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Americans' concerns about privacy are increasing. The proportion
of consumers who removed their names and addresses from marketing
lists grew from 58% in 1999 to 87% in 2004. Eight in ten (81%)
asked a company not to share their contact information with
other companies, up from 53% in 1999. Similarly, 65% of online
Americans (94 million adults) have decided not to register
at a website because they found the website's privacy too
complicated or unclear.
While the majority of jobs still pay men higher wages than
women, the chart below shows in which careers women are earning
at least 5% more than men.
Between 1982 and 2001, passenger-miles of travel increased
91% on freeways and major streets and doubled on public transportation
systems in America's major urban areas.
The overall cost of congestion during 2001 was $69.5 billion,
based on 3.5 billion hours of delay and 5.7 billion gallons
of excel fuel consumed. Fuel wasted through congestion rose
from 41 to 42 gallons per person between 2000 and 2001. The
average delay per person reached 26 hours in 2001, up from
seven hours in 1982.
As of June 2004, domestic-partner benefits were being offered
to employees at 215 of the Fortune 500 companies, 7,057 other
private-sector companies, 10 state governments, 132 city and
county governments, and 211 colleges and universities. The
chart below details how workers view their gay and lesbian
counterparts in the office.
Healthcare is expected to account for 15.2% of the US gross
domestic product in 2004, compared to 11.1% 15 years ago.
Most of this increase is attributed to costly new medical
technologies while another factor is the number of patients
receiving treatment for a specific condition.
People with chronic conditions (44% of non-institutionalized
Americans) account for a disproportionate share (78%) of US
health care expenditures. This is true regardless of health
insurance status. As a result, disease management is gaining
popularity because it fulfills several needs, including the
need to educate people about their disease and help them make
informed decisions that lead to improved health. Specifically,
the percentage of disease management programs offered by employer-sponsored
healthcare plans rose to 58% in 2003, up from 41% the previous
year.
The media Americans choose for news sources have changed
dramatically over the past several years. See the chart below
for details.
Affluent consumers are those with an annual household income
of $100,000 or more. About six in ten (59%) say they get the
greatest personal satisfaction from experiences such as fine
dining, travel, entertainment, cultural/arts events and sporting
events. One in five (21%) prefer personal luxuries such as
automobiles, fashion and jewelry, while 20% are most satisfied
by household luxuries including furniture, kitchenware, linens
and bedding. Between mid 2003 and mid 2004, affluent households
spent an average of $10,060 on experiential luxuries, $14,270
on personal luxuries and $12,300 on household luxuries.
The USC Annenberg School's Center for the Digital Future
recently identified 10 significant trends illustrating how
the Internet affects Americans. See the following chart.
An analysis of 52 studies about corporate social and financial
performance conducted over 30 years shows that there is a
statistically significant association between corporate social
performance and financial performance. This correlation varies
"from highly positive to modestly positive."
One theory for this finding is that corporate social responsibility
is an indicator of good management - one that says sophisticated,
cutting-edge, forward-thinking managers are at work. A second
theory offers that financially successful firms have more
resources for social activities. The study supported both
theories, and in a cyclical fashion whereby "financially successful
companies spend more because they can afford it, but corporate
social responsibility also helps them become a bit more successful."
Most consumers (70%) who leave a loyalty/rewards program
say the "length of time it takes to build up points" is the
main reason. For the 18-24 age group, this number grows to
79%.
Other reasons for leaving include "not being rewarded properly"
(23%), "disliked the fee" (22%), "disliked the reward options"
(20%), "program rules kept changing" (17%), "poor customer
service" (16%) and "other programs seemed better" (18%).
According to Business 2.0 magazine, "Office Space" has become
the most popular film (based on DVD sales) about surviving
the corporate world. Other all-time greats that illustrate
office drama - plus insights into how to get ahead - are included
below.
Bullets
- Nationwide, lotteries are expected to be a $44.9 billion
industry by the end of 2004, having grown 9% annually for
the last four years. Some 50% of Americans participated
in lotteries during 2003.
- Almost seven in ten Americans (68%) oppose instituting
a draft for the military.
- More than one in five Americans age 65+ (21%) don't drive,
and more than one-half of these (54% or 3.6 million people)
stay home on any given day because they lack transportation
options.
- Some 43% of corporations with more than 20,000 workers
employ staff to monitor and read outbound e-mail.
- Catholics (25%) are less likely than Protestants (39%)
or atheists and agnostics (37%) to divorce. Among the largest
Protestant groups, Pentecostals (44%) are most likely and
Presbyterians (28%) least likely to part ways.
- During 2000, 31.6 million Americans (11.3% of the population)
lived in poverty. By 2003, this jumped to 35.9 million (12.5%).
- Between 1979 and 2000, real household income for the lowest
20% of earners grew 6.4%, while that of the top 20% of earners
jumped 70%. The top 1% of earners saw their income rise
184%.
- The CEO-pay-to-worker-pay ratio reached 301:1 in 2003,
up from 282:1 in 2002. If the minimum wage had increased
as quickly as CEO pay since 1990, it would be $15.76 per
hour instead of the current $5.15 per hour.
- North American cruise ships carried 1.8 million more passengers
in 2003 than in 2000.
- Three quarters of US workers have accidentally visited
pornographic websites while at work. Some 55% reached them
through misrepresented links and 48% arrived there due to
misspelled URLs.
- About 2.2% of school-age children were homeschooled in
2003, up from 1.7% in 1999.
- Some 40% of Americans buy books in bookstores and 14%
buy them online. For every book sold online, eight books
are sold in bookstores.
- About 95.7 million Americans - 43% of US residents age
15 or older - are single. Of these, 63% have never married,
23% are divorced and 14% are widowed.
- Americans stole $112 million worth of gasoline in 2003
by driving off without paying after filling their tanks
at gas pumps.
- In the course of a lawsuit or regulatory investigation,
21% of companies had employee email and instant messages
subpoenaed during 2003. This is up from 14% in 2002 and
9% in 2001.
- One-half of television viewers turn their TV on before
deciding what they will watch.
- Only 56.6% of Americans read any type of book during 2002,
down from 60.9% in 1992.
- Spending on alcoholic beverages dropped 9% from 1990 to
2001. Most of the change occurred between 2000 and 2001,
and is attributed to the economic recession and more Baby
Boomers entering their child-rearing years. Homes with children
under age 18 typically spend less on alcoholic beverages.
- Domestic travelers spent about $490 billion in the US
during their 2003 travels, up 3.5% from 2002. Since 1994,
the number of leisure travel trips by Americans has grown
16%, while business trips fell 15%.
- While only 1% of Americans have stopped their wire-line
phone service and only use cell phones, one-third say they
would do so if they saw improvements in wireless services.
The biggest changes desired are cheaper wireless minutes
(42%) and better coverage (31%).
- During the first quarter of 2004, sales of eBooks reached
$3.2 million, up from $2.5 million a year earlier. This
represents 421,955 units sold in the first quarter of 2004,
compared to 288,440 in the same time period of 2003.
- Six in ten (62%) US adults say they felt uncomfortable
overhearing someone else discuss private business or personal
issues on a cell phone in public, but only 40% admit to
doing this themselves. More than three-quarters (77%) have
overheard a cell phone conversation while in a public restroom.
- The Christian publishing and products market was $6.8
billion in 2003, and is expected to reach almost $8 billion
in 2004.
- Some three in ten Fortune 1,000 companies do not communicate
with their employees about new branding initiatives; two-thirds
say they haven't completely advised employees what the corporate
brand stands for.
- Almost one in five shoppers (18%) are "cherry pickers"
- those who shop two or more stores in one day at least
once a month to pick the best-priced items and leave the
rest.
- There are approximately 15 million gay men and women in
the US, and they are responsible for $581 billion in annual
spending.
- Advertising spending is expected to reach $150.5 billion
in 2005, up 5.1% over 2004, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR.
Growth between 2003 and 2004 was 10.6%.
- More than one-quarter (28.2%) of consumers know that radio
frequency identification (RFID) technology may replace barcodes
on consumer products in the near future, and almost two-thirds
of these are very or somewhat concerned about the potential
for privacy abuse.
- Almost one-half of all US businesses are either majority-owned
by women (30%) or owned equally by women and men (18%).
- More than one-quarter (28%) of American consumers have
purchased a product directly from the manufacturer in the
past 12 months. One-third have been doing so for more than
five years.
- About 53 million American adults (42% of Internet users)
traded instant messages (IMs) in 2004, up 29% from 41 million
in 2000. Most IM users (63%) use it at least several times
a week, while more than one-third use it daily.
- About 48% of online Americans say they couldn't go without
the Internet for more than two weeks.
- The number of Hispanic-owned business in the US is expected
to grow 55% in the next six years to 3.2 million; total
revenues will jump 70% to reach more than $465 billion.
- An Associated Press poll shows that 69% of Americans think
outsourcing hurts the US economy while 17% believe it helps.
About two-thirds (64%) say it is due to greedy corporate
executives, compared to 30% who believe it is caused by
companies' need to compete.
- The World Customs Organization estimates that counterfeiting
accounts for 5% to 7% of global merchandise trade, equivalent
to lost sales of as much as $512 billion during 2004. Seizures
of fakes by U.S. customs jumped by 46% last year as counterfeiters
boosted exports to Western markets.
- Almost four in ten (38%) adults have experienced at least
one false-positive screening test for cancer. Forty percent
of these described it as "very scary" or the "scariest time
of my life." Still, 98% say they were glad they had the
screening.
- Each year, 60% of Americans require medical treatment
for an injury. About 10% of these visit hospital emergency
departments for that treatment.
- Consumers spent $1.2 billion on water and air purification
equipment in 2003, up from $850 million in 1998.
- Almost seven in ten elementary school students (69%) describe
their school cafeteria food as "yummy" or "pretty good,"
compared to 20% who say it is "so-so" and 11% who call it
"yucky."
- Annually, 29,000 Americans are hospitalized and 150 die
from allergic reactions to food.
- About 20 million families (43 million Americans) had trouble
paying medical bills in 2003, even though two-thirds had
health insurance coverage.
- Healthcare is expected to account for 15.2% of the US
gross domestic product in 2004, compared to 11.1% 15 years
ago.
- Almost one-half (47%) of consumers believe the US food
supply is as safe now as it was 10 years ago. About 28%
think it is safer and 24% say it is less safe.
- Some 48 million American adults took adventure/outdoor
sports vacations in 2004, up 22% from the prior year.
- Among Americans age 65-74, 77% of men are overweight with
33% of them obese. Some 73% of women are overweight with
43% obese.
- During 2002, about 890 million visits - 3.14 visits per
person - were made to physicians' offices. Almost two-thirds
(62.7%) were to primary care physicians. Four in 10 visits
(41.5%) were for treatment of acute conditions, 29.6% for
chronic conditions, and 23.3% were to receive preventive
care.
- Only 22% of all physicians handle the majority (80%) of
primary care doctor visits by elderly Black Medicare patients.
These physicians are more likely to report difficulty getting
hospital admissions and specialty referrals for their patients.
- Sales of organic pet food grew 75% between 2002 and 2003
to reach $14 million.
- The World Health Organization says up to 10% of medicines
worldwide are counterfeited. This is costs the pharmaceutical
industry and estimated $46 billion a year.
- Americans used $4.9 billion worth of vaccines during 2003,
up 12.5% annually since 1998. Almost one-half (48%) were
for children.
- Some 80-90% of adults use caffeine regularly in the form
of 1-2 cups of coffee or 3-5 soft drinks per day.
- One-half (47%) of Americans think that antidepressants
are prescribed too often for adults, and 57% say they're
prescribed too often for children and teenagers.
- Between and 2000 and 2004, the average cost of health
insurance premiums for workers rose 35.9% while the average
earnings over this same period grew by only 12.4%.
- One in ten American consumers have purchased a prescription
drug outside the US. They are most likely to buy these drugs
to treat hypertension, depression/anxiety, and high cholesterol.
- The number of American youths who tried illicit drugs
by the time they finished high school reached a high of
66% in 1981, declined to 41% in 1992, then rebounded to
55% in 2001.
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