Percentage of car owners who reported being very satisfied with maintenance performed at independent shops (compared with 77 percent at dealerships), according to a Consumer Reports National Research Center survey: 84

Ranks of Lexus, Buick and Acura (with 85, 83 and 82 percent satisfaction rates, respectively) on the list of top scoring car brands in dealership maintenance satisfaction: 1, 2, 3

Source: Consumer Reports.

Percentage fewer graduates that employers plan to hire from the class of 2009 than from last year's class, according to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers: 22

Percentage of former American graduates whose advice to the class of 2009 is to pick a career because they like it, not because of earning potential (in other words, "to choose passion over money"), according to the results of the American Adecco Workplace Insights Survey: 71

Percentage of Americans who advise current students to pick a career based on salary alone: 13

Source: Adecco.

Percentage of consumers who are using the Internet more frequently to research products and prices, according to a survey commissioned by NCR Corp.: 53

Percentage who want to receive price comparisons, product reviews, coupons, promotions and store sales information online or via e-mail: 46

Percentage who are switching between retailers -- i.e., "shop hopping," to get better value: 49

Source: Brand Resources Group, NCR.

Percentage of buying power lost by seniors since the beginning of the decade, according to a new study released today by the Senior Citizens League: 20

Percentage rise in typical senior expenses since 2000: 58

Source: Senior Citizens League.

Year when one of the basics of most women's wardrobes, nylon stockings, went on sale for the first time, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1940

Number of pairs of nylon stockings that were sold that first year, though they soon became scarce as nylon production went to the war effort making items such as parachutes: 63 million

Estimated number of women's clothing stores across the U.S.: 47,000

Annual value of the apparel and accessories market: $31 billion

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Projected percentage of GDP represented by domestic health care costs by 2010, according to a Gallup Poll: 21

Percentage of Americans who would consider traveling abroad for medical procedures such as heart bypass surgery, hip or knee replacement, plastic surgery, cancer diagnosis and treatment, or alternative medical care, even though all are routinely done in the United States: 29

Assuming equal quality and significantly cheaper cost, percentage who said they would be willing to travel abroad for medical procedures: 40

Source: Gallup.

Number of domestic leisure trips during June, July and August of 2009 that Americans are expected to take, according to the annual summer travel forecast by the U.S. Travel Association: 322 million

Percentage decline from summer 2008, though leisure travel remains resilient in the current economic climate: 2.2

Source: U.S. Travel Association.

Rank of YouTube on the list of "Video Web Brands," according to the Nielsen Co.: 1

Total number of streams through YouTube in April: 5.5 billion

Source: Nielsen Analytics.

Among those who have not traveled outside of their country in the last five years, percentage who say that they see themselves as a global citizen as much as, or more than, a citizen of their nation, according to a WorldPublicOpinion.org survey of people in 21 nations from around the world: 29

Among those who have traveled outside their country at least once in the last five years, percentage who say they see themselves as a global citizen as much as or more than a citizen of their own country: 39

Among those who know people from five or more regions of the world who see themselves as global citizens: 47

Source: WorldPublicOpinion.org.

Percentage of executives who reported increased concern about potential violations of the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), according to a Deloitte survey: 75

As a result of FCPA concerns, percentage of respondents who indicated their companies had renegotiated or canceled a planned business relationship or acquisition: 42

Ranks of Russia/Commonwealth of Independent States and China on the list of countries eliciting the most concern about the potential for FCPA violations: 1, 2

Across geographies, ranks of subcontractors who don't add value, fraudulent training and travel expenses, and third-party foreign payers on the list of the most common bribery schemes reported: 1, 2, 3

Source: Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP.

Idle Thought

"Our heads are round so that thoughts can change direction." -- Francis Picabia, painter and poet

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

On average, amount by which the annual salary of workers with a bachelor's degree exceeds the salary of those with a high school diploma, according to figures announced by the U.S. Census Bureau that outline 2008 educational trends and achievement levels: $26,000

Average salary earned by workers with a high school diploma: $31,286

Average salary earned by workers with a bachelor's degree: $57,181

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Estimated number of worldwide e-mail users in 2009, according to a study from the Radicati Group Inc: 1.4 billion

Number of messages sent per day in 2009: 247 billion

Projected number that will be sent per day in 2013: 507 billion

Source: Radicati Group.

When asked which of four common investments is best for the long term, percentage of Americans who chose savings, according to a Gallup Poll: 34

Percentage who said real estate: 33

Percentage who cited stocks and mutual funds: 15

Percentage who said bonds: 12

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of Americans who indicated that a New Jersey Houston's restaurant was wrong for firing employee Doreen Marino for negative comments about the company and employees posted on a private MySpace forum, according to a study conducted by MediaCurves.com: 58

Percentage of respondents who say that this was an invasion of privacy on the company's part: 58

Source: MediaCurves.com.

Estimated number of households in the U.S. that had to replace computers in the past six months due to spyware, according to Consumer Reports National Research Center's "State of the Net" survey: 545,000

Estimated number of households that were victims of identity theft committed over the Internet in the past year: 1.7 million

Of those, percentage that said the incident occurred because of an online purchase: 66

Source: Consumer Reports.

Percentage of consumers who have used in-store or in-home technical support to solve a computer problem, up from 10 percent in 2006: 30

Percent of consumers who have used professional tech support for home networking problems, up from 6 percent in 2006: 15

Estimated revenue for PC and home networking troubleshooting services by 2013, due in large part to growing consumer demand and increased prevalence of connected devices: $2 billion

Source: Parks Associates.

Percentage of "echo boomers" (individuals born between 1982 and 1995) who would provide personal data (i.e., first and last name, age and city) in exchange for targeted advertising, according to a study by Q Interactive: 63

Percentage of baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) who would do the same: 53

Percentage of baby boomers who view advertisers "favorably" when they present an advertisement tailored to a personal interest: 56

Estimated total annual income of baby boomers, according to AARP: $3 trillion

Source: Q Interactive.

Estimated percentage of all marine litter that is made up of abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear, according to the study issued by the Media Office at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): 10

Weight of litter this represents: 640,000 metric tons

Source: FAO.

Percentage of working moms at companies that have had layoffs in the past 12 months who are working longer hours, according to a CareerBuilder's survey: 30

Percentage who have taken on second jobs in the last year to help make ends meet: 14

Percentage of these moms who reported that they are burned out: 34

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of American adults who have changed religious affiliation at least once during their lives, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life: 50

Age by which most people who change their religion leave their childhood faith: 24

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Idle Thought

"It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of the truth." -- John Locke, philosopher

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

Percentage of executives who said they consider their assistant's opinion important when evaluating potential new hires, according to a survey developed by OfficeTeam: 61

Percentage who said it was very important: 21

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of Americans who view big government as the most serious threat to the country in the future, according to a Gallup Poll: 55

Percentage who see big business as the greatest threat: 32

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of parents who have made budgeting a new topic of conversation for the entire family, according to a study from CoolSavings.com: 33

Percentage who feel budgeting is not a conversation for kids: 8

Percentage who see it in a different light -- as an important life lesson: 78

Source: Q Interactive.

Average salary for an executive chef in 2008, according to StarChefs.com: $77,611

Average salary in 2009: $74,869

Percentage more that male executive chefs make than female executive chefs: 18

Source: StarChefs.com.

Percentage growth over 2007 in U.S. sales of organic products, both food and non-food, according to results from the Organic Trade Association's "2009 Organic Industry Survey": 17.1

Percentage of all food products in the U.S. that are organic: 3.5

Source: Organic Trade Association.

Percentage of women who think they look younger than their actual age, according to a survey conducted by American Laser Centers: 58

Percentage of men who think they look younger than their actual age: 48

Percentage of women who said they would like to look younger than their actual age: 64

Percentage of men who said they would like to look younger: 51

Source: American Laser Services.

Estimated number of malware-infected computers (including corporate, government and consumer computers around the world) in a network discovered by Finjan's Malicious Code Research Center: 1.9 million

Number of government-owned domains (.gov) from the U.S., the United Kingdom and various other countries where computers were found to be compromised: 77

Number of people in the cybergang who control the Ukraine-based cybercrime server -- in use since February 2009 -- that's responsible for the malware: 6

Source: Finjan's Malicious Code Research Center.

Percentage of hourly hiring managers with responsibility to recruit summer employees who say the biggest competition for students trying to get an entry-level job this summer will come from other students: 54

Percentage who say this competition will come from workers who have recently entered the workforce because of economic pressures, up nine points from last year: 29

Average expected hourly pay for these workers (up 40 cents from the average amount reported in last year's survey): $10.20

Source: Ipsos Reid Public Affairs.

Percentage of the nation's home medical equipment and service providers that have formal plans to respond to a pandemic flu, according to a survey conducted by the American Association for Homecare: 53

Percentage that have stockpiled N95 masks or other supplies related to a flu pandemic: 23

Percentage that said they are working on a formal plan and expect to have one in place: 18

Source: American Association for Homecare.

Although the downturn in the economy has proven tough for workers, percentage of those still employed who say they're gaining more from the experience than just managing to keep their jobs, and cite at least one positive effect the recession has had for them, according to a survey by Accountemps: 77

Percentage who cite the ability to tackle new projects: 53

Percentage who have assumed additional responsibility: 52

Percentage who have taken on more challenging work: 52

Source: Accountemps.

Idle Thought

"The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind." -- Charles Darwin, naturalist and author

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