Figuratively Speaking

Percentage of executives who strongly agreed that recent college graduates have the needed skills to succeed as they enter their first professional job, according to a survey by Korn/Ferry: 5

Compared to college graduates 10 years ago, percentage of respondents who felt today's graduates are more motivated to succeed on the job: 34

Percentage who said today's college graduates are less motivated to succeed: 42

Percentage of professionals who said they look for drive/passion when hiring a new college graduate: 61

Percentage who said grades: 1

Source: Korn/Ferry International.

Percentage of women who are likely to let the other person pay for a date, versus 2 percent of men, according to a survey by Bankrate: 46

Percentage of women who are more likely to split the bill, versus 9 percent of men: 37

Source: Bankrate Inc.

Percentage of Americans who believe the condition of a workplace restroom is one indicator of how a company values its workforce, according to a survey by the Bradley Corp.: 89

Percentage of workers who rank their restrooms as "excellent" or "very good": 67

Source: Bradley Corp.

Percentage of Americans ages 18 to 39 who indicated they believe it's "normal to be depressed when you are old," according to a survey by AARP: 47

Percentage of respondents ages 60 and up who believe old age is a "depressing stage of life": 10

Percentage of respondents ages 60 and up who reported they are "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their life, versus 61 percent of people ages 18 to 39 and 60 percent of those ages 40 to 59: 67

Source: AARP.

Average amount of time Americans spend per week cleaning their house without help, according to a survey on behalf of Alfred Karcher GmbH & Co.: 3.3 hours

Percentage of Americans who would spend more time cleaning their house for visiting friends than for their parents: 34

Percentage who would clean their house before a date arrives: 9

Source: Alfred Karcher GmbH & Co.

If money were not a concern, ranks of Hawaii, Florida, California, Alaska and Colorado on the list of the most popular domestic holiday destinations, according to a survey from TheCashlorette.com: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Internationally, ranks of Italy, Australia, France, the United Kingdom and Ireland on the list: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: TheCashlorette.com.

Number of minutes per day employees ages 18 to 34 rack up on mobile devices, according to an OfficeTeam survey: 70

Amount of time they spend on personal tasks each work day, the most of all age groups: 48 minutes

Source: OfficeTeam.

Amount now loaded to prepaid credit cards each year, according to WalletHub: $300 billion

Annual amount it can cost the consumer if they chose the wrong option on a prepaid card: $311

Percentage less-expensive that prepaid cards from large banks can be than their small-bank counterparts: 82

Source: WalletHub.

Percentage of small-business owners who are optimistic about their future, according to a survey by Reliant Funding: 63

Percentage who said their business is good and steadily growing: 76

Source: Reliant Funding.

Percentage of Americans who said that the main reason they buy organic "is to avoid pesticides," according to research for Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc.: 90

Percentage of people in the United States who have detectable levels of pesticide breakdown products in their urine: 94

Percentage who said they buy organic to avoid genetically modified organisms (GMOs): 70

Percentage who choose organic produce because they believe it is a more nutritious option to feed their families: 40

Source: Natural Grocers.

Idle Thought

"No one worth possessing, can be quite possessed." -- Sara Teasdale, poet

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

Percentage of U.S. workers who feel they have just a job, not a career, according to a CareerBuilder survey: 55

Percentage of these workers who are likely to change jobs in the second half of 2017: 38

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Amount of Americans' outstanding credit card debt, a new record, according to the Federal Reserve: $1.0217 trillion

Source: Bankrate.com.

Percentage of millennial women who said they feel the need to downplay the time and effort they put into their look, according to a survey of millennial women by TRESemme: 70

Percentage of women who feel there is a stereotype about women who spend time on their appearance: 68

Source: TRESemme.

Percentage of Americans who say they have signed up for a subscription or membership, such as a gym, that enrolled them in an automatic payment plan without even realizing it, according to a study by CreditCards.com: 35

When respondents found themselves in this situation, percentage who kept the autopay turned on: 11

Percentage who found it easy to cancel an automatic payment: 47

Source: Creditcards.com.

Percentage increase in healthy food consumption when families share home-cooked dinners, according to research by the FMI Foundation: 24

Average number of times per week that parents eat home-cooked dinners with their child or spouse: 3.5

Rank of "differing schedules" on the list of obstacles for missed family meals: 1

Source: FMI Foundation.

Percentage less interest charged for the average new car loan than the average used car loan this year, according to Wallet Hub: 16

Compared with buyers who have excellent credit, amount more that those with fair credit will spend in interest (about five times more), over the life of a five-year, $20,000 loan when financing a vehicle: $6,282

Ranks of car manufacturers (rates 44 percent below average) credit unions (21 percent below average) as the best options for financing a new car: 1,2

Ranks of regional banks (25 percent above average) and national banks (10 percent above average) on the list of the less favorable options for financing a new car: 1, 2

Source: WalletHub.

Percentage of teens who anticipate working a part-time job while attending college, while only 49 percent of college students or recent graduates actually had one while in college, according to a survey by Ameritrade: 58

Percentage of teens who expect to help pay for college with scholarships or grants: 49

Percentage of teens who say they will take or have taken part in a work-study program: 59

Source: TD Ameritrade.

When Americans were asked to list the world's top cities, ranks of New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London, Sydney and Rome: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Source: Ipsos Global Public Affairs.

Percentage of tutors aged 50-plus who cited a desire to share their accumulated knowledge as their No. 1 motivation, according to a survey by Wyzant: 73

Percentage who said they tutored for the money: 59

Source: Wyzant.

When asked if they had auto, health or home insurance, percentage of Americans who say they have at least two of these, according to a survey by Harris Poll on behalf of OneAmerica: 80

Source: The Harris Poll.

Idle thought

"What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give." -- P.D. James, novelist

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

Percentage of executives who said they would disregard a job candidate if they found a typo or bad grammar in the candidate's resume, according to a survey conducted by the Futurestep division of Korn Ferry: 10

Percentage who said they would keep the candidate in the pool, but with reservations: 46

Percentage of executives who said the most important information on a resume is the candidate's experience that is relevant to the position: 83

Percentage of respondents who said short tenure or "job hopping" matters to some or a great extent: 87

Source: Korn/Ferry International.

Percentage of workers who said they have regrets about leaving their former job, according to a survey from staffing firm Accountemps: 23

Percentage who said they regret leaving friends and colleagues: 28

Percentage who said they departed for the wrong reasons: 27

Percentage who said they regret having to say goodbye to a great boss or mentor: 20

Source: Accountemps.

Percentage of people (48 percent of males and 39 percent of females) who said they had participated in an interracial sexual relationship, according to a survey by adamandeve.com: 42

Percentage of respondents (70 percent of females and 58 percent of males) who said they feel there is still a stigma associated with interracial relationships: 64

Percentage of respondents who said they were open to dating outside their race: 79

Source: Adam & Eve.

Percentage of U.S. workers who are living paycheck-to-paycheck to make ends meet -- up from 75 percent last year -- according to CareerBuilder research: 78

Percentage of all workers who say they're in debt -- up from 68 percent last year: 71

Percentage who say their debt is manageable: 46

Percentage of those in debt who say they feel they will always be in debt: 56

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Of the five most valuable college majors, number that are engineering degrees, according to a report from TheCashlorette.com: 4

Rank of petroleum engineering, boasting the highest median income ($134,840.88) and an elite 2.38 percent unemployment rate (13th overall), on the list of the most valuable majors: 1

Ranks of pharmaceutical sciences/administration, geological/geophysical engineering, mining/mineral engineering and naval architecture/marine engineering on the list: 2, 3, 4, 5

Ranks of clinical psychology, miscellaneous fine arts, composition/rhetoric, human services/community organization, and studio arts on the list of the least valuable college majors: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Of the top-10 bachelor's degrees, number that are STEM majors: 10

Source: Bankrate.com.

Percentage of all fatal car crashes -- totaling 6,400 deaths each year -- that are attributed to a drowsy driver, according to a study by the National Safety Council: 21

Percentage of Americans who work high-risk hours, at least occasionally: 41

Percentage who have trouble remembering things at work because of fatigue: 39

Percentage who commute 30 minutes or more, exacerbating the chances of falling asleep behind the wheel: 31

Source: National Safety Council.

After getting through back-to-school season, percentage of parents who will enjoy using free time to go shopping for themselves, according to a survey by RetailMeNot and Kelton Global: 44

Percentage who will go to lunch with their friends: 43

While their kids hit the books, percentage of parents who will utilize their free time by exercising: 35

Source: RetailMeNot.com.

Percentage of HR professionals who are fully confident in their employer's overall ability to effectively assess the skills of entry-level applicants, including dependability and reliability, integrity, respect and teamwork, according to a survey by SHRM/Mercer: 20

Percentage of HR professionals who have little or no confidence in the application and resume reviews used for screening entry-level job candidates: 50

Source: Mercer.

Average amount that teenagers will contribute toward back-to-school costs this year -- up from last year's $32.90 -- according to a survey by the National Retail Federation: $37.64

Average amount that pre-teens will contribute, up from last years $20.08: $27.09

Source: NRF.

Starting price for a full pass to the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament, according to WalletHub: $2,125

Total purse for the U.S. Open: $46.3 million

Year that the U.S. Open became the first major to pay men's and women's champions equally (this year, the winner's share is $3.5 million): 1973

Source: WalletHub.

Idle Thought

"Literature encourages tolerance -- bigots and fanatics seldom have any use for the arts, because they're so preoccupied with their beliefs and actions that they can't see them also as possibilities." -- Northrop Frye, writer and critic

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