July and August 2011

• Married women who earn 60% or more of their household income are 38% more likely than average to get divorced.
• Four in 10 American parents (41%) say that texting makes them closer to their children.
• Some 77% of women say they live by the philosophy “women empowering women.”
• The average age of those using online dating services is 42 among men and 41 among women. Typically, men seek women within the age range of 11 years younger up to three years older. The older they are, the less willing men are to date women who are older than them. Women seek men within the range of five years younger up to seven years older. The younger they are, the more willing they are to date men who are older.
• According to a Esquire Magazine survey of 10,000 women, six in 10 women (61%) believe in God, but 55% do not pray. Most women support gay marriage (89%), believe in evolution (89%) and are pro-choice (84%).
• Renters are 50 times more likely to be victims of theft than homeowners. However, only 33% of renters have insurance, including 20% who say it is mandatory at their rental community.
• The share of American adults who own an e-book reader jumped to 12% in May 2011 from 6% in November 2010.
• The number of cohabiting unmarried couples jumped from 6.7 million in 2009 to 7.5 million in 2010.
• Most Americans (57%) say that retirement will be an exciting new chapter in their lives, compared to a mere 6% who say it will be a time for winding down.
• Some 83% of married 40-64 year-olds say they and their spouses agree on how they will spend their retirement money, although 56% say they have no idea how much money they will have on which to retire.
• During 2010, most Americans (53%) paid nothing for banking services, compared to 14% who paid $10; 5% who paid $7-$9; 9% who paid $4-$6; and 14% who paid $3 or less.
• Some 67% of medium and large companies use private computer clouds, as opposed to public clouds. Security is the top concern for 51% of companies that have not yet moved to the cloud.  (Cloud computing is the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than using a local server or personal computer.)
• In 2009, about 4.5 million Americans got married and 2.3 million got divorced. The average age of those getting married was 30.9 years for men and 29.1 for women. Of those who divorced, the average age was 42.5 for men and 40.5 for women.

Brand Strategy

• One-quarter of Americans (24%) are online between midnight and 8:00 a.m. They are more likely than average to have incomes of $150,000 or more (37.9%); 59% are more likely than average to be frequent domestic travelers, and 29% more likely than average to frequently stay in hotels.
• Some 75% of U.S. adults say they have found a TV commercial confusing. Among those aged 55 and older, 29% say that TV ads are often confusing to them.
• Four in 10 consumers (41%) bought a product in the prior year because it was associated with a cause or issue. Some 80% of shoppers say they would switch to a comparable brand – in terms of price and quality – to purchase from a company that supports a cause. Other behaviors shoppers say they would do to support a cause include trying a new brand or one they’ve never heard of (61%), trying a generic or private label brand versus a national brand (41%), and buying a more expensive brand (19%).
• Four in 10 women (40%) spend as much time shopping online as they do in brick and mortar stores and 28% shop more online than they do in stores. Of those who shop online, 40% do so while at work including 51% of women aged 18-34 and 37% of women aged 35-54.
• Black households spend an average of $80.30 per month for TV cable service, compared to $69.50 for Whites and $72.80 for Hispanics. Spending on satellite TV services is similar with Blacks spending an average of $87.72 per month, compared to $68.87 for Whites and $67.49 for Hispanics.

Healthcare

• Most Americans aged 70 and older (78%) retained their driver licenses in 2008, up from 73% in 1997. During that period, fatal crashes involving drivers aged 70 and older declined by 37%.
• Seven in 10 Americans (70%) look to the Internet when they have a question about sex. Other sources include books (23%), men’s magazines (20%), asking friends (18%), and women’s magazines (17%).
• Some 28% of Americans say that individuals are responsible for obesity and 20% blame the fast food industry. This reflects a significant shift from 2009 when 26% blamed the fast food industry and 24% blamed individuals.
• Some 90% of adults say most of their fellow Americans are overweight. However, only 70% say this about “the people they know,” and just 39% say they themselves are overweight.
• Most workers (86%) have misconceptions about flexible spending accounts, and 80% say they are not sure what expenses qualify for reimbursement through their plan.
• Some 25% of moms say it is easy to find fruit on fast food restaurant menus, and 19% say it’s easy to find vegetables.
• American adults take an average of 5,117 steps per day, compared to an average of 7,168 for Japanese adults and 9,650 for Swiss adults.
• Some 63% of heterosexual adults say that both members of same sex couples should receive untaxed healthcare benefits from employers.

Business to Business

• Executive compensation at the U.S.’s largest firms has nearly quadrupled in real terms since the 1970s, while pay for 90% of Americans has stalled.
• Assuming current trends continue, the U.S. will not have enough workers with the right education and training to fill the jobs likely to emerge over the next two decades. By 2020, there will possibly be 1.5 million too few college graduates to meet demand and about 5.9 million more Americans without high school diplomas than employers can use.
• Managers estimate it takes nine weeks to determine if a new hire is going to be a good fit in their job for the company.
• According to the Pew Research Center, the U.S. has suffered from progressively lengthy “jobless recoveries” following recessions during the last two decades. From 1945 to the 1980s, it took about six months after GDP rebounded for employment to recover. However, after the 1990–91 and 2001 recessions, it took 15 and 39 months, respectively, for employment to recover. At the current rate of net job creation, the U.S. will take more than 60 months to replace the jobs lost in the 2008–09 recession.
• Blackberry phone owners (19%) are more likely to have had their phone chosen for them by their workplace, compared to 4% of iPhone or Android users. Only 30% would buy another Blackberry for their next phone, while 70% of iPhone and Android users say they would stay with their brand.
• Nine in 10 workers (89%) say they are confident that their paycheck is accurate.
• Three in 10 office managers (30%) say their jobs are more stressful than in the prior year, compared to 11% who say their stress is now lower.
• Seven in 10 air travelers (71%) say they experience anxiety when traveling. They are typically most anxious when waiting for their flights (75%) and passing through security (68%).
• Some 74% of global companies’ CIOs (Chief Information Officers) see mobile computing and mobility solutions as a “game-changer” for their businesses in 2011, up from 68% in 2009.
• From 2007 through mid-2009, the U.S. temporary (contingent) workforce slumped by 33.7% while the total private workforce dropped by only 5.8%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But, in 2010, contingent worker employment rose about 300,000 to reach 2.21 million. Based on this trend, contingent employment is expected to return to 2008 levels by 2012.

Energy

• Some 81% of Democrats and 79% of independents favor increased federal funding for research on wind, solar and hydrogen technology; a lot fewer Republicans agree (59%).
• Combined global revenue for biofuels hit $56.4 billion in 2010 and is expected to grow to $112.8 billion by 2020. In 2010, the biofuels market was made up of more than 27.2 billion gallons of ethanol and biodiesel production worldwide.
• Almost one-half of drivers (48%) say they are interested in purchasing an alternative fuel vehicle (such as a hybrid, electric or fuel cell car) but do not know which type to buy based on their travel requirements.
• The combined global revenue for solar photovoltaics (PV), wind power, and biofuels jumped 35.2% in 2010, rising from $139.1 billion in 2009 to $188.1 billion in 2010.