number of aggravated assaults that could be prevented annually: 175,000

If graduation rates were raised 10 percent among males nationwide, estimated total amount of money that could be saved every year through reducing costs associated with crime: $15 billion

Source: Fight Crime.

Percentage of the overall population who report that they use coupons when shopping for grocery, household and health care items at supermarkets, according to research from the Promotion Marketing Association's Coupon Council: 89

Percentage of primary shoppers who report that they use coupons at supermarkets: 97

Average percentage savings reported by coupon users on their grocery bill with coupons: 7

Source: Promotion Marketing Association.

Percentage of employers nationwide who are experiencing a leadership shortage that is impeding their organization's performance, according to Aon Consulting's "2008 Benefits and Talent" survey: 56

Percentage who expect to have a leadership shortage that will impede performance in the next one to four years: 31

Ranks of health care (62 percent), professional services (58 percent) and manufacturing (57 percent) as the industries that are hit hardest by the impact of this leadership shortage: 1, 2, 3

Source: Aon Consulting.

Percentage of employers who allow flexible work schedules in order to prevent good workers from leaving their organizations, according to a survey conducted for Robert Half International: 63

Percentage who provide funding for additional training/certification in order to keep their workers: 62

Source: Robert Half International.

Percentage of U.S. adults who are satisfied with the quality of primary and secondary education in the country, according to a survey by Gallup: 44

Percentage of parents of school-aged youth who say they are satisfied with their own children's education: 77

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of companies that reported that creating employee ownership through an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) was "a good business decision that has helped the company," according to a survey by the Employee Ownership: 92.4

Percentage of companies that indicated a better performance in 2007 when compared to 2006: 66

Source: Employee Ownership Foundation.

Percentage of executives who believe procurement issues are a high priority in their companies, according to a survey of global procurement and C-level executives by KPMG LLP: 74

Percentage who say that the procurement function in their companies focuses too much on cost reduction instead of value creation: 49

Source: KPMG LLP.

Idle Thought

"Tear man out of his outward circumstances; and what he then is -- that only is he." -- Johann Gottfried Seume, author

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

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