Sunday, January 07, 2007
Figuratively Speaking
The latest from The Ticker blog
Figuratively Speaking
Online education
3.2 million: Estimated number of students taking at least one course online this past fall, according to the Sloan Consortium survey, "Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States, 2006."
62: Percentage of chief academic officers who agree that the learning outcomes in online education are now as good as or superior to face-to-face instruction.
57: Percentage of these officers who say it is critical to their institution's long-term strategy.
Source: The Sloan Consortium.
Computer monitoring
75: Percentage of U.S. companies that monitor employee Web site connections, according to a study conducted by the ePolicy Institute.
65: Percentage of U.S. companies that block employee access to specific sites.
35: Percentage of U.S. companies that track the content, keystrokes and time spent at the keyboard by employees.
Source: The ePolicy Institute.
Graduate hiring
17.4: Percentage increase in the number of new college graduates U.S. employers plan to hire in 2007 from 2006, according to a survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
$3,568: Average value of a signing bonus for 2007.
4: Number of years in a row employers have predicted an increase in college graduate hiring.
70: Percentage of interns of U.S. employers who were extended job offers in 2006.
Source: National Association of Colleges and Employers.
U.S. as travel destination
1: Rank of the United States among the world's worst international travel destinations in terms of the overall difficulty of its entry procedures, according to a survey conducted by the Discover America Partnership.
51: Percentage of travelers who said that U.S. immigration officials are "rude."
33: Percentage of travelers who said they feared being detained by U.S. authorities for making a "simple" error.
Source: Discover America Partnership.
Music helps them work
32: Percentage of workers who listen to music while working using an iPod, MP3 player or similar personal music device, according to the Spherion Workplace Snapshot survey.
79: Percentage of those who feel that doing so improves their job satisfaction and/or productivity.
Source: Spherion.
Donations
86.3: Percentage of wealthy philanthropists who said that "meeting critical needs" is an important motivator when making charitable donations, according to the Bank of America "High Net-Worth Philanthropy Study" conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University for Bank of America.
82.6: Percentage of respondents who cited "giving back to society" as an important motivator.
51.7: Percentage who said their giving would stay the same even if there were no income tax deductions for gifts to charity.
Source: The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.
Feedback from the boss
24: Percentage of both Generation-X (born 1965 to 1979) and Generation-Y (born after 1980) workers who said they would like feedback from their boss at least once a week, if not every day, according to a Hudson survey.
20: Percentage of baby boomers (born 1946 to 1964) who want feedback that frequently.
11: Percentage of traditionalists (born 1928 to 1945) who would like that level of communication.
Source: Hudson.
Terrorism risks
61: Percentage of travelers who weigh terrorism risks when choosing a vacation destination, according to an annual survey conducted by TripAdvisor.com.
52: Percentage increase over last year's survey.
Source: TripAdvisor.
Creative directors' pay
$115,000: Average annual salary paid to U.S. digital creative directors in 2005, according to a survey conducted by Talent Zoo.
$185,000: Average annual salary paid to digital creative directors in 2006.
61: Percentage increase.
$170,000: Average annual salary paid to traditional creative directors in 2006.
Source: Talent Zoo.
Protecting personal information
70: Percentage of Americans who said they would do more to protect their personal and/or financial information if they knew what to do, according to an Experian-Gallup Personal Credit Index Topline Report.
75: Percentage of Americans who think credit card fraud is identity theft.
49: Percentage of those surveyed who think it is unlikely they will be a victim of identity theft.
Source: Experian.
Idle thought
"The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions."
-- James Russell Lowell, poet, editor and diplomat
