KEY FINDINGS NEWSLETTER
Fall 2003

Emerging Versus Traditional Workers
A new breed of employees at American companies began appearing in 1997. This emerging group, now 31% of workers and growing, has values and expectations that are drastically different from the ones employers have traditionally encountered.

For example, these emerging workers are less likely than traditional ones (23% versus 72%) to feel that changing jobs is damaging to their long-term career advancement. The chart below shows other value differences in these types of workers.

Factors Affecting Hiring Decisions
Hiring managers’ decisions on whether to hire a specific applicant are most influenced by the interview performance (95%) and professionalism in interactions (95%), followed by years of relevant work experience (90%). The other important factors are detailed below.

What is the source of this income? Parents supply 87% of the income for those ages 8-12, 37% for ages 13-19, and 7% for ages 20-21. Parent-supplied income includes allowances, money earned for chores/housework and “asked-for” money.

Distribution of Income More Unequal
The distribution of income in America has become more and more unequal since 1990. The percentage of income received by the wealthiest 5% of households grew to 22.4% in 2001, up from 18.6% in 1990. The proportion received by the top 20% of households exceeded one-half for the first time in 2001, while the income of the bottom 20% of households fell to 3.5% in 2001, from 3.9% in 1990.

Most Prestigious Professions
The top three most respected professions are scientists (57%), firefighters (55%), and doctors (52%), while the lowest ratings go to real estate agents (6%), stockbrokers (8%), actors (13%), and bankers (14%). The chart below shows how the prestige of these and other professions have changed since 2002 and 1977.

Discretionary Spending Changes
Household discretionary spending has seen dramatic changes from 1990 to 2001. The chart below shows which products and services were affected.

Online Services in Demand
The top three online services used during January 2003 were acquiring point-to-point driving directions (64%), searching for jobs (34%), and shopping for automobiles with particular specifications (33%). The chart below shows the other services in highest demand.

Health Information Online
Seeking health information online is becoming more and more popular. For example, eight in 10 adult internet users (85% women and 75% men) are now using this resource. These individuals make searches for health information every few months or less, and more than one-half do so on behalf of someone else rather than for themselves. Research also shows that one in three (32%) e-mail users have exchanged health-related e-mail with friends, family members or doctors.

The chart below shows why the other 20% of internet users are not seeking health information online.

Support for National Healthcare Plan
A declining number of Americans believe that their employers will continue to offer health insurance in the coming years, while a growing percentage think a system of government coverage would work better. The Employee Benefit Research Institute reports that workers with employment-based insurance who are confident their employers will continue to offer coverage declined to 61% in 2003 from 68% in 2000.

Between 2002 and 2003, people who say they prefer government-based coverage over employer coverage grew to 31% from 17%.

People appear to be generally satisfied with the quality of care they receive, but are unhappy with what it costs. About 44% are dissatisfied with the cost of insurance, up from 32% five years ago. Almost one-half (48%) say they are unhappy with the cost of care not covered by insurance, up from 37% in 1998.

Bullets

 

• When asked “who will be viewed as the best first lady in history?” the top five named were: Jackie Kennedy (49%), Nancy Reagan (9%), Hilary Rodham Clinton (8%), Barbara Bush (8%), and Laura Bush (5%).

   

• More than one-half of cat owners and around 40% of dog owners say their pet sleeps in a family member’s bed each night.

   

• Two-thirds of all U.S. workers occasionally make copies of personal items on the office copy machine. Women (8.4%) are more likely than men (4.6%) to spill things such as coffee and other beverages on the copier.

   

• Conventional grocery stores accounted for 45% of organic food sales in 2001, up from 31% in 1998. Certified organic cropland and pasture increased from 1.3 to 2.3 million acres from 1997 to 2001.

   

• Children (age 5-14) directly control $10 billion in food and beverage spending annually. They also influence 78% of all grocery purchases.

   

• Seven in 10 consumers think online banking is safe, up from 56% in 2001 and 49% in 2000.

   

• One-third (31%) of the 100 largest U.S. companies do not respond to online customer inquiries.

   

• From 1990 to 2000, the number of people admitted to hospitals rose only 3% even though the total population grew 13% and there were larger increases in the number of people age 65+. During that same time, the number of outpatient visits to hospitals grew 61%, outnumbering hospital admissions in 2000 by a ratio of 17 to one.

   

• For the first time, the average American consumer spent more on Father’s Day ($99.65) than he/she did on Mother’s Day ($97.37) in 2003.

   

• One-half (49%) of Americans participate in rewards or loyalty programs. The four in ten who have dropped out of at least one program say the reasons include not wanting to pay the fee (46%), not being rewarded properly (41%), trouble redeeming points (32%), and rules that keep changing (24%).

   

• One-half of Americans say the government’s color-coded terror alert system is helpful, while 38% say it is not and 11% don’t know.

   

• More than 80% of online consumers say that free shipping and frequent-buyer discounts are key to getting their business. About 60% of online spending is conducted on workplace computers.

   

• For the first time since 1999, the number of credit card offer mailings decreased in 2002. However, 73% of households still received an average of five offers per month during the year.

   

• The US prison and jail population has exceeded 2 million persons for the first time in history. Between 1991 and 1998, the imprisonment rate increased 47% and is now the highest in the world. It is also five to eight times higher than in comparable industrialized nations such as Canada and the countries of Western Europe.

   

• One-half (50%) of primary household shoppers purchased books in 2002, down from 60% in 1997.

   

• There were 28% more female than male college students in 2000, up from 23% more in 1993. By 2010, projections show there will be 38% more female than male students enrolled.

   

• Eighteen percent of men age 35-44 have never married, up from 7% in 1970.

   

• About one million American children experience parental divorce each year.

   

• Only 47% of pickup truck drivers say they always use their seat belts, compared to 68% of passenger car drivers and 77% of SUV drivers.

   

• One in 10 U.S. households is actively looking for a new home; 16% plan to buy within the year.

   

• A full 18% of the American workforce has been laid off from work within the past three years, with most (16%) laid off from full-time positions. The top occupations affected were service (13%), technical (14%), clerical and sales (13%), manufacturing (12%), professional (11%), and managerial (7%).

   

• Only 34% of young adults ages 20-29 say they are happy with the state of their current career; 45% are still receiving financial assistance from their parents.

   

• While the average American spends 3.9% of their income getting to and from work, low-income Americans spend almost 10% of their income this way.

   

• Over 5.7 million U.S. adults (3% of the adult population) are currently vegetarians, up from 2.5% in 2000 and 1% in 1997.

   

• Most Americans (92%) say that corporations must do more to improve their ethical behavior. While over one-half (56%) believe that nothing has yet been done in this direction, 33% believe corporations have already moved aggressively to make improvements.

   

• Some 42% of Americans believe that affirmative action in the workplace should continue while the same percentage are opposed to it.

   

• Healthcare costs rose 8.7% in 2001 and accounted for 14.1% of the gross domestic product, up from 13.3% in 2000.

   

• Approximately $9 of every $100 of U.S. medical spending is attributable to people being overweight ($3.70) or obese ($5.30).

   

• Four in 10 patients (39%) don’t always follow their doctor’s advice – 33% say it’s because the advice is too difficult to follow, 28% say it costs too much, 25% didn’t agree with the recommendations, and 7% didn’t understand the advice given.

   

• Each year, about 600,000 people age 70+ stop driving and become dependent on others for transportation.

   

• One-third of Americans believe that fast food restaurants should be held responsible for the country’s obesity problem; 9% think they should be held legally responsible.

   

• The proportion of Americans intending to purchase a new car who would seriously consider a hydrogen-fueled vehicle, grew seven percentage points to 22.5% in March 2003, up from 15.5% in September 2002.

   

• One in five (20%) shoppers who ordered from a catalog during the 2002 holiday season placed the order online, up from 16% in 2001.

   

• Some 29% of Americans say they wait more than 20 minutes for a prescription to be filled, while 14% wait 16-20 minutes, 50% wait 15 minutes or less, and 7% don’t know.

   

• The number of prescription pills purchased through mail order increased 88% from 1998 to 2002, while the number bought from discount chains grew 65%, from grocery stores 33% and from chain drug stores 27%.

   

• Influentials (the 10% of the population that influences the remaining 90%) are heavy internet users. Most (82%) are online multiple times during the day and only 5% go online less than once each day.

   

• From June 2002 to June 2003, identity thefts rose from 1.9% to 3.4% of US consumers, representing 7 million individuals.

   

• Almost three-quarters (71%) of homebuyers used the internet in their search for a home during the first three months of 2003, up from 41% during the same period in 2001.

   

• The most important daily media activities of American heads of households are listening to music (59%), using the personal computer (53%), watching TV (51%), watching movies (38%), viewing home photos (31%) and view home videos (16%).

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