Figuratively Speaking

Average amount that holiday shoppers plan to spend on holiday gifts, according to PriceGrabber's holiday survey: $845

Of online consumers, percentage who said that they plan to spend $500 or more on holiday gifts (up 7 percent from last year): 66

Percentage of total purchases that the average 2010 holiday shopper will make online: 57

Source: PriceGrabber.com.

Percentage of all adults in the U.S. who were married in 2008, according to a Pew Research Center nationwide survey, done in association with Time magazine and complemented by an analysis of demographic and economic data from the U.S. Census Bureau: 52

Percentage who were married in 1960: 72

Percentage of respondents who say that marriage is becoming obsolete: 39

When Time posed this question to registered voters in 1978, percentage who agreed: 28

Despite growing uncertainties, percentage of Americans who are optimistic about the future of marriage and family: 67

Source: PEW Internet and American Life Project.

Percentage of the affluent who said they will not buy any gifts for this holiday season, according to a survey of the wealthiest 10 percent of U.S. households by the American Affluence Research Center: 12

Estimated number of households represented by the wealthiest 10 percent: 11.4 million

Percentage overall average decline from the $2,399 that the respondents say they spent on gifts in 2009: 3.9

Source: American Affluence Research Center.

Ranks of employee attitudes, effective management, strong trust relationships, and customer focus on the list of elements that workers find to be critical to company culture, according to Randstad's Work Watch survey: 1, 2, 3, 4

Percentage of workers who describe their current work culture as "all hands on deck": 38

Percentage who describe their work culture as a "process" culture, where it's all about data, grids and forms: 18

Percentage who describe their work culture as a "work hard/play hard" culture: 16

Source: Randstad-USA.

Percentage of workers who admitted to falling asleep on the job, according to a CareerBuilder survey: 45

Percentage who admitted to kissing a co-worker: 39

Percentage who admitted to spreading a rumor about a co-worker: 22

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of people who use the same password to log into multiple websites, according to research commissioned by Webroot: 41

Percentage of all users who never use special characters (e.g., exclamation marks, question marks, ampersands, etc.) in their passwords: 49

Percentage who have used a significant date, such as a birthdate, or a pet's name as a password -- information that's often publicly visible on social networks: 20

Source: Webroot Software Inc.

Percentage of drivers who say they are guilty of eating while driving during the past 60 days, according to a Kelley Blue Book poll: 21

Percentage who admitted to texting while driving: 13

Percentage who fiddled with the navigation system: 12

Source: Kelley Blue Book.

Percentage of U.S. travelers who confess to taking a vacation simply because they found a great deal, according to TripAdvisor: 60

Percentage of savvy travelers, unafraid to shop around, who subscribe to deals newsletters: 69

Of those who subscribe, percentage who receive between one and five deals newsletters: 81

Source: TripAdvisor.

Among online shoppers, percentage who search for online coupons or deals when they purchase something on the Internet, according to an online shopping poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of Offers.com: 63

Percentage who do so regularly: 21 (9 percent who do so always, and 12 percent who do so most of the time)

Percentage who do so sporadically: 42

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Predicted percentage rise in food import bills for the world's poorest countries in 2010, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: 11

Predicted percentage rise for low-income food-deficit countries: 20

Source: FAO.

Idle Thought

"Creative activity could be described as a type of learning process where teacher and pupil are located in the same individual." -- Arthur Koestler, novelist and journalist

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

Percentage of students who said they didn't feel fully prepared to manage their own money when they went to college, according to a BookRenter College Experience survey: 77

Percentage of respondents who believed that it was a parent's responsibility to actively teach them about money: 85

Percentage of students who felt that the onus of learning about money is on them: 5

Source: BookRenter.

Percentage of Americans who said that if they should suddenly inherit a large sum of money, they would start a business, according to findings from a Flash Eurobarometer study investigating attitudes toward entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs in the 27 European Union member states, the U.S. and 50 Chinese cities: 14

Percentage of Chinese who would use an inheritance to start a business: 41

Percentage of Americans who would save the money: 48

Percentage of Chinese who would save the money: 23

Source: Gallup.

Percentage forecast rise in Christmas sales this year over last, totaling nearly $59 billion, according to IBISWorld: 3.6

Percentage rise in electronics, such as remoteless video-game consoles and tablet computers, expected to be the strongest-growing gift category: 7

Projected percentage rise in jewelry sales, in an expected return to luxury shopping: 6.1

Source: IBISWorld.

Percentage of advertising and marketing executives who believe that the annual holiday corporate shindig is a good investment, according to a survey by The Creative Group: 52

Percentage who said their firms don't have holiday celebrations: 24

Source: The Creative Group.

Percentage of Americans who plan to spend more on leisure travel in 2011 than they did this year, according to TripAdvisor's annual Travel Trends survey: 36

Percentage who expect to spend the same amount: 42

Percentage who plan to take two or more leisure trips next year -- a slight increase on the 89 percent who said they have done so in 2010: 90

Source: TripAdvisor.

Percentage of employers who report concern that their top talent may leave their organizations when the economy improves, thus giving workers more leverage in compensation reviews, according to a CareerBuilder survey: 43

Percentage of employers who said they are willing to negotiate 2011 salary increases with current employees: 31

Percentage who plan to leave some negotiating room when extending initial offers to new employees: 51

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of Americans who have purchased a vehicle who say quality has the greatest influence on their car-buying decision, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of CarMax: 37

Percentage who said price has the greatest influence: 28

Percentage who cited safety: 22

Source: CarMax.

Percentage of active gamers in the U.S. who spend money on in-game virtual items and micro-transactions to the point they are filing lawsuits to establish "ownership" of these virtual goods, according to a Parks Associates report: 19

As virtual items become a larger part of the gaming business economy, projected worldwide revenue in microtransaction revenues by 2015: $6 billion

Source: Parks Associates.

Percentage of adults who said Johnny Depp's performance in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy is today's best example of the swashbuckling tradition that was the trademark of stars like Errol Flynn, according to the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) poll which gauges how modern movies, stars and filmmakers stack up against Hollywood icons: 41

Ranks of Antonio Banderas in "The Mask of Zorro" and Russell Crowe in "Robin Hood": 2, 3

Source: Turner Classic Movies.

Percentage of participants with an employer-sponsored defined benefit plan who are very confident that they will receive income from their pension plan in retirement, down from 24 percent in 2008, according to a Mercer Workplace Survey: 19

Percentage who are "somewhat confident": 35

Percentage who are "not at all confident" that they will receive some pension income: 11

Source: Mercer.

Idle Thought

"You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips." -- Oliver Goldsmith, writer and physician

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

Percentage of workers who have played hooky from the office at least once this year, according to CareerBuilder's annual survey on absenteeism: 29

Percentage of employers who think they are seeing an increase in bogus sick excuses from employees due to continued stress and burnout caused by the weak economy: 27

Percentage of employers who reported that they have checked up on an employee who called in sick: 29

Percentage who said they have fired a worker for missing work without a proven excuse: 16

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Estimated number of pounds of turkey that Americans consume each year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 13.4

Number of U.S. cities named after turkey: Turkey, Texas, Turkey Creek, La., and Turkey, N.C.: 3

Number of cities in the U.S. named after the cranberry: 8

Number of locations in the U.S. named Plymouth: 28

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of chief financial officers who said that if they could eliminate one responsibility, it would be basic clerical and administrative work, according to a survey developed by Robert Half Management Resources: 38

Percentage who said they would hand off accounting-related tasks: 19

Percentage who said human resource-related work: 14

Percentage who said managing: 7

Source: Robert Half Finance and Accounting.

Percentage of those saving for a college education who do not believe the stock market will provide the returns needed over the next 10 years to enable them to achieve their college savings goals, according to a survey by the Tuition Plan Consortium: 50

Despite the fact that the S&P 500 Index has produced an annualized return of nearly 9.5 percent over the past 50 years, percent of college savers who would rather receive a guaranteed return that offsets increases in tuition than rely on the stock market to produce higher returns: 73

Source: Tuition Plan Consortium.

Estimated number of Americans who will travel 50 miles or more from home this Thanksgiving holiday weekend, a decrease of 600,000 travelers (1.4 percent) from last year's total of 41.6 million, according to a forecast by AAA: 41 million

Estimated number of Americans (81 percent of all holiday travelers) who expect to travel by automobile, a 1.2 percent decrease from the 33.6 million people who drove a year ago: 33.2 million

Source: AAA.

Expected percentage year-over-year increase in the number of passengers traveling on U.S. airlines during the 2010 Thanksgiving holiday season, according to the Air Transport Association of America: 3.5

Number of air travelers who are projected to travel over the period: 24 million

Source: Air Transport Association.

Aside from excellent medical care, percentage of Americans who say that keeping a positive mental attitude is most beneficial when facing a serious health challenge, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of CaringBridge: 35

Percentage who feel that having emotional support and encouragement from loved ones would be most beneficial: 27

Percentage who believe that personal prayer and their faith would be their strength: 23

Percentage who believe in staying physically active: 13

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of online shoppers who are planning to shop on Black Friday, according to an Offers.com survey: 37

Among them, percentage (18 percent of all online shoppers) who plan to do at least part of that shopping online: 50

Among all online shoppers, percentage who are planning to shop on Cyber Monday: 18

Source: Offers.com.

Percentage of Americans who say that having a decent, affordable place to live is either No. 1 or high up on their list of individual and family priorities, according to a Zogby International poll commissioned by the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials: 86

Source: Zogby International.

Percentage of women presidents and CEOs of multimillion-dollar companies who have maintained or grown their employee base, according to the annual economic survey by the Women Presidents' Organization: 74

Percentage of these CEOs and presidents who provide health insurance to their employees: 85

Percentage who cover 81 percent to 100 percent of health insurance for employees: 32

Source: Women Presidents' Organization.

Idle Thought

"When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece." -- John Ruskin, author

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