Figuratively Speaking

Percentage of Americans (an estimated 164 million people) who are planning to shop or considering shopping during Thanksgiving weekend, according to the annual survey released today by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics: 69

Source: NRF.

Rank of Black Friday 2017 on the list of predicted busiest digital shopping days in U.S. history, exceeding Cyber Monday as the U.S. digital shopping day with the most sales for the second year in a row, according to Salesforce insights and predictions for the 2017 holiday shopping season: 1

Average percentage discount off list price that will be seen Cyber Week (Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday): 28

Percentage of orders that will offer free shipping during this period: 86

Source: Salesforce.

Rank of Thanksgiving on the list of America's favorite holidays, according to research for CNN: 2

Rank of Christmas: 1

Year that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the fourth Thursday in November Thanksgiving: 1863

Percentage of Americans who said eating Thanksgiving leftovers is more important than eating their regular Thanksgiving meal: 79

Estimated number of native Americans who attended the 1621 Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts: 90

Estimated number of questions typically answered by the Butterball Turkey hotline every November and December: 100,000

Source: CNN Money.

Percentage of people who say a store credit card's zero-percent financing is its biggest draw, according to a survey by WalletHub: 53

Percentage of people who understand how deferred interest works who say they would not sign up for such a plan: 67

Source: WalletHub.

Percentage of American households that can be defined as affluent (at least $125,000 in annual household income), according to an Ipsos survey: 16

Percentage of affluents who can be categorized as "affluencers," a powerful group who influence others' shopping and buying behaviors: 71

Percentage more that affluencers spend than other affluents on all spending categories, and 3.6 times as much as non-affluents: 40

Source: Ipsos Affluent Survey.

During the past two years, estimated number of Americans who were starting or running new businesses in the United States, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2016 United States Report released by Babson College: 25 million

Percentage of U.S. entrepreneurs who are driven by opportunity: 88

Percentage of Americans who see good opportunities around them to start a business: 57

Percentage of people in the world's other 26 innovation-driven economies who see entrepreneurial opportunities around them: 41

Source: Babson College.

Ranks of Netflix, Amazon (Amazon Prime), Hulu (SVOD) and MLB.TV on the list of the 2017 top 10 U.S. subscription video services, according to Parks Associates and based on the number of subscribers: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Parks Associates.

Percentage of American workers who did not receive a salary increase in the past 12 months, according to a Bankrate.com report: 52

Percentage of workers age 53 years and up who did not see a recent wage increase via a pay raise or a new job, compared to 47 percent of those who are younger: 64

Source: Bankrate.com.

Ranks of the people with whom they meet as part of the recruiting process, the work they'll be doing, reputation of the company and salary/benefits on the list of the top reasons graduates would choose one employer over another: 1, 2, 3, 4

Percentage of hiring managers who said they look for traits that highlight leadership and a drive for excellence: 51

Source: Korn/Ferry International.

Idle Thought

"The only thing one can give an artist is leisure in which to work. To give an artist leisure is actually to take part in his creation." -- Ezra Pound, poet

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

Percentage of Americans who have a college degree, according to a survey by Finder.com: 64

Of those with a college degree, percentage who don't think or are unsure if their college degree was worth the money: 39

Number of Americans who don't see the value in their college degree: 95 million

Of those who think their degrees weren't worth the money, percentage who say the reason is because they aren't using their degree: 49.6

Source: Finder.com.

Average number of minutes that workers spend commuting each day, according to a Robert Half survey: 49.10 minutes

Percentage of U.S. workers who say commutes are too long: 30

Ranks of Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago on the list of cities with the longest commutes: 1, 2, 3

Ranks of Los Angeles, Miami and Austin, Texas, on the list of cities with the most stressful commutes: 1, 2, 3

Source: Robert Half Management Resources.

Percentage of young people who report they've exaggerated how happy or healthy their relationship is on social media, according to a Mary Kay survey: 59

Percentage of those experiencing digital dating abuse who are even more likely to hide behind this facade: 79

Percentage who said they would not tell a parent or guardian if they were experiencing digital or dating abuse: 60

Source: Mary Kay.

Percentage of Americans who say the future of the nation is a "very significant" or "somewhat significant" source of stress, slightly more than perennial stressors like money (62 percent) and work (61 percent), according to the American Psychological Association report: 63

Source: American Psychological Association.

Percentage of Americans who are more likely to buy a home in a community with trees than one without trees, according to a survey conducted by Wakefield Research: 58

Percentage of Americans who believe a picnic under a tree would be more romantic than dinner in a nice restaurant: 64

Source: Arbor Day Foundation.

Proposed percentage cut in the corporate income tax rate (down from 35 percent) put forth by U.S. congressional leaders, according to WalletHub's Corporate Tax Rate Report: 15

Ranks of General Electric (-5.1 percent overall tax rate), Exxon Mobile (-5.1 percent) and Dow Chemical (0.2 percent) on the list of companies paying the lowest taxes: 1 (tie), 3

Ranks of Caterpillar Inc. (138.1 percent overall tax rate), Kinder Morgan Inc. (56 percent) and Lowe's Cos (40.5 percent) on the list of companies paying the highest taxes: 1, 2, 3

Source: WalletHub.

Percentage of people who admit to eating an entire bag of snack food in one sitting, according to a survey by Punchbowl Inc.: 70

Ranks of tortilla chips, potato chips, snack mix and pretzels on the list of the most popular snack foods: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Punchbowl Inc.

Projected expansion of the Black Friday-to-Cyber Monday weekend promotions, according to a survey by RetailMeNot.com: 2 weeks

Average amount that Americans plan to spend holiday shopping during the Black Friday-to-Cyber Monday weekend, up 47 percent from last year's average of $505: $743

Source: RetailMeNot.com.

Percentage of callers who say that being transferred when they reach customer service leads them to think they're talking to a call center, according to a new survey conducted by Clutch: 39

Percentage who say that poor voice quality is a sure sign a call center rep is on the other end of the line: 29

Percentage who can tell by the perceived use of a script: 28

Source: Clutch.

Percentage of professionals who say it is unlikely they would accept a job offer if they were treated poorly during the recruiting experience, even if they felt the role was a good fit, according to a survey of professionals conducted by Korn Ferry: 75

Percentage of respondents who say it is unlikely that they would remain a customer of a company if they had had a bad experience as a candidate: 56

Source: Korn/Ferry International.

Idle Thought

"There is always more goodness in the world than there appears to be, because goodness is of its very nature modest and retiring." -- Evelyn Beatrice Hall, biographer

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

Percentage of CFOs who cited too much bureaucracy as the biggest barrier to innovation, according to a survey by global staffing firm Robert Half: 30

Percentage who said that being bogged down by daily tasks and putting out fires were the biggest barriers to innovation: 27

Source: Robert Half Management Resources.

Percentage of parents who feel guilty about being so busy with work that they've missed their child's activities, sports games or teacher meetings, according to a study commissioned by Farm Rich: 33

Ranks of "losing my temper," "not playing enough with my children," "not being home enough" and "letting my children have too much screen time" on the list of reasons for guilt: 1, 2, 3, 4,

Source: Farm Rich.

Percentage of Americans who are making money on the side to supplement their regular income, according to a survey by Finder.com: 28

Number of Americans this represents: 69.8 million

Amount of pocket cash the average American with a side gig earns annually: $3,075

Total that goes undeclared at tax time each year: $214 billion

Source: Finder.com.

Percentage of adults across 23 countries who agree that religion does more harm than good in the world, according to a survey of adults under age 65 conducted by Ipsos Global Advisor: 49

In the United States, percentage who agree: 39

In Belgium, percentage who agree (the highest percentage): 68

In Japan, percentage who agree (the lowest percentage) who agree: 26

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Between 2010 and 2016, percentage jump in the number of affluent consumers with a household income of $250,000 or more -- from over 7 million to slightly more than 14 million -- according to a Packaged Facts report: 91

Percentage of the adult population that is comprised of affluent consumers: 6

Of the total growth in adult population during the 2010 to 2016 period, percentage that is accounted for by affluent consumers: 44

Source: Packaged Facts.

Percentage of prospective millennial homebuyers who expect to change where -- and the way -- they live over time as their lifestyle evolves, according to Taylor Morrison's survey: 58

Percentage who expect to live in the home they buy for less than 10 years: 33

Source: Taylor Morrison.

Percentage of consumers who said they would spend between $1,000 and $2,000 more for a vehicle that had active safety features, such as blind-spot detection, pre-collision warning systems and lane keeping assist, according to a report from Edmunds: 40

Source: Edmunds.com.

Percentage of employees with disabilities who have "invisible disabilities," according to a study published by the Center for Talent Innovation: 62

Percentage of employees with disabilities (which now includes mental health and chronic conditions) who disclose them to their employers' human resources departments: 21

Source: CTI Center for Talent Innovation.

Percentage of all teens surveyed who perceive it to be legal to drive under the influence of marijuana in states where it's been legalized for recreational use, according to a study conducted by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Students Against Destructive Decisions: 33

Percentage of teens who say that driving under the influence of alcohol is dangerous, compared to just 68 percent saying the same of marijuana: 88

Source: Liberty Mutual Insurance.

Percentage of women aged 18 to 35 from across the country at all income levels who wish they had someone else's hair, or are only happy with their hair sometimes, according to the 2017 Cloud 10 Millennial Hair Care Report: 59

Source: Cloud 10 Hair Care.

Idle Thought

"Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence." -- Henri Frederic Amiel, philosopher and writer

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