Figuratively Speaking

Percentage of Americans who say that a teacher made a significant, positive impact on their life, according to an Ipsos/USA Today poll: 73

Percentage of parents of children under 18 who would even encourage their own child to become a teacher: 61

Percentage who say they approve of the teachers in their local public school district: 76

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of U.S. adults who say there are too many unknowns about old age to make it worth living to 100, according to a University of Phoenix Survey: 59

Percentage who indicated they would like to live to 100 if they were guaranteed to be of sound body and mind: 85

Percentage who said they would if their spouse, partner and/or loved ones were still alive: 79

Source: University of Phoenix.

Percentage of adults with credit card debt -- over 31 million Americans -- who think they have dug themselves too deep a hole to ever climb out, according to a new CreditCards.com report: 35

Source: CreditCards.com.

Number of homeowners who believe it's acceptable to tap into home equity to keep up with regular household bills, according to a Bankrate.com report: 24 million

Percentage of homeowners earning less than $30,000 per year who say it's OK to tap into home equity to cover ordinary bills, more than triple the percentage among those who make $75,000 or more: 31

Percentage of millennials who think borrowing from home equity to pay day-to-day bills is viable, compared to 12 percent of those who are older: 22

Percentage of homeowners who think home improvements/repairs are an adequate circumstance to borrow from home equity: 74

Source: Bankrate.com.

Percentage of employers who regularly see recent college graduates struggle to adjust to the workplace, according to a white paper produced by the University of Massachusetts Medical School Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research (Transitions ACR) and The Jed Foundation: 77

In spite of this, percentage of employers who believe the majority of recent graduates come to work with all of the skills they need to succeed in the workplace: 64

Among employers, percentage who agree that many recent college graduates settle for jobs that are "good enough," rather than pursuing their dream job: 72

Source: Jed Foundation.

When technology leaders were asked which of the following they were willing to do when they face challenges filling an open full-time role, percentage who would work with a specialized recruiter, according to research from Robert Half Technology: 46

Percentage who would be more flexible on skills requirements and provide training to new hires: 45

Percentage who would divide responsibilities among existing teams: 45

Source: Robert Half Technology.

Estimated number of children who go to emergency rooms because of playground-related injuries annually, according to the National Safety Council: 200,000

Frequency of emergency room treatment of a child for a sports-related concussion: every 3 minutes

Source: National Safety Council.

Percentage of U.S. workers/job seekers who say that a lack of information about a job's total compensation package, including pay and benefits, is their biggest frustration, according to a survey from Glassdoor: 50

Ranks of "the employer announcing layoffs," "a poor first interaction with a recruiter or hiring manager" and "reading negative reviews from employees" on the list of reasons that would cause workers/job seekers to pull out of a recruitment process: 1, 2, 3

Source: Glassdoor.com.

For purchases under $10, percentage of Americans who prefer paying with cash -- over debit (30 percent) and credit cards (23 percent), according to a study of rewards credit cardholders from CreditCards.com: 45

Median cost at which rewards credit cardholders think it makes sense to use credit: $25

Source: Bankrate.com.

Percentage of job seekers who say it's reasonable to "ghost" companies during the interview process, abruptly cutting off communication when they decide not to pursue a job, according to a new survey from Clutch: 48

Percentage of job seekers who ghost when they accept another job: 30

Source: Clutch.

Idle Thought

"To have and not to give is often worse than to steal." -- Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, writer

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

Although it is too early to assess the dollar damage of Florence, rank of 2005's Katrina on the list of the costliest U.S. tropical cyclones after accounting for inflation, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: 1

Estimated cost of Katrina: $160 billion

Ranks of 2017's Harvey ($125 billion), 2017's Maria ($90 billion), 2012's Sandy ($70.2 billion) and 2017's Irma ($50 billion): 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: NOAA.

Percentage of Americans who consider the cost of prescription drugs in the United States to be "unreasonable," according to a poll from the West Health Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit health care research organization: 75

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), national health spending in 2016: $3.3 trillion

Amount going toward prescription drugs: $328.6 billion

Source: West Health Institute.

Percentage of Americans who pronounce "caramel" as "CARE-ah-mel," according to a survey commissioned by HI-CHEW and conducted online by the Harris Poll: 57

Percentage who pronounce it as "CAR-mel": 36

Source: HI-CHEW.

Percentage of cannabis consumers who currently get their supply from a friend, according to a nationwide poll conducted by SoapBoxSample: 52

Percentage who go to a dispensary: 37

Percentage who shop online for cannabis: 18

Source: SoapBoxSample.

Ranks of family, career, fitness, hobbies and social life on the list of what fitness-conscious Americans consider most important in their lives, according to a study commissioned by Zoom: 1, 2 (tie), 4, 5

Percentage who said they do or plan to teach fitness as a priority to their children: 84

Source: Zoom.

Percentage of workers who said their typical lunch break lasts 30 minutes or less, according to research from staffing firm OfficeTeam: 56

Length of the average lunch break, down from 43 minutes in 2014: 39 minutes

Percentage of employees who confessed to working during lunch: 29

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of first responders who agree that mental health is as important as physical health, according to a University of Phoenix survey: 93

Percentage who believe that people who receive counseling generally get better: 83

Source: University of Phoenix.

Average amount that Americans in the lowest income bracket (under $30,000 per year) spend annually on restaurant food, prepared drinks (such as coffee, tea and smoothies) and lottery tickets, according to a Bankrate.com report: $2,118

On average, percentage of their annual income such financial vices comprise, the largest percentage of any income bracket: 13

Source: Bankrate.com.

Percentage of Americans who report that they are clean, according to an Ipsos poll: 99

Percentage who say maintaining good hygiene is a top priority: 92

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Amount of credit card debt that American consumers racked up during the second financial quarter of 2018 (the fourth-biggest Q2 increase ever), according to research by WalletHub: $29.8 billion

Amount extra that a Federal Reserve interest rate increase on Sept. 26 would cost people with credit card debt in the next year alone: $1.6 billion

Amount of credit card debt owed at the beginning of the year -- the most ever: $1 trillion-plus

Source: WalletHub.

Idle Thought

"To stimulate life, leaving it free, however, to unfold itself, that is the first duty of the educator." -- Maria Montessori, educator

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

Percentage of America's blue-collar workers who see their lives heading "in the right direction," according to a study conducted by the Harris Poll and commissioned by Express Employment Professionals: 85

Percentage of these workers who are proud of their work: 91

Percentage who are satisfied with their jobs: 86

Percentage who say their jobs provide a good living: 80

Source: The Harris Poll.

Rank of actuarial science on the list of the most valuable college majors, based on salary, unemployment rate and career path that does not demand schooling beyond a bachelor's degree, according to a Bankrate.com report: 1

Average annual salary earned by actuarial science majors (ninth overall): $108,658

Rank of petroleum engineering on the list of the most financially lucrative degrees: 1

Source: Bankrate.com.

Percentage of employers who use social networking sites to research job candidates, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey: 70

Of those that do social research, percentage who have found content that caused them to not hire candidates: 57

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of HR professionals who say that compared to three years ago, contingent, or "gig," workers now make up a larger percentage of their professional workforce, according to survey by Korn Ferry: 60

Percentage who say they plan on hiring more gig workers in the future: 42

Ranks of "access to resources for short-term projects" and "expertise we don't have in-house" on the list of the top two reasons given for hiring gig workers: 1, 2

Source: Korn Ferry International.

Number of pet-owning households in the United States, according to Packaged Facts: 67 million

Source: Packaged Facts.

Percentage of Americans who agree that apprenticeships -- or "earn while learning" vocational opportunities -- make people more employable than going to college, according to a survey by American Staffing Association: 62

Percentage who say college degrees aren't worth what they used to be: 69

Percentage who say learning a trade is better for finding a job than a bachelor's degree: 68

Source: American Staffing Association.

Percentage of workers with lower incomes who agreed that preparing for retirement makes them feel stressed, according to an Employee Benefit Research Institute report: 64

Among workers who have not calculated how much they will need to save for retirement, percentage who are stressed: 65

Percentage of those in fair or poor health who are stressed: 75

Source: EBRI.

Percentage of Americans who say that saving for vacations is a low priority, according to a survey by CIT Bank: 43

Percentage who say that vacation saving is not a priority at all: 25

Percentage of Americans who go on vacations each year, with the majority spending up to $5,000: 77

Source: CIT Bank.

Percentage of people surveyed by patient.info who found it "extremely," "very" or "quite" inconvenient to cater for their non-meat-eating friends: 25

Percentage of people who now describe their diet as "meat-free" (pescatarian, vegetarian or vegan): 30

Percentage rise in veganism since 2006, when less than 5 percent of the population described themselves as vegan or vegetarian: 350

Source: Patient.info.

Percentage of Americans who think people in their country trust politicians to tell the truth less than they did 30 years ago, according to an Ipsos study: 69

Percentage of Americans who are confident they can identify "fake news" (which was defined as entirely made-up stories or facts) from real news: 65

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Idle Thought

"When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear." -- Mark Twain

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